Chapter 2: Changing the Nature of Library Data

Abstract

In our current technology environment, all information goes through computers before reaching a human being, so it is necessary to design our metadata to be data—that is, to give it the ability to be manipulated by computer programs. To keep pace with modern advances in technology, the library catalog data must be transformed from being primarily a textual description to a set of data elements to which machine processes can be applied; and these data elements must be compatible with the current mainstream technology that is the World Wide Web. This chapter of “Understanding the Semantic Web: Bibliographic Data and Metadata” examines what steps the library community will need to take to facilitate this transformation.