The PCC is launching a URIs in MARC Pilot to engage metadata practitioners in formally applying techniques to further the PCC’s linked data transition. In recent years several PCC task groups and committees have been laying the groundwork for practical implementation of linked data: PCC Linked Data Advisory Committee, PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO, PCC Task Group on URIs in MARC, PCC Task Group on Linked Data Best Practices, and the PCC ISNI Pilot. Other PCC groups, including the Standing Committees, are also looking at linked data topics.launched a Wikidata Pilot to further advance the movement toward identity management. The Pilot has been conducted from September 2020 through the end of calendar year, 2021.
Stated broadly in its Strategic Directions document, the PCC hopes to “Accelerate Much of the work on linked data is in response to the PCC Strategic Directions 2018-2021, specifically Strategic Direction 3: Apply understanding of linked data, and Strategic Direction 4: Accelerate the movement toward ubiquitous identifier creation and identity management and at the network level … attain an environment where identity management work activity is characterized by much greater proportions and numbers of entities receiving identifiers … strategic partnerships and collaboration existing among cultural heritage organizations, rights management agencies, Wikidata, and others … collaborate with other identity management communities to facilitate and promote the use of unique identifiers. As a result of the efforts of various PCC groups, resources available to catalogers now include a set of recommendations from the Linked Data Best Practices Task Group, and the FAQ and Formulating URIs documents developed by the PCC Task Group on URIs in MARC.
Here is an opportunity to move the PCC further into the linked data environment with a pilot to test subfield $0 and subfield $1 data in bibliographic records and in authority records.
”
More specifically, this Pilot is focusing on these and additional learning objectives:
- Comparing ease of use and benefits of Wikidata to other registries (LCNAF, ISNI)
- Assessing the productivity and quality assurance tools that exist (or should exist)
- Learning about the culture of the Wikidata community
- ... and many other learning objectives identified by Pilot participants themselves.
In advance of launching in September 2020, the Pilot was featured in the LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group meeting of June 16, 2020 and more background information and discussion can be found in the presentation recording, slides, and notes. A dedicated WikiProject page was created on Wikidata and is the best way to review the activities of the Pilot: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot
Participants experimented in a range of focus areas based on what is of interest to their own institution. with the goal of having varied findings shared with the group as a whole without each group Participants in the Pilot can experiment with one or more relevant areas of interest to them, and share their findings, without each being required to delve into all the areas that are covered by the pilotPilot. Projects of any size, however small or large, and at any stage of progress are welcomewere welcomed.
The PCC URIs in MARC Pilot will test and develop PCC best practices for some of the areas the Linked Data Best Practices Group has identified, and some of the topics addressed in the FAQ developed by the PCC Task Group on URIs in MARC:
- Use of RWO URIs vs traditional library identifiers
- Use of identifiers from traditional as well as nontraditional sources
- How to record alternative identifiers from multiple sources
- Preference among vocabulary sources
- Use of the 024 field in NACO authority records to end the temporary moratorium on adding 024 fields
- Implications for local and shared practice
- Other use cases
Pilot members will work with bibliographic records and/or authority records. The bibliographic work may be done in participants’ local systems, or WorldCat, or both. We expect the pilot participants to be drawn mostly from PCC institutions or existing partner communities, but others are welcome.
Reports of subfield $0 and $1 editing activity in non-local environments (shared files) may be obtained during the initial months of the pilot and they could be used to identify any policy issues that need discussion in the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO. Members of the PCC URIs in MARC Pilot are welcome to express interest in assisting with this review.
The PCC sponsored the Pilot, but all interested institutions (both PCC and non-PCC) have been welcomed to participate undertaking a project that pursued issues of interest to them. Initial expressions of interest were due at the end of July so that the Pilot could get underway with kick off meetings in late August and early September 2020.
The The PCC URIs in MARC Pilot will have immediate oversight and guidance from the PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO , with consultative roles by the Linked Data Advisory Committee, the Standing Committee on Applications, the Standing Committee on Standards, and OCLC.
But the real work will be done by PCC members.
Here is an opportunity to help move the PCC further into the linked data environment. You might have heard about the “NACO lite” concept -- here is the chance to see how it can work in practice! has been the sponsoring group. If you have questions, please write to Task Group chair, John Riemer or Task Group member, Michelle Durocher.