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William Weathers

Bio: William Weathers is an academic researcher from University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The author has contributed to research in topics: RDF & Metadata repository. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 30 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using a test set of MARC21 records describing 30,000 retrospectively digitized books, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library explored options for adding links, transforming into non-library specific LOD-friendly semantics, and deploying as RDF to maximize the utility of these records.
Abstract: Today researchers search for books in various ways. Once discovered, a variety of Web technologies can be used to link to related resources and/or associate context with a book. This environment creates an opportunity for libraries. The linked open data (LOD) model of the Web offers a potential foundation for innovative user services and the wider dissemination of bibliographic metadata. However, best practices for transforming library catalog records into LOD are still evolving. The practical utility on the Semantic Web of library metadata transformed from MARC remains unclear. Using a test set of MARC21 records describing 30,000 retrospectively digitized books, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library explored options for adding links, transforming into non-library specific LOD-friendly semantics, and deploying as RDF to maximize the utility of these records. This paper highlights lessons learned during this process, discusses findings to date, and suggests possible avenues for furt...

34 citations


Cited by
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Proceedings ArticleDOI
23 May 2018
TL;DR: Results indicated that IPs find the process of integrating and interlinking LD datasets particularly challenging, and that current LD tooling does not meet their needs.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the benefits and challenges to using Linked Data (LD) in Libraries, Archives and Museums (LAMs) as perceived by Information Professionals (IPs). The study also aimed to gain an insight into potential solutions for overcoming these challenges. Data was collected via a questionnaire which was completed by 185 Information Professionals (IPs) from a range of LAM institutions. Results indicated that IPs find the process of integrating and interlinking LD datasets particularly challenging, and that current LD tooling does not meet their needs. The study showed that LD tools designed with the workflows and expertise of IPs in mind could help overcome these challenges.

23 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper aims to describe how linked data technologies can change the digital library collections, what are the benefits of linked data applications in digital libraries andWhat are the challenges of digital libraries in linked data environment.
Abstract: This paper aims to describe how linked data technologies can change the digital library collections, what are the benefits of linked data applications in digital libraries and what are the challenges of digital libraries in linked data environment.,The present study is based on substantial literature review on the applications of linked data technologies in digital libraries. The search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Google Scholar were used to find the relevant literature for the study. Online databases such as Pro Quest, Science Direct, Emerald and JSTORE were also used to find the relevant literature of the study. Databases of Library Sciences Library and Information Science and Technology Abstracts and Library Information Science Abstracts were also used to find the relevant literature of the study. Library, linked data technologies, Semantic Web, digital library and digital collections were the main keywords which were used to find the relevant literature for the study.,The evolution of linked data technologies and Semantic Web has changed the traditional role of the libraries. Traditional libraries are converting into digital libraries and digital libraries are in a struggle to publish their resources on the Web using XML-based metadata standards. It has made capable the digital collections to be viewed by machines on the Web just like human. On the emergence of linked data applications in digital libraries, Web visibility of the libraries has been enhanced to provide the opportunities for the users to find their required quality information of libraries round-the-clock on the Web. National Library of France, National Library of Spain, Europeana, Digital Public Library of Americana, Library of Congress and The British Library have taken the initiatives to publish their resources on the Web using linked data technologies.,This study present several key issues for policy makers, software developers, decision makers and library administrators about linked data technologies and its implementations in digital libraries. The present study may play its role to facilitate the users of the Web who are enthusiastically interested to exploit the quality and authentic library resources on the Web round-the-clock. Search engines will also achieve their longstanding goal to exploit the quality resources of the libraries for their Web users to make their Web appearance more credible and trustworthy.

19 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Overall, the results reveal that most of the libraries are in the infancy stage of LD application because of the ambivalent nature of technology, and it is beneficial to devise guidelines to transform the aforementioned different challenges into opportunities.
Abstract: Purpose This study aims to explore linked data (LD) initiatives in libraries and information (LI) centres along with motivating factors to start these LD projects and challenges faced by librarians in implementing LD technology. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objectives of the study, a systematic literature review was conducted. The preferred reporting items were used for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guideline. Data were collected from different scholarly databases. Findings Findings show that many initiatives were taken in LI centres during the past decade. These LI centres had to face many challenges to implement LD technology. These challenges might include technological issues, scarce financial resources, lack of skilled human resources, low level of awareness among community/librarians, proprietary licence, non-availability of standards and best practices. However, technological challenges were more complex. Systematic review shows that most of the LD initiatives and activities in LI centres take place in developed countries. Overall, the results reveal that most of the libraries are in the infancy stage of LD application because of the ambivalent nature of technology. Originality/value This study may be beneficial to devise guidelines to transform the aforementioned different challenges into opportunities. It is also important to provide a holistic picture about the challenges and opportunities of LD through a systematic review of initiatives already taken by LI centres.

19 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research work first performs baseline retrieval by considering the contribution of query formulation, document representation, and retrieval model, and devises a re-ranking solution that exploits ratings, tags, reviews, and votes in reordering the baseline search results.
Abstract: Social Book Search is an Information Retrieval (IR) approach that studies the impact of the Social Web on book retrieval. To understand this impact, it is necessary to develop a stronger classical baseline run by considering the contribution of query formulation, document representation, and retrieval model. Such a stronger baseline run can be re-ranked using metadata features from the Social Web to see if it improves the relevance of book search results over the classical IR approaches. However, existing studies neither considered collectively the contribution of the three mentioned factors in the baseline retrieval nor devised a re-ranking formula to exploit the collective impact of the metadata features in re-ranking. To fill these gaps in the literature, this research work first performs baseline retrieval by considering all three factors. For query formulation, it uses topic sets obtained from the discussion threads of LibraryThing. For book representation in indexing, it uses metadata from social websites including Amazon and LibraryThing. For the role of the retrieval model, it experiments with traditional, probabilistic, and fielded models. Second, it devises a re-ranking solution that exploits ratings, tags, reviews, and votes in reordering the baseline search results. Our best-performing retrieval methods outperform existing approaches on several topic sets and relevance judgments. The findings suggest that using all topic fields formulates the best search queries. The user-generated content gives better book representation if made part of the search index. Re-ranking the classical/baseline results improves relevance. The findings have implications for information science, IR, and Interactive IR.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article will describe the various stages in a linked data creation project, using North Carolina State University Libraries’ Organization Name Linked Data (ONLD) project as an example and sharing specific approaches that the project team took to produce and publish their data set.

11 citations