[XML4Lib] mods: the new marc?

[Kyle Fenton]

Hi Eric,

If you choose MODS you'd have as company the Digital Library  
Federation, who have developed a MODS profile for its Aquifer project:

http://wiki.dlib.indiana.edu/confluence/display/DLFAquifer/DLF+Aquifer+Public+Metadata+Documents

  If you want to store extended information that MODS does not cover,  
you might consider wrapping MODS inside one or another of the METS  
profiles already available.

--
Kyle Fenton
Emory University Libraries

P.S.  -- you may be interested in the current email threads on NGC4LIB  
regarding next generation cataloging issues (esp. FRBR)


On Dec 16, 2007, at 4:34 PM, Eric Lease Morgan wrote:

>
> Is MODS the new MARC?
>
> As you may or may not know, I advocate "catalogs" include content  
> beyond the things a library owns or licenses. Moreover, I advocate  
> libraries take a more active role in collecting and providing  
> services against information resources no matter where they reside  
> on a network. Don't get me wrong, I don't advocating "cataloging"  
> the entire Internet, but I do advocate actively collecting materials  
> apropos to the needs of a particular library's patrons.
>
> In an effort to demonstrate such an idea I would like to collect and  
> provide services against a number of different types of data/ 
> information freely available on the 'Net. Some of these things  
> include but are not to the following listed in no priority order:  
> electronic books/texts (Project Gutenberg, University of Michigan  
> MBooks, Open Content Alliance, etc.), electronic journals from DOAJ,  
> electronic journal articles from DOAJ Articles, pre-prints and post- 
> prints from various OAI repositories, mailing list messages,  
> selected blog postings, theses & dissertations from NDLTD, etc.
>
> Each of the things above can be systematically harvested through the  
> use of OAI, simple Web crawling, or the retrieval of data sets. Once  
> harvested the data could be stored in a database and/or indexed  
> providing the means for discovery and services. The storage of this  
> content in a database begs questions regarding tables, records, and  
> fields. What might they be? Similarly, unless the index is going to  
> be 100% free text, the harvest content/metadata will need to mapped  
> to fields. Again, what fields?
>
> I'm not so naive to believe there is such a thing a the perfect  
> database structure for this "catalog", nor do I believe free text  
> indexing is the answer either. So, what sort of data structure  
> should I use? Not MARC. MODS? Some incarnation of RDF?
>
> If I go this route I see the following plan:
>
>  0. Articulate a collection policy.
>  1. Acquire/harvest content in its raw form.
>  2. Convert the raw content into MODS, RDF, or
>     something else.
>  3. Save/archive the raw data because things get lost
>     in translation.
>  4. Save the MODS or RDF to a (XML) database.
>  5. Parse the MODS or RDF and save it to a
>     (relational) database.
>  6. Run scripts against the database to create things
>     like browsable lists, create new relationships
>     between items, or simply enhanced.
>  7. Index the MODS or RDF, or write a report against
>     the database intended for indexing.
>  8. Provide access to the index (via SRU, OpenSearch,
>     or Z39.50).
>  9. Provide services against the search results such
>     as Get It, Review It, Buy It, Bookmark It, Compare It
>     To Other things, etc.
> 10. Got to Step #1.
>
> Assuming there is no single database structure for such a idea, what  
> flavor of XML would you use as your canonical data format? MODS?  
> RDF? Something else?
>
> -- 
> Eric Lease Morgan
> University Libraries of Notre Dame
>
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