Pragmatic Principles for Archival Linked Data
Where does linked data fit in archival description? How do we get from promise to implementation? This article evaluates the benefits and limitations of current approaches to linked data in archival work. It proposes four pragmatic principles for the archival community to follow when determining how to pursue linked data. This approach engages with communities (both inside and outside cultural heritage institutions) already publishing linked data, accounts for institutional resource limitations, and recognizes the need for technological, educational, and social support for institutions and workers. Through an examination of the work of the Archives and Linked Data Interest Group with Schema.org and Wikidata, the article provides case studies that explore how these pragmatic principles for archival linked data create inclusive, rather than exclusive, communities.ABSTRACT
Screenshot of the ArchivesSpace Agent record
Graph demonstrating implied connections between ArchivesSpace and Wikidata
Contributor Notes
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Elizabeth Russey Roke is the Discovery and Metadata Archivist at the Stuart A. Rose Library of Emory University. Primarily focused on description, discovery, and access to special collections materials, she works on a variety of technology projects and initiatives related to metadata standards, linked data, archival descriptive practice, and discovery. She currently is a member of the ArchivesSpace Technical Advisory Council, SAA's Technical Subcommittee on Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS), and the LD4 Community Steering Committee. She is also an adjunct instructor at Dominican University. Roke holds a dual MA/MLS from the University of Maryland.
Ruth Kitchin Tillman is the Sally W. Kalin Librarian for Technological Innovation at the Penn State University Libraries. She has written and presented on metadata encoding standards, library discovery, linked data, institutional repositories, and labor. She coleads her library's Program for Cooperative Cataloging Wikidata Pilot Group and has contributed to the Art and Rare Materials BIBFRAME Extension, NISO's 2020 Linked Data Focus Group, and to other linked data and metadata efforts. Tillman holds an MLS from the University of Maryland.