Navigating Linked Open Data: a Panel Discussion

Access Conference 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015

Tim Knight (Osgoode Hall Law School Library at York University), Sarah Sutherland (CanLII), and Christina Harlow (University of Tennessee)

Libraries have a lot of legacy data to bring to the linked data table. As the potential of the semantic web grows, it’s clear that controlled methods of organization will be critical for its success. This panel discusses two projects to take existing library cataloging and metadata standards and transform them for use as and within Linked Open Data platforms. Tim and Sarah have set out to explore if library classification standards can facilitate and improve semantic navigation as an online controlled vocabulary. They are using a specialized legal classification scheme known as KF Modified. The project has two phases: converting the current print based format, maintained in a legacy word processing platform, to XML and then mapping the results to SKOS and creating a dynamic data standard that can be published as linked data.Christina is creating a prototype workflow for extending existing library authority systems by ontology development for local terms. She is developing a local ontology using a RDF model and a suite of tools to allow the creation of a local authority dataset specific to Southern Appalachia, but that remains interoperable with the LoC, Getty and GeoNames Authorities through data modeling and using appropriate RDF statements.The panel will discuss opportunities and setbacks in their own projects, as well as areas for future development and collaboration.

F. Tim Knight has been a cataloguing librarian and metadata specialist since the early 1990’s and is Associate Librarian and Head of Technical Services at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library, York University. Tim is the chair of the KF Modified Committee and editor of KF Modified: KF Classification Modified for Use in Canadian and Common Law Libraries and represents Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD) on the Canadian Cataloguing Committee. His current research interests include: linked data; machine learning; metadata applications; classification; cataloguing; and, when time allows, writes and plays a little music here and there.

Sarah Sutherland is the Manager of Content and Partnerships at CanLII, before that she worked in a variety of libraries, including those in a national full service law firm, the Province of Saskatchewan, the National Research Council, and the Law Society of Saskatchewan. She is interested in developing open data standards to enhance innovation in legal information. Sarah writes regularly on topics relating to libraries, technology, and legal information.

Christina Harlow is the Cataloguing and Metadata Librarian at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She works with library data, usually but not limited to descriptive metadata. She likes experimenting with library data tools, scripts, and platforms. Talk with her about practical implementations of Linked Open Data.