In March 2015, Princeton University acquired the personal library of Algerian-born French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). Of the roughly 16,000 published books and other items in the library, a significant number have been heavily annotated, and many bear personal dedications to Derrida from other philosophers and theorists. Princeton is creating linked data descriptions for a set of these items, which involves participating in the development of a Rare Materials Ontology Extension with an emphasis on modeling annotations, evaluating linked data creation tools, and making the resulting RDF data set available to scholars who are interested in studying Derrida’s social and intellectual networks.
- Linked data descriptions of a set of annotated items from the Derrida Archive
- Transform and convert MARC records into BIBFRAME for a representative selection of items in the Derrida collection
- BIBFRAME extension ontology for original resource description of special collections materials
Transcribing dedications as a first step toward linked data creation
Analysis/Modelling
Tool Exploration / Requirements Definition
Collaboration
Community Engagement
Joyce Bell (Director, Cataloging and Metadata Services)
Jennifer Baxmeyer (Leader, Electronic Resources Team)
Peter Green (Cataloging and Metadata Technology Specialist)
Lidia Santarelli (Metadata Librarian) (from Feb. 2017)
Timothy Thompson (Metadata Librarian) (until Mar. 2017)
Don Thornbury (Head, Technical Services for Special Collections)
Regine Heberlein (Principal Cataloger and Metadata Analyst)
Link to working documents (for partners only)
Last updated Mar. 2017, to be updated again Jun. 2017
Phase 2 (Oct. 2016-Mar. 2017)
Collaboration
Attended second LD4P All-Hands meeting in Washington D.C.
Met with the Princeton Digital Humanities Center’s Derrida project management team (regarding their separate but potentially related project)
- Participated in brainstorming about a second LD4P grant
Data creation
Digitization
Arranged for digitization of the sample set of 500 objects
Transcription
Created MS Access data entry form
Hired student workers for double-blind data entry
Began transcription of dedications
Completed comparison and reconciliation of 235 transcriptions
Modelling
Participated in ongoing Rare Materials Ontology Extension work
Followed developments in LD4All Ontology Alignment Calls
- Participated in in-person ARTFrame + Rare Materials Ontology Extension Meeting
Self-learning / Training
Completed the Protégé Pizza ontology tutorial
- Inter-departmental study / discussion group
Participated in massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs):
- Attended Protégé Short-Course
Outreach
Presentations
LD4P project update to Princeton’s professional catalogers
Presented to Princeton Library Management Group (LMG) on "Limitless possibilities: the promise of linked data"
- MELA 2016 Presentation on Linked Data and BIBFRAME
Articles
Timothy A. Thompson, et al. (2016). From Notes to Annotations: Deconstructing Dedications in the Library of Jacques Derrida at Princeton University, Journal of Library Metadata, 16(3-4), 146-165. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19386389.2016.1258908
Phase 1 (Apr.-Sept. 2016)
Logistics and Planning
Created private GitHub wiki for Princeton internal documentation
Scheduled bi-weekly LD4P workshops for the core group
Outlined plans for Oct.-Dec. 2016, the first half of Phase 2
Collaboration
Expanded core group to include local Rare Books staff
Consulted with library IT staff
Consulted with faculty stakeholder in French and Italian Dept.
Explored the possibility of coordination with related CDH Derrida project
Met with the LD4P Project Manager during on-site visit
Data creation
Created proposal for imaging relevant pages from a sample of ~500 annotated books
Selected 525 objects from Derrida's library for digitization
Initiated process of hiring student help for the transcription of annotations in Phase 2
Modelling
Participated in collaborative LD4P Rare Materials ontology calls
Contributed to the creation, categorization, and prioritization of use cases
Participated in LD4All Ontology Alignment Calls
Worked on modelling of annotations, seeking input from members of the Web Annotation Working Group
Self-learning
Studied ontology modelling by way of a Protégé Pizza ontology tutorial
Followed wider linked data-related activities
Outreach
Discussed idea of training a select group of staff in linked data concepts
Created informational web page on Princeton website and updated it regularly: https://library.princeton.edu/tsd/cams/ld4p/
Presentations
"Deframing Derrida: Encoding Annotations from Rare Books and Special Collections" at NISO Virtual Conference: BIBFRAME & Real World Applications of Linked Bibliographic Data
"Pour Jacques" at PCC Participants meeting, ALA annual
Articles
Submitted article to the Journal of Library Metadata entitled "From Notes to Annotations: Deconstructing Dedications in the Library of Jacques Derrida at Princeton University"
Pre-project activities (prior to Apr. 2016)
- Formed core group within Library Technical Services Dept. and scheduled weekly meetings
- Did initial modelling for annotations, investigate applicability of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Annotation Data Model
- Manually created 45 sample annotations in turtle format
- Prototyped an annotation creation tool
- Consulted with Princeton University Center for Digital Humanities (CDH)
- Presentation:
- "De-"framing" Derrida", BIBFRAME Update Forum, ALA Midwinter Meeting 2016