A bibliographic metadata infrastructure for the twenty‐first century
| Pages | 175-181 |
| Date | 01 June 2004 |
| Published date | 01 June 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830410524602 |
| Author | Roy Tennant |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
A bibliographic
metadata infrastructure
for the twenty-first
century
Roy Tennant
Without question, the development of the
Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) standard
(www.loc.gov/marc/) in the 1960s was a
revolutionary advancement in modern
librarianship. It formed the foundation for moving
libraries into the computer age by providing a
common syntax for recording and transferring
bibliographic data between computers. In
association with the Anglo-American Cataloging
Rules (AACR), MARC allowed libraries to share
cataloging on a massive scale, and thus greatly
increase the efficiency of the cataloging task as well
as set the stage for the creation of centralized
library databases such as those managed by
OCLC and RLG, which are now major worldwide
resources.
But that was then. This is now. The technical
environment has completely changed from the
first days of MARC. When MARC was created,
computer storage was very expensive ± so
expensive that every character was treasured. Very
few people had access to a computer ± not at work,
and most certainly not at home. The Internet was
no more than an idea. XML was decades away
from being an idea.
In addition, we are no longer dealing only with
library catalog systems. Bibliographic records are
being used in a variety of computer systems within
libraries; for example, interlibrary loan systems,
working paper repositories, and directories of
online resources such as e-journals and databases.
In many cases, MARC is not a good fit for such
systems, and the lack of a rich metadata
infrastructure finds libraries making up solutions
that may prevent them from building an integrated
metadata management system.
Our cataloging practices have also been focused
completely on the physical item, rather than the
intellectual one. This has led to the creation of, in
some cases, dozens of records for items with
identical content, thereby sowing confusion and
frustration among the users of our systems. Only
through the application of the principles laid out
in the Functional Requirements of Bibliographic
Records (FRBR) (International Federation for
Library Associations, 1998) do we have some
hope of knitting this mess back together on behalf
of our clientele. But clearly we can ± and must ±
do better.
We now have the opportunity to recreate our
foundational bibliographic standards to take
advantage of a new array of opportunities, as well
as to fix problems with our current set of
standards. It will not be sufficient to tweak our
existing standards, since we have been using that
The author
Roy Tennant is the eScholarship Web and Services Manager,
California Digital Library, Oakland, California, USA.
Keywords
Online cataloguing, Archives, Bibliographic systems
Abstract
The current library bibliographic infrastructure was
constructed in the early days of computers ± before the Web,
XML, and a variety of other technological advances that now
offer new opportunities. General requirements of a modern
metadata infrastructure for libraries are identified, including
such qualities as versatility, extensibility, granularity, and
openness. A new kind of metadata infrastructure is then
proposed that exhibits at least some of those qualities. Some
key challenges that must be overcome to implement a change
of this magnitude are identified.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available
at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Received August 2003
Revised November 2003
Accepted November 2003
175
Library Hi Tech
Volume 22 .Number 2 .2004 .pp. 175-181
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited .ISSN 0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830410524602
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