Libraries' Metadata as Data in the Era of the Semantic Web: Modeling a Repository of Master Theses and PhD Dissertations for the Web of Data

TL;DR

This paper explores how library metadata can be used as standalone data in the Semantic Web, proposing a model for a repository of theses and dissertations that reveals academic networks beyond individual documents.

Contribution

It introduces a novel RDF-based model for library metadata that enables autonomous data use and links academic entities to uncover networks in the Semantic Web context.

Findings

Metadata can be used independently of resources in the Semantic Web.

The proposed model links academic entities to reveal networks.

Library catalogs can provide answers beyond specific documents.

Abstract

This study argues that metadata of library catalogs can stand autonomously, providing valuable information detached from the resources they point to and, therefore, could be used as data in the context of the Semantic Web. We present an analysis of this perception followed by an implementation proposal for a Master's thesis and PhD dissertation repository. The analysis builds on the flexibility of the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and takes into account the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) in order to reveal the latent academic network by linking its entities to a meaningful and computationally processable set. Current library catalogs retrieve documents to find answers, whereas in our approach catalogs can provide answers that could not be found in any specific document.