{"id":6439,"date":"2019-10-21T22:17:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-clarivate-innovative.pantheonsite.io\/?post_type=blog&p=6439"},"modified":"2021-07-06T10:45:06","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T14:45:06","slug":"what-is-bibframe","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/what-is-bibframe\/","title":{"rendered":"What is BIBFRAME?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) was developed in the 1960s, computers were bigger than refrigerators and the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee, was still playing with Tonka trucks and G.I. Joes.<\/p>\n

Today, the average person spends nearly seven hours online every day, and we carry personal computers around in our pockets [1]. Unfortunately, these drastic technological changes mean that MARC isn\u2019t equipped to serve current library users or carry libraries into the future.<\/p>\n

Is there a cataloging standard that can bring bibliographic data into the internet age? The answer is yes\u2014BIBFRAME.<\/p>\n

The ABCs of BIBFRAME<\/strong><\/p>\n

BIBFRAME is a descriptive data model that makes library resources visible online. It was launched by The Library of Congress in 2011 after years of discussion about developing a possible replacement for MARC [2].<\/p>\n

The purpose of BIBFRAME is to make library metadata more useful inside and outside the library community by exposing, sharing, and connecting pieces of data, information, and knowledge on the Semantic Web using Linked Data principles [3;4]. That means, to fully understand BIBFRAME, you also have to understand the Semantic Web and Linked Data.<\/p>\n

BIBFRAME, Linked Data and the Semantic Web<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Semantic Web is an extension of the traditional web you\u2019re already familiar with. However, on the Semantic Web, information follows specific principles and is coded in a way that allows machines to understand its meaning, rather than simply report data based on keywords. Once information is organized through semantic web principles, related information can be linked together, creating what\u2019s known as Linked Data [5].<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of the Semantic Web in action:<\/p>\n

If you Google \u201cHamilton,\u201d you get a list of times the play is showing in your city, a link to the book, a list of songs in the play, ways to borrow the eBook and other potentially helpful information in the sidebar of your search page.<\/p>\n

How does Google know to compile this relevant information from different parts of the web?<\/p>\n

Well, through Semantic Web principles, \u201cHamilton\u201d is assigned a unique identifier called a universal resource identifier (URI). So is every other play, book, person, etc. on the web. When the people producing information on the web use these unique identifiers and other Semantic Web principles, machines understand the information they\u2019re creating and can connect related information.<\/p>\n

Libraries already have large collections of rich metadata that can be shared on the web and connected to other relevant resources. But that metadata needs to be converted to a language machines outside of the library industry can understand, so search engines like Google can find this information and link it to related data on the web. That\u2019s where BIBFRAME comes in.<\/p>\n

The Future of BIBFRAME<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Library of Congress continues to recruit libraries to test and provide feedback on BIBFRAME. That means, the number of libraries using BIBFRAME will only grow in the years to come<\/p>\n

The goals for BIBFRAME in the future are to [6]:<\/p>\n