Name and Subject Heading Reconciliation to Linked Open Data Authorities using Virtual International Authority File and Library of Congress Linked Data Service APIs: A Case Study featuring Emblematica Online

Authors

  • Cindy Tang Tian University of Notre Dame
  • Timothy W. Cole University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Karen Yu The University of Chicago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.65n4.132

Keywords:

Metadata reconciliation, digital collections, Virtual International Authority File, Library of Congress authorities, linked data API, case study

Abstract

Libraries are actively exploring ways to use Linked Open Data (LOD) services to enhance discovery and facilitate the use of collections. Emblematica Online, which provides integrated discovery of digitized emblem books, incorporates LOD in its design. As an implementation prerequisite, the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) and Library of Congress (LC) Linked Data Service APIs were used to reconcile name and subject strings from legacy catalog records with global authoritative links from LOD resources. This case study reports on the automated reconciliation process used and examines the efficacy of the APIs in reconciling name and subject heading entities. While a majority of strings were successfully reconciled, analysis suggests that data cleanup, rigorously consistent formatting of metadata strings, and addressing challenges in existing LOD resources and services could improve results for this corpus.

Author Biographies

Cindy Tang Tian, University of Notre Dame

Tang (Cindy) Tian (ttian@nd.edu) is a Metadata Services Librarian at Kresge Law Library, University of Notre Dame.

Timothy W. Cole, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Timothy W. Cole (t-cole3@illinois.edu)(retired), Timothy W. Cole, Elaine and Allen Avner Professor Emeritus in Interdisciplinary Research, University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Karen Yu, The University of Chicago

Karen Yu (karen4@uchicago.edu) is Head of East Asia Technical Services, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago.

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Published

2021-11-03

Issue

Vol. 65 No. 4 (2021): October

Section

Features

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