Introduction to BIBFRAME, which is proposed by Library of Congress as the replacement of MARC format based on linked data principles.

1. Kai Li
2013/08/31
RDB2RDF Project

3. Overview
• Introduction
• Use cases and requirements
• Model
• Observations and Question

4. Timeline and Documents
• 2011-05-13 Statement of initiation
• 2011-10-31 Initial plan by LoC
• 2012-11-21 BIBFRAME Primer
• 2013-01-26 Launch of BIBFRAME.org
• 2013-04-30 Annotation document (1st draft ver.)
• 2013-05-22 On BF Authority: a discussion paper
• 2013-06-25 Resource Type document: discussion paper
• 2013-08-21 Use Cases and Requirements document
• 2013-08-26 Annotation Model (2nd draft ver.)

5. http://de.slideshare.net/zepheiraorg/aallbibframe-em20130714

6. What is BIBFRAME
• BF can be seen as a replacement of MARC:
• BF can and will serve as an encoding standard for RDA and other content
standards
• But, it’s not only a replacement of MARC:
• BF is an environment/model/ontology focusing on bibliographic data

7. http://www.slideshare.net/zepheiraorg?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_
medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview

8. Use Cases
• 15 use cases are
defined by the
Use Cases and
Requirements
document:
• http://bibframe.
org/documentati
on/bibframe-
usecases/
For library users
For librarians

9. Requirements and Design Objectives
• Web oriented architecture
Linked Open Data
Expressed in RDF
• Resource identity
• Property identity
• Vocabulary evolution
• Localized extensibility
• Third party value add
• Defined serialization to support interchange

10. Requirements and Design Objectives
(cont.)
• Minimize ontology mechanics
• Web oriented search
SPARQL (though not a requirement)
• Support legacy and existing search technologies
Search/Retrieval via URL (SRU) / Contextual Query Language (CQL)
Z39.50
OAI-PMH
• Enabling web triggers
• Internationalization
http://bibframe.org/documentation/bibframe-usecases/

11. Model
• Work
• Instance
• Authority
• Annotation
http://de.slideshare.net/zepheiraorg/bibliographic-
14207718

12. Work
• “A BIBFRAME Creative Work, abbreviated simply as Work, reflects a
conceptual cataloging item.”
• But, a BF work is not a FRBR/RDA work:
http://de.slideshare.net/zepheiraorg/alabibframe-lc20130630

13. Instance
• “BIBFRAME Instances reflect an individual, material embodiment of a
BIBFRAME Work that can be physical or digital in nature. “
• Each BF Instance is an instance of one and only one BF work.
• A BF Instance is basically a FRBR Manifestation, because information
about BF Item largely belongs to BF Annotation.

14. Authority
• “BIBFRAME Authorities are key authority concepts that are the target
of defined relationships reflected in the Work and Instance.”
• BF Authority are not to compete or replace existing authority
systems, but to provide a “common, light weight abstraction layer”
over these authority efforts to make them more effective.
• According to the discussion paper about BF Authority, nine categories
of Authority are currently defined:
• Family, Jurisdiction, Meeting, Organization, Person, Place, Topic, Classification,
and Temporal Concept

15. Authority Implementation 1: current
design
Using
BIBFRAME
authority
resources

16. Authority Implementation 2: “direct” approach
• This method, by linking directly
to the authority resource, is
desired by most stakeholders;
• It can be used for classification,
if LD versions of DDC and LCC
are to be used in the future;
• However, this approach is less
flexible than the first approach,
making it harder for BF to be a
“common, light weight
abstraction layer”.

17. Authority Implementation 3: role resource
• This method provides
the highest level of
flexibility, especially the
“ability to handle
controlled role
information”;
• However, it may also
result in unnecessary
complexity.

18. Authority Implementation 4: LCSH

19. Annotation
• “In general, an Annotation asserts information about a resource; a
BIBFRAME Annotation asserts information about a BIBFRAME
resource.”
• Annotation can be linked to both Work and Instance
• Annotation is about institution-specific information
• http://bibframe.org/documentation/annotations/

20. Use Cases/Types of BF Annotation
• 4 use cases are defined by BF Annotation Model (2nd draft ver.):
• Cover art
• Holdings
• Reviews
• Descriptions
• Including summary, abstract, and table of contents

21. An Example of Holding Information
1 <http://xyz.org/bibframeTestCases/Annotations/Annotation/H
olding>
a bf:Holding;
2 bf:annotationAssertedBy < http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/organizations/dlc> ;
3 bf:dateOfAssertion "20130808" ;
4 bf:holds <http://xyz.org/bibframeTestCases/Annotations/Instance/bluebeard> ;
5 bf:heldBy < http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/organizations/dlc> ;
6 bf:subLocation "Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms" ;
7 bf:callNumber "PS3572.O5 B5 1987C" ;
8 bf:copyNote "Copy 157" ;
9 bf:copyNote "Signed by the author." ;
10 bf:copyId "71234" ;
11 bf:circulationStatus "non-circulating" ;
12 bf:accessCondition "Access is restricted; consult library for details" .

22. Vocabularies
• BF Vocab is still being established.
• Constant updates are still going on.
http://bibframe.org/vocab/

23. Components of BF Vocabulary
• Resource:
• Four major classes (WIAA), and their specific types
• Properties:
• A resource may have different properties when used with different roles
• Values:
• One of the examples is the resource types in the discussion paper

24. BIBFRAME Resource Types
• Discussion paper
• http://bibframe.org/documentatio
n/resource-types/
• Only include subclasses of the
CreativeWork class, rather than
those of Instance class
• The proposed list is a melding of
MODS, MARC and RDA lists
• Language material: Cartography:
• Dataset:
• Notated music: Notated movement:
• Audio:
• Still image:
• Moving image
• Three dimensional object:
• Software/multimedia:
• Mixed material
• Collection:
• Manuscript:
• Tactile:

25. Observations
• 1. Even though BF seems to have a promising future, it’s still in the
very early stage
• There is a small but active community; conversations are active
• More documents, bridges … need to be designed in the coming years, before
it can actually serve as a replacement of MARC 21, if not more

26. Observations
• 2. Use cases are important
• Nine use cases for BIBFRAME model have been identified from the
perspectives of end users as well as librarians, but…
• More need to be identified for each section of BF, especially for annotation
and authority, from broader scopes:
• “It seems to me that the decision to be made isn't so much about the structure of the
authority but the anticipated uses, including vocabulary maintenance (as you mention)
and linking to other communities that create bibliographic data.” -- Karen Coyle
([BIBFRAME] Authority - Treatment of role data)
• Use cases in local contexts need to be considered for local implementations

27. Questions
• Is it possible to integrate bibliographic data into the bigger data
world?