Linked data initiatives in libraries and information centres: a systematic review
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-04-2018-0075 |
| Date | 01 October 2018 |
| Published date | 01 October 2018 |
| Pages | 925-937 |
| Author | Irfan Ali,Nosheen Fatima Warraich |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Linked data initiatives
in libraries and information
centres: a systematic review
Irfan Ali and Nosheen Fatima Warraich
Department of Information Management, University of the Punjab,
Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to explorelinked data (LD) initiatives in libraries and information (LI) centres
alongwith motivating factorsto start these LD projects andchallenges faced by librariansin implementing LD
technology.
Design/methodology/approach –To achieve the objectives of the study, a systematicliterature review
was conducted. The preferredreporting items were used for systematic review andmeta-analysis (PRISMA)
guideline.Data were collected from different scholarly databases.
Findings –Findings show that many initiatives were taken in LI centres during the past decade. These
LI centres had to face many challenges to implement LD technology. These challenges might include
technological issues, scarce financial resources, lack of skilled human resources, low level of awareness
among community/librarians, proprietary licence, non-availability of standards and best practices.
However, technolog ical challenges were m ore complex. Systema tic review shows that mo st of the LD
initiatives and activities in LI centres take place in developed countries. Overall, the results reveal that
most of the libraries are in the infancy stage of LD application because of the ambivalent nature of
technology.
Originality/value –This study may be beneficial to devise guidelines to transform the
aforementioned different challenges into opportunities. It is also important to provide a holistic picture
about the challenges and opportunities of LD through a systematic review of initiatives already taken
by LI centres.
Keywords Academic libraries, Benefits, Challenges, Semantic Web, Linked data
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
The semantic Web provides the opportunity for libraries to collect, link, share and
make their data readable by machines. It makes documents available on the Web by
linking in the form of CSV, HTML or XML. There is a deficit of structure or relationship
between the entities of one document and the entities of other documents. Semantic
Web uses linked data (LD) technology. Heath and Bizer (2011) described LD as a “set of
best practices for publishing and interlinking structured data on the web”(p. 7). There
is a difference between traditional Web and LD or semantic Web. The traditional Web,
called Web of documents, is a flat and linear representation of objects. However,
semantic web, or Web of data, is a container of things and objects (Guerrini and
Possemato, 2013).
Thenatureofdataisbecomingmorecomplex, and effective management and
sharing of large data sets are challenges for libraries. To make library data more
accessible, organisation and integration of these data are vital (Eslami and
Vaghefzadeh, 2013). In a Web of documents, the catalogues of libraries are usually
Linked data
initiatives
925
Received15 April 2018
Revised10 July 2018
Accepted31 July 2018
TheElectronic Library
Vol.36 No. 5, 2018
pp. 925-937
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-04-2018-0075
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