What comes next: understanding BIBFRAME
| Published date | 16 September 2019 |
| Date | 16 September 2019 |
| Pages | 513-524 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-06-2018-0085 |
| Author | Thomas D. Steele |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
What comes next: understanding
BIBFRAME
Thomas D. Steele
University of Oklahoma Library, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Bibliographic framework initiative (BIBFRAME) is a data model created by the Library of
Congress to with the long-term goal of replacing Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC). The purpose of this
paper is to inform catalogers and other library professionals why MARC is lacking in the needs of current
users, and how BIBFRAME works better to meet these needs. It will also explain linked data and the
principles of Resource Description Framework, so catalogers will have a better understanding of
BIBFRAME’s basic goals.
Design/methodology/approach –The review of recent literature in print and online, as well as using the
BIBFRAME editor to create a BIBFRAME record, was the basis for this paper.
Findings –The paper concludes the user experience with the library catalog has changed and requires more
in-depth search capabilities using linked data and that BIBFRAME is a first step in meeting the user needs of
the future.
Originality/value –The paper gives the reader an entry point into the complicated future catalogers and
other professionals may feel trepidation about. With a systematic walkthrough of the creation of a
BIBFRAME record, the reader should feel more informed where the future of cataloging is going.
Keywords Linked data, Cataloguing, Resource description framework, Bibliographic standards,
BIBFRAME, Descriptive cataloguing
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
In October 2015, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a nonprofit cooperative
organization which maintains WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC),
printed out and ship ped its last batch of cat alog cards. OCLC ’s president and CEO Skip
Pritchard joked, “We were going to have a monk doing calligraphy on the last card”
(Gearino, 2015), reflecting on how dated the practice of recording bibliographic
information on printed cards had become in the age of computers. However, not just card
catalogs have become obsolete. When Henriette Avram inve nted the Machine Re adable
Cataloging (MARC) standards in the 1960s, she was translating the card catalog into a
format that computers could read and distribute. With all bibliographic records being
born digital a near half century later, MARC has caused many critics to wonder if OPACs
need a new standard. In answer to these critics, in 2012 the Library of Congress
contracted Zepheira, a data management company, and began the bibliographic
framework initiative (BIBFRAME). To those working with catalog records, this initiative
is a drastic change. What exactly is BIBFRAME? Will it replace MARC? This paper hopes
to introduce BIBFRAME, including a discussion of why it is needed, its history and the
use of BIBFRAME editor to create a record. It will also include an update of the status of
the BIBFRAME test project and BIBFRAME 2.0.
Why BIBFRAME?
An early and probably one of the most famous attacks on MARC came from Roy Tennant
in his 2002 paper “MARC must die.”He argued MARC was from an era when memory,
storage and processing capabilities required a minimalistic approach to data, now they are
“ubiquitous and cheap”(Tennant, 2002). Tennant also explained MARC’sformatmadeit
difficult to read the record, since it was designed to capture a card in text string form.
When capturing the table of contents, Tennant noted, its hierarchical nature is flattened to
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 37 No. 3, 2019
pp. 513-524
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-06-2018-0085
Received 25 June 2018
Accepted 21 August 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
513
Understanding
BIBFRAME
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