VIAF transitions from prototype to OCLC service
You may have heard the news a couple of weeks ago that VIAF is transitioning from a prototype to a production OCLC service. Yes, and we’re super excited about it. As it said in the official news release,
“The change has been made to assure that VIAF will be well-positioned to scale efficiently as a long-term, cooperative activity. The transition also assures that http://viaf.org will continue to have appropriate infrastructure to respond to rising levels of traffic as VIAF gains momentum and popularity as a resource for library authority work and linked data activities.”
While we’re still in the process in that transition, though, you’ll access documentation and information about VIAF from the Developer point-of-view under the “Experimental” tab of the Web services section. Once all the transition bits are completed, we’ll move the information into the production section, as you’d expect.
The OCLC Global Council this week was all abuzz about Linked Data, among other things. Working from a shared, single authorities file will help realize the promise of linked data even faster. As will Richard Wallis. On behalf of the OCLC Developer Network, welcome Richard!