The PCC is launching a URIs in MARC Pilot to engage metadata practitioners in formally applying techniques to further the PCC’s linked data transition. In recent years several PCC task groups and committees have been laying the groundwork for practical implementation of linked data:
PCC Linked Data Advisory Committee
PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO
PCC Task Group on URIs in MARC
PCC Task Group on Linked Data Best Practices
PCC ISNI Pilot
Other PCC groups, including the Standing Committees, are also looking at linked data topics.
Much of the work on linked data is in response to the PCC Strategic Directions 2018-2021, specifically Strategic Direction 3, Apply understanding of linked data, and Strategic Direction 4, Accelerate the movement toward ubiquitous identifier creation and identity management and the network level. As a result of the efforts of various PCC groups, resources available to catalogers now include a set of recommendations outlined in the Final Report of the PCC Task Group on Linked Data Best Practices, and in the FAQ and Formulating URIs documents developed by the PCC URI Task Group on URIs in MARC.
Much of the exploration the PCC has done on linked data can now be tested and piloted by PCC members at the practitioner level, to chart a PCC path forward into a linked data future. We have seen growing interest in this type of work in recent times. For example, members from the former PCC ISNI Pilot are already applying linked data concepts in their work.
The PCC invites interested institutions to participate in a URIs in MARC Pilot. Participants will be asked to experiment with one or more relevant areas of interest to them, and share their findings, without each being required to delve into all the areas that are covered by the pilot. Projects of any size, however small or large, and at any stage of progress are welcome. Participants will be asked to complete a survey describing their project and the issues of interest to them..
***** Here is an opportunity to move the PCC further into the linked data environment with a pilot to test subfield $0 and subfield $1 data in bibliographic records and in authority records*****
The PCC URIs in MARC Pilot will test and develop PCC best practices for some of the areas the Linked Data Best Practices Group has identified, and some of the topics addressed in the FAQ developed by the PCC URI Task Group on URIs in MARC:
- Use of RWO URIs vs traditional library identifiers
- Use of identifiers from traditional as well as nontraditional sources
- How to record alternative identifiers from multiple sources
- Preference among vocabulary sources
- Use of the 024 field in NACO authority records to end the temporary moratorium on adding 024 fields
- Implications for local and shared practice
- Other use cases
Pilot members will work with bibliographic records and/or authority records. The bibliographic work may be done in participants’ local systems, or WorldCat, or both. We expect the pilot participants to be drawn mostly from PCC institutions or partner communities. PCC members should feel free to share this message with colleagues.
Reports of subfield $0 and $1 editing activity in non-local environments (shared files) may be obtained during the initial months of the pilot and they could be used to identify any policy issues that need discussion in the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO. Members of the PCC URIs in MARC Pilot are welcome to express interest in assisting with that aspect.
The PCC URIs in MARC Pilot will have immediate oversight and guidance from the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO, with consultative roles by the Linked Data Advisory Committee, the Standing Committee on Standards, and OCLC.
Last update: October 24, 2019