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NISO news.
NISO will hold its next open teleconference in our monthly series this coming Monday, February 13th at 3:00 PM.

The topic for the February call will be the recently-published White Paper on the Future Standardization Needs for Electronic Resource Management Systems, written by the NISO ERM Data Standards and Best Practices Working Group. The document is titled "Making Good on the Promise of ERM: A Standards and Best Practices Discussion Paper" and it provides an analysis and evaluation of the current state of standards and best practices that can be applied to ERM systems, as well as recommending action to NISO in a number of further areas to improve the use and interoperability of ERMs. The document can be downloaded at http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/document.php?document_id=7946&wg_abbrev=ermreview

Tim Jewell, Director, Information Resources, Collections and Scholarly Communication, University of Washington and chair of the NISO Working Group, will be on the teleconference to discuss the white paper and answer any questions.

The call is free and anyone is welcome to participate. To join, simply dial 877-375-2160 and enter the code: 17800743#. All calls are held from 3-4 p.m. Eastern time.

The Open Teleconferences are an quick way to get an update on the status of a NISO initiative. The calls are informal and questions and discussion is welcome. Following the featured discussion, there is also an opportunity for the NISO community to bring up any issue or topic of interest. This is an excellent time for you to raise any concerns, project ideas, or suggestions of focus for NISO in the coming year.

The Open Teleconferences are an quick way to get an update on the status of a NISO initiative. The calls are informal and questions and discussion is welcome. Following the featured discussion, there is also an opportunity for the NISO community to bring up any issue or topic of interest. This is an excellent time for you to raise any concerns, project ideas, or suggestions of focus for NISO in the coming year.

If you are unable to join us, this call will be recorded and made freely available on the NISO website following the event—as are all of the Open Teleconferences. For more information or to listen to the previous call discussions, please visit: http://www.niso.org/news/events/2012/telecon/.Related articles

• Making Good on the Promise of ERM (tslltechscans.blogspot.com)

The new Khmer, Moroccan Tamazight, and Syriac Romanization tables are now available for downloading from the ALA-LC Romanization Tables webpage.
Related articles

• Khmer and Tamazight Romanization Tables Available for Review (catalogablog.blogspot.com)

The OLAC Cataloging Policy Committee (CAPC) has approved the document Library of Congress Genre-Form Thesaurus (LCGFT) for Moving Images: Best Practices. It provides guidelines, with examples, for the usage of LCGFT for moving image materials, and complement existing official guidelines.
The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines, with examples, for the usage of Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT) for moving image materials. These guidelines are intended to complement existing official guidelines. As genre/form practice in general is currently being reviewed by several other committees, these guidelines will need to be revisited in the future; however, these best practices fulfill the need for short-term guidance.

In controversial areas, where existing rules have been questioned as to their usefulness, suggestions are offered for a consistent local practice that libraries might adopt for their own catalogs while still staying compliant with rules for record creation and editing in shared bibliographic databases.

The latest issue of the Code{4}lib Journal has some articles of interest.
HTML5 Microdata and Schema.org
Jason Ronallo

On June 2, 2011, Bing, Google, and Yahoo! announced the joint effort Schema.org. When the big search engines talk, Web site authors listen. This article is an introduction to Microdata and Schema.org. The first section describes what HTML5, Microdata and Schema.org are, and the problems they have been designed to solve. With this foundation in place section 2 provides a practical tutorial of how to use Microdata and Schema.org using a real life example from the cultural heritage sector. Along the way some tools for implementers will also be introduced. Issues with applying these technologies to cultural heritage materials will crop up along with opportunities to improve the situation.

Using VuFind, XAMPP, and Flash Drives to Build an Offline Library Catalog for Use in a Liberal Arts in Prison Program
Julia Bauder

When Grinnell College expanded its Liberal Arts in Prison Program to include the First Year of College Program in the Newton Correctional Facility, the Grinnell College Libraries needed to find a way to support the research needs of inmates who had no access to the Internet. The library used VuFind running on XAMPP installed on flash drives to provide access to the Libraries’ catalog. Once the student identified a book, it would be delivered from the Libraries to students on request. This article describes the process of getting VuFind operating in an environment with no Internet access and limited control of the computing environment.

Improving the presentation of library data using FRBR and Linked data
Anne-Lena Westrum, Asgeir Rekkavik, Kim Tallerås

When a library end-user searches the online catalogue for works by a particular author, he will typically get a long list that contains different translations and editions of all the books by that author, sorted by title or date of issue. As an attempt to make some order in this chaos, the Pode project has applied a method of automated FRBRizing based on the information contained in MARC records. The project has also experimented with RDF representation to demonstrate how an author’s complete production can be presented as a short and lucid list of unique works, which can easily be browsed by their different expressions and manifestations. Furthermore, by linking instances in the dataset to matching or corresponding instances in external sets, the presentation has been enriched with additional information about authors and works.

Presenting results as dynamically generated co-authorship subgraphs in semantic digital library collections
James Powell, Tamara M. McMahon, Ketan Mane, Laniece Miller, Linn Collins

Semantic web representations of data are by definition graphs, and these graphs can be explored using concepts from graph theory. This paper demonstrates how semantically mapped bibliographic metadata, combined with a lightweight software architecture and Web-based graph visualization tools, can be used to generate dynamic authorship graphs in response to typical user queries, as an alternative to more common text-based results presentations. It also shows how centrality measures and path analysis techniques from social network analysis can be used to enhance the visualization of query results. The resulting graphs require modestly more cognitive engagement from the user but offer insights not available from text.

On Dentographs, A New Method of Visualizing Library Collections
William Denton

A dentograph is a visualization of a library’s collection built on the idea that a classification scheme is a mathematical function mapping one set of things (books or the universe of knowledge) onto another (a set of numbers and letters). Dentographs can visualize aspects of just one collection or can be used to compare two or more collections. This article describes how to build them, with examples and code using Ruby and R, and discusses some problems and future directions.

Jason Ronallo at Preliminary Inventory of Digital Collections writes about Common Crawl, Web Data Commons, and Microdata.
The other day I discovered the Web Data Commons, which is building on top of the Common Crawl to extract Microformat, Microdata, and RDFa data and make it available for free download. This means that there is starting to be free structured data from a big portion of the Web available for for anyone to play with at very low cost. Common Crawl takes care of the crawling and then Web Data Commons will do data extraction. This opens up new possibilities for services, specialized search, and aggregations of content. Big web data is being opened up for small startups and individuals.Is your library being crawled? Does it have metadata able to be harvested? Should it? Just asking.
Related articles

• Schema.org - Why You're Behind if You're Not Using It... (seomoz.org)
• How To Use Rich Snippets, Structured Markup For High Powered SEO (searchengineland.com)

Image via WikipediaThe revised version of MARCXML to MODS 3.4 XSLT has been announced.
The Library of Congress' MARCXML to MODS 3.4 XSLT stylesheet (Revision 1.75) http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/MARC21slim2MODS3-4.xsl is now available--it incorporates edits made in response to comments received since the release of Revision 1.74.

The MODS 3.4 XSLT is based on the MARC to MODS 3.4 mapping made available by the Library of Congress in July of 2010 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/mods-mapping.html. The mapping and the XSLT are also available via the Library of Congress' MODS Web site. They They will be revised periodically as users' comments are received and as subsequent MODS Editorial Committee analysis and decisions evolve.Related articles

• Reese, Terry: MARCEngine MARCXML translation changes coming this weekend (people.oregonstate.edu)

Image by nengard via FlickrVuFind, the library portal software, has a new version.
The latest version of the VuFind Open Source discovery software has just been released.

The new release includes several significant enhancements:

• A new "book bag" feature has been added for shopping-cart-style bulk actions (save, email, export multiple records).
• VuFind is now driven by Apache Solr 3.5, the latest version of the powerful index engine.
• New optional search plug-ins have been added for visual timelines, Google Maps integration and Europeana searches.
• Enhanced RSS feeds allow VuFind results to be easily shared with external services such as Elsevier's SciVerse platform.
• Syndetics integration has been improved.
• VuFind's default theme now uses jQuery and Blueprint for a more dynamic, polished interface.

Additionally, several bug fixes and minor improvements have been incorporated.

The source code listed below has been recently approved. The code will be added to the applicable Source Codes for Vocabularies, Rules, and Schemes list. See the specific source code list for current usage in MARC fields and MODS/MADS elements.

The code should not be used in exchange records until 60 days after the date of this notice to provide implementers time to include the newly-defined code in any validation tables. Subject Heading and Term Source Codes

The following source code has been added to the Subject Heading and Term Source Codes list for usage in appropriate fields and elements.

Addition:

collett

Collett-bibliografi: litteratur av og om Camilla Collett (Oslo: Nasjonalbiblioteket)

Image by American Library Association Publishing via FlickrNews about RDA vocabularies.
The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC), the DCMI Bibliographic Metadata Task Group (formerly DCMI/RDA Task Group), and ALA Publishing (on behalf of the co-publishers of RDA) are pleased to announce the publication of a second set of vocabulary terms as linked open data. The RDA Carrier Type, Content Type and Media Type vocabularies have been reviewed, approved, and their status in the Open Metadata Registry (OMR) changed to ‘published.’ The finished vocabularies can be viewed following the links from the terms above. (The links lead to the description of the vocabulary itself, the specific terms can be viewed under the tab for ‘concepts’).

Terms in the Content Type vocabulary refer to the intellectual or artistic content of a resource, such as text or notated music; terms in the Carrier Type vocabulary refer to the means and methods by which content is conveyed including volume, sheet, computer disk; terms in the Media Type vocabulary specify the general type of intermediation device (if any) required to view, play or run the content of a resource. These vocabularies are derived from the RDA/ONIX framework for resource categorization which established an extensible methodology for categorization of resources according to content and carrier.Related articles

• Report of the Meeting of the Joint Steering Committee, 4 November 2011 (personal.psu.edu)

The 1st operational eXtensible catalog is Cute.Catalog at Kyushu University Library.
Cute.Catalog completely covers the bibliographic information of academic resources in Kyushu University which contain not only library holdings but also research output produced by Kyushu University researchers.

Cute.Catalog http://catalog.lib.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en

Cute.Catalog includes:

• Research Outputs by Kyushu University Researchers: 250 thousands
  
• Library Holdings of Printed Materials in Kyushu University Bibliographies: 1.6 million, Holdings 4 million
  
• Accessible e-Journals: 51 thousands, e-Books: 53 thousands
  
• Institutional Repository records: 17 thousands
  
• Digital Collection: 10 thousands

Key enhanced features are:

1. advanced search
   
2. online link with 360 Link XML API
   
3. put a label of institutional production
   
4. social links and exporting features and more...

There's a lot of talk about doing away with bibliographic records and replacing them with collections of linked data. In this scenario keeping track of the links is of vital importance. The recent paper How To Track Your Data: The Case for Cloud Computing Provenance by Olive Qing Zhang, Markus Kirchberg, Ryan K. L. Ko, and Bu Sung Lee addresses this topic.
Provenance, a meta-data describing the derivation history of data, is crucial for the uptake of cloud computing to enhance reliability, credibility, accountability, transparency, and confidentiality of digital objects in a cloud. In this paper, we survey current mechanisms that support provenance for cloud computing, we classify provenance according to its granularities encapsulating the various sets of provenance data for different use cases, and we summarize the challenges and requirements for collecting provenance in a cloud, based on which we show the gap between current approaches to requirements. Additionally, we propose our approach, DataPROVE, that aims to effectively and efficiently satisfy those challenges and requirements in cloud provenance, and to provide a provenance supplemented cloud for better integrity and safety of customers' data.
Related articles

• Local library data in the new global framework (commonplace.net)

Help get the NACO/LC Authority File ready for RDA.
The Acceptable Headings Implementation Task Group has been established by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging to develop an implementation plan for preparing the LC/NACO authority file for RDA. The work of this group is largely based on the report of an earlier PCC Task Group; this group recommended a series of mechanical operations designed to make as many of the records in the LC/NACO authority file as useful as possible under RDA without individual review. The present group is exploring each of the changes suggested by the first group in detail, and fitting each into a proposed schedule.

The group has created a Facebook page as one means for communication between the group and the larger community: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/PCC-Acceptable-Headings-Implementation-Task-Group/232585923488557 We invite comments on our work, but ask that comments follow the guidelines found in the “Info" section of this page. THE INFO SECTION describes the Group's activities, including the broad areas in which the group is interested in receiving comments and those areas not in the Group's charge in which the group is not interested in receiving comments.

The group has already drafted several documents. These documents may be found at the Group's download site (and they are also available from the Facebook page): http://files.library.northwestern.edu/public/pccahitg/

• a document describing a phased implementation of the suggested changes
• a discussion of the issues involved in the handling of subfield $c in personal names
• a discussion of the suppression (or otherwise) of 4XX fields for AACR2 forms of name

The Group is in the midst of drafting a series of documents describing the stages in which this work should be performed, and the details involved in the work. These documents will also be posted to the Group's download site, and notices of the postings placed on the Facebook page. The Group is actively soliciting volunteers interested in assisting the Group in its work. These tasks will include the review of long lists of changed headings for correctness.

Image via WikipediaMake your open data even more open with CORS (Cross Origin Request Security).
Currently, client-side scripts (e.g., JavaScript) are prevented from accessing much of the Web of Linked Data due to "same origin" restrictions implemented in all major Web browsers.

While enabling such access is important for all data, it is especially important for Linked Open Data and related services; without this, our data simply is not open to all clients.

If you have public data which doesn't use require cookie or session based authentication to see, then please consider opening it up for universal JavaScript/browser access.

Stephen Woldram, of Wolfram|Alpha and Mathematica, has proposed a top level domain .data.
But what would be the point? For me, it’s about highlighting the exposure of data on the internet—and providing added impetus for organizations to expose data in a way that can efficiently be found and accessed.

In building Wolfram|Alpha, we’ve absorbed an immense amount of data, across a huge number of domains. But—perhaps surprisingly—almost none of it has come in any direct way from the visible internet. Instead, it’s mostly from a complicated patchwork of data files and feeds and database dumps.

But wouldn’t it be nice if there was some standard way to get access to whatever structured data any organization wants to expose?Related articles

• A .data Top-Level Internet Domain? (xconomy.com)
• Strata Week: A .data TLD? (radar.oreilly.com)
• Is It Time For Computers To Have Their Own .Data Domains? (techcrunch.com)

OCLC has made available the recordings of the VIAF Show and Tell Webinars.
The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) now comprises almost 20 million records from 24 different sources. In the last two months VIAF had over 70,000 visits from 147 countries/territories, with two-thirds "returning visitors." In addition, VIAF sees 6 million hits per month from automated systems such as Web harvesters or other programs retrieving VIAF information.

The "show and tell" VIAF demonstrations you'll see in this webinar recording include:

• Using VIAF as the primary reference for LC/NACO authority work to differentiate names—Spencer Anspach, Indiana University
• Using VIAF to create a record in Fihrist, a multi-institutional Islamic manuscript catalog, incorporating the URI to an author's VIAF page—Alasdair Watson, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
• How VIAF helps researchers—Magda El-Sherbini, Ohio State University
• Using VIAF to identify provenance of rare books and adding VIAF links to images of bookplates, inscriptions and other marks of ownership in Flickr—Regan Kladstrup, University of Pennsylvania
• Using VIAF to identify issues in the VIAF matching process and how to respond and report them—Stephen Hearn, University of Minnesota

Related articles

• Viaf (viaf.org)