Authorities, Entities & Communities

Abstract

Linked data principles benefit from graph theory concepts. Graph theory itself models the relationships between objects. Linked data practice emphasizes the value of assertions (links) that describe an entity of value.

Traditional authority files managed by local or global communities of practice provide excellent input into the creation of entities described by the metadata representing library collections. Linked data theorists advocate the importance of making assertions about real world objects, whereas library authority files document the authorised form of a name or title for entry into a filing system or machine-readable index. An entity that provides the full context for a person is required for an entity of value on the web.

The move to entities as the objects of curation and quality management in library metadata management systems promises benefits to library workflows such as discovery, cataloguing, and web exposure. Those benefits include intuitive discovery, more efficient cataloguing, and effective exposure of library collections on the web.

To achieve these benefits, libraries and supporting library organisations should continue to invest in local and international authority files, continue to invest in aggregations of authority data such as VIAF and ISNI, use Schema.org markup for more effective web exposure, and experiment with the transformation of library metadata to entities instead of traditional record formats.