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I\u2019ve been talking about linked data<\/a> a lot lately. Before you say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s so five minutes ago,\u201d let\u2019s frame linked data technologies and principles as a technology trend in libraries that continues to get (and deserves) extra attention. I\u2019m naturally skeptical when libraries try to apply new technologies to long-solved problems, but I am now thoroughly convinced that the library needs<\/em> linked data platforms. It\u2019s one of our last chances to embark on innovations that we\u2019ve known for a long time are not possible with the increasingly arcane and anachronistic MARC record.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not always easy to see \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me?\u201d in linked data, so let me attempt a view from the many rocks we stand on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What could linked data cataloging mean for library workers and end users?<\/p>\n But the path to this kind of productive use of linked data is fraught with fear, uncertainty, and doubt.<\/p>\n In a talk at CNI last spring<\/a>, I used the Gartner Hype Cycle to explain where libraries are with linked data (see the 2018 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies below). Surprisingly, \u201cKnowledge Graphs\u201d are still climbing the curve to the Peak of Inflated Expectations. I would argue that libraries reached this peak over a year ago with linked data and quickly descended into the Trough of Disillusionment where linked data was in danger of residing until MARC danced on its grave.<\/p>\n But OCLC and libraries have too much skin in this game to give up so easily. In July, the Mellon Foundation awarded additional grant funds to Stanford University<\/a> for its \u201cLinked Data for Production\u201d (LD4P) effort. This latest round will focus on productionizing linked data services in libraries. OCLC has spent several years<\/a> experimenting with linked data. Earlier this year, those experiments took on a new urgency as the library community clamored from that Gartner Trough.<\/p>\nWhat does the path to productive linked data for libraries look like? #OCLCnext <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n In January 2018, OCLC created a linked data Wikibase prototype<\/a>, built to view, edit, and create linked data descriptions and relationships, and to reconcile data between legacy bibliographic information and linked data entities. But OCLC Research was not alone in this endeavor. Working closely with 16 academic, research, public, and national institutions, the effort was grounded in a strategy to create scaled, production-level services for libraries to conduct what Kenning Arlitsch has called \u201cnew knowledge work<\/a>.\u201d Check out OCLC\u2019s linked data member story<\/a>, based on interviews with the prototype participants.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhat does \u201cproductive linked data\u201d look like?<\/h2>\n
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From hype to hope<\/h2>\n
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