Design a Web-based Application that Could Expedite Creating Metadata Associated with Existing Works

The world output of publications is growing swiftly, and users searching the Internet are inundated—and yet may not be able to locate the most relevant works within a sea of information. The ever-expanding range of information resources (articles, digital collections) and the addition of non-English cataloging to union catalogs both create more challenges in aggregating related titles and the works of authors together. We require appropriate metadata to fully unleash the value of the collective collection.

The Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) provides a framework for aggregating individual manifestations (editions, translations) into expressions, works, and superworks. Leveraging FRBR and data-mining techniques, it may be possible to expedite the creation of metadata for new versions of known works, related works, and for similar works.

This project will evaluate sources of metadata and propose a design for a Web-based application that could repurpose existing metadata to pre-populate data elements that are shared among works. It will also assess the feasibility of implementing this application and whether it could lead to wider implementation of FRBR applications.

A working group of RLG Programs partners will be convened to contribute use scenarios and review the proposed design.