Resources

This page serves as a centralized compilation of information relevant to current discussion and work of the UT Linked Data Learning Group. Sections below are maintained by group co-facilitators, as informed by group interest and needs.

[Placeholder for near future link: For an introduction to linked data, the semantic web, and recommended readings to understand linked data for libraries and archives, see the Linked Data page on UT Libraries' Metadata Basics LibGuide.]

Linked Data in Alma/Primo Library Services Platform

For current LSP feature information, see the dedicated page Alma/Primo Linked Data Features.

IGeLU/ELUNA Linked Open Data Community of Practice and Working Group

This group focuses on linked data in ExLibris products (including Alma/Primo), hosts community meetings, and maintains a page of resources.

• list-serv: https://exlibrisusers.org/postorius/lists/lod.exlibrisusers.org/

• presentation recordings of IGeLU and ELUNA Show&Tell: https://www.youtube.com/c/IGeLUandELUNAShowTell

• slack channel: igelu-eluna-siwg.slack.com#linked-data (email Xaoli Li if interested to join)

• user story collection form: Google doc

• URIs in Ex Libris Products: Report of current conditions and best practices, May 24, 2022

Updates from the field - resources, presentations, and other links pulled from meeting notes

Experimenting with Excerpt/Insert Excerpt macros

2025-10-22

Updates from the field:

17th Semantic Web in Libraries Conference coming up Nov 17-19 - FREE and online

ExLibris/Alma/Primo updates:

• LOD features in November release of Alma focused on BIBFRAME records (UTL does not currently have BIBFRAME support enabled)

• LOD features in November release of Primo VE focused on Next Discovery Experience (NDE) for early adopters - UTL plans to transition to NDE next year.

• ongoing discussion of potential improvements to Person Pages in Primo on ExLibrs LOD listserv (Stuart Yates)

European BIBFRAME Workshop:

• Recordings have been published

UNAM XXII Conferencia Internacional sobre Bibliotecas Universitarias:

• Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

2025-09-24

Updates from the field:

• ExLibris/Alma/Primo updates

  • Works search available in Alma, for institutions with BIBFRAME Support enabled.

  • Current documentation about Linked Data and BIBFRAME in Alma/Primo:

    • https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Materials/010Roadmap/Linked_Open_Data

    • https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_%28English%29/090Integrations_with_External_Systems/030Resource_Management/200Linked_Data

    • https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/Metadata_Management/005Introduction_to_Metadata_Management/BIBFRAME_Support

    • https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/linked_data/

    • https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/linked_data/BIBFRAME/

• Recent UT iSchooler project at Library of Congress, involving LOC data and Wikidata items for historic landmarks/buildings and landscapes in testing of geocoder performance.

2025-08-27

Updates from the field:

• ALA highlights

  • ACRL discussion group at ALA – what should ACRL do to support libraries in the context of AI? - DRAFT AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers

  • OCLC sneak peek of a BIBFRAME editor

  • OCLC collaboration with West Virginia University Libraries to pilot a NACO semi-automated workflow through the use of Meridian, WorldCat Entities, and a WorldCat ontology 2 MARC format for Authority Data mapping (The Mothman properties)

  • Equinox collaboration with the King County Library System (WA) to research implementation of BIBFRAME in public libraries, and how Evergreen can make use of metadata that originates form BIBFRAME

ExLibris/Primo update

• View-level configurations for Person Entity, requested in Idea Exchange, confirmed as now available

LD4 Conference takeaways

• Session recordings are available in a YouTube playlist (note several sessions may be grouped together in one recording in the list)

• Takeaways from Performing Arts session

  • The LD4 Art & Design Affinity Group is proposing to develop a separate affinity group for performance- and time-based records, such as theatre, dance, music, film, etc.   https://ld4.github.io/art-design/

  • NYPL (Emma Clarkson, Samie Konet) , have been developing data models that distinguish and link theatre companies, performances, theatre buildings, and performance halls within buildings   - https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_New_York_Public_Library/Projects   (see the "Enhancing Off-Broadway theatres" project in particular)

  • For data modelling references, they point to: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Performing_arts   and   https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Cultural_venues

    • Emma Clarkson, emmaclarkson@nypl.org  ; Samie Konet, samiekonet@nypl.org

  • MLA LDWG ("Ludwig") group - works on data modeling for music-related records https://cmc.wp.musiclibraryassoc.org/mla-linked-data-working-group/

  • Harvard Film Archive Project - data modeling for film/video works including recordings of performances and events, and the film reel or video cassette object and its variants,  https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Linked_Data_for_Production/Harvard_Film_Archive_Project

• Discovery Affinity Group session: opportunities and questions about discovery and linked data slides and discussion notes

  • Discovery Affinity Group charge and running meeting notes

  • Linked Data in Systems for Discovery spreadsheet

• Enhancing Discovery and Workflows: The Alma and Primo Linked Data Expedition in a Hybrid Metadata World session PDF presentation and recording

  • Linked Open Data Form Editor general availability H1 2026

• Wikidata Workflows for ORCID and OpenRefine, Binghamton University lightning talk, PDF presentation and recording - Adding ORCIDs to faculty items to support discovery of scholarly output and leverage identifiers

Related resources mentioned in group discussion during meeting

• Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmgbk1x6RSY

• Arches (Getty), similar to what we understand about Alma, it isn’t a triple store – it breaks the triples up into a SQL database. Same with the systems that power the Getty’s linked data service, and Islandora as well.

2025-07-23

Announcements:

• Call for TCDL planning committee is open https://www.tdl.org/2025/07/tcdl-2026-call-for-committee-members/

• LD4 conference is next week! https://2025ld4.sched.com/ https://sites.google.com/stanford.edu/ld4-community-site/conferences Sessions on Wikidata, Arches, Alma Primo

Updates from the field:

• Library of Congress June 2025 BIBFRAME Update Forum Monday, June 30, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT - Recording link

• OCLC cataloging community meeting - Elliot attended, heard about effort to transform Dewey into linked data, for concepts

Primo Person cards/pages - submitted ideas generated in this group to Ex Libris Idea Exchange for Primo:

• add an expandable disclaimer option in the Person Info Card panel with text that institutions could control

• add an option for users to request more information about a person, giving user communities agency to prioritize authority work by information professionals - related to NACO “Lite” and EMCO

Analysis of Wikidata item changes, presentation by Josh Conrad https://utexas.box.com/s/csbec4ehs0jx1illq37ivo08nrm4r8zx

2025-06-25

Updates from the field - lots of upcoming webinars/conference sessions:

• Library of Congress June 2025 BIBFRAME Update Forum coming up Monday, June 30, 2025, 1:00 PM EDT via Zoom.

  • Recording link will be posted to the Library of Congress BIBFRAME site.

• ALA Linked Data sessions (June 26-30) (Paloma attending ALA, will take notes and report out next meeting)

  • OCLC cataloging community meeting – new developments in OCLC cataloging, including plans for BIBFRAME

  • The Mothman Properties: Exploring linked data at West Virginia University

  • BIBFRAME in Production: Practical Insights and Case Studies from UC Davis and Penn Libraries

  • Making It Real: Preparing for BIBFRAME in Public Libraries

  • PCC and Linked Data: Successes and Challenges of Implementing Linked Data

• ELUNA conference sessions

  • Linked Data and AI: Harnessing the power of both for transforming Library Services

  • Navigating Challenges and Embracing Opportunities: Advancing Linked Open Data Initiatives in Libraries

Debrief on Open Data presentation from 4/23:

• What could RDS do with Linked Open Data?

  • Since UT Libraries and other Texas Digital Library members are using the Texas Data Repository, perhaps the Linked Data Notification API in Dataverse feature could be useful?

    • seems more like citation notification, as opposed to linked data applications we are used to thinking about

    • Related recent paper: Knowledge Graphs and Semantic Search in Dataverse (2023)

    • https://coar-notify.net/specification/  

    • https://coar-notify.net/use-cases/  

    • https://coar-notify.net/use-cases/linking/ (most relevant for our many sites?)

Debrief on Primo Person card and page user study from 4/23:

• See Person cards/pages in UTL Primo Sandbox environment

• Irene Sibi’s user study project report:

2025-04-23

Updates from the field:

• Getting Started with LC BIBFRAME in Alma session on 4/22, hosted by ELUNA/IGeLU Linked Open Data Community of Practice Working Group.

  • Recording

  • Melanie’s notes from meeting.

  • Several resources shared ahead of the meeting:

    • “Using the Ex Libris API Console: Adding, Updating, and Deleting BIBFRAME records “by the each” (Healther Pretty, Memorial University of Newfoundland) -- [video, 22 minutes]

      • Using the Ex Libris API Console (slides)

    • “Discussion on Importing BIBFRAME with the Alma API Jupyter Notebook” (Jim Hahn, University of Pennsylvania)  -- [video, 15 minutes]

    • “Importing BIBFRAME into Alma with Python” (Stefan Schuh, Austrian Library Network and Service Ltd.) -- [Python code on GitHub]

  • Additionally, if you’d like to explore the features mentioned in the resources above in your own Alma environment, you'll need to:

    • Enable BIBFRAME features following instructions outlined in the “Enabling BIBFRAME Features” document

    • Set up an API Key (instructions are in this slide presentation)

Open data presentation by Michael Shensky and Bryan Gee, UT Libraries Research Data Services

• Slides

• Example of open data: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

User study on the Primo Person card and page presentation by Irene Sibi, HRC FWS employee and UT iSchool student - Slides

2025-03-26

ALA Core Interest week

• Paloma and Elliot attended Jim Hahn’s session on the BIBFRAMinator

Resources from conversation about Linked Open Data

• https://www.navigating.art/about-us

• https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/lod/index.html

• https://www.ontotext.com/knowledgehub/fundamentals/linked-data-linked-open-data/

• https://linked.art/loud/

• https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/Linked_Data_Getty_Vocabularies.pdf

• https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html?_gl=1*uy2me7*_ga*MTMxMzExNjk3My4xNzQzMDE5NzU3*_ga_HGSKWBWCRK*MTc0MzAyMDM2NC4xLjAuMTc0MzAyMDM2NC4wLjAuMA