Showing papers in "JLIS.it in 2020"

The Database of the EMoBookTrade Project. A Proposal to Encode Early Modern Book Prices and Privileges

Abstract: The EMoBookTrade project, funded by the European Research Council and directed by Angela Nuovo, has developed a database on book prices (ca. 1530-1630) and book privileges (Venice, 1469 to 1603). This web application shows that digital humanities can play an innovative role in historical research at the same time respecting traditional scientific methods and the needs of ground-breaking inter-disciplinary research. Indeed, the EMoBookTrade DB takes into account both the representation of different kinds of sources and the processing of data deriving from them. Therefore, thanks to a rigorously designed conceptual model, the front end allows for a simple and straightforward source and data representation together with a complex search engine, the results of which can be downloaded in a CSV format suitable for statistical analyses. This article also aims to propose an ontology of price setting and privilege grants, considered as events concerned with the history of the book and the economic history. JLIS.it 11, 2 (May 2020) ISSN: 2038-1026 online Open access article licensed under CC-BY DOI: 10.4403/jlis.it-12612

In Margin of Hybrid Archives and integrated Systems

Abstract: Why define and describe an archive as hybrid? Haven’t archives always been hybrid in terms of media, functionality and purpose? And won’t they still be such in the future? Some reflections originate from these questions, starting from the definition and meaning of the term hybrid, the validity of principles and methods of the archival tradition in the digital environment, the organization of archives free from predetermined schemes, the role and activity of the archivist, of archival description and of multidimensional representation in an environment defined as hybrid.

Semantic Indexing of Musical Resources. The Application of the Nuovo soggettario System and its Implementation with a specialized Terminology

Abstract: The goal of this study is to present an overview of issues related to subject indexing of musical resources and also to describe what ‘subject’ access means in this domain. In other Countries subject indexing is realized with a lot of initiatives throughout the years, such as LCSH, the Music Thesaurus Project, Musaurus, and Rilm; in Italy the Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus could be the tool for this practice. As a matter of fact, The Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus comply with international standards and is freely accessible on the Web. It is steadily growing thanks to the efforts of the National Library of Florence (BNCF) as well as the external collaboration of several institutions. The Thesaurus, organized in a hierarchical arrangement, with a thoroughly faceted and synthetically list of terms, provides many links which allow connections to other knowledge organization tools as well as archival and museum resources. The Thesaurus structure is based on four conceptual categories which contain classes of concepts with common characteristics. Furthermore, terms are provided with a rich apparatus of notes and a dense network of semantic relationships (BT, NT, RT) that clarify the meaning of the terms. The Thesaurus is integrated with the BNCF’s opac and other libraries’ one, which use it in the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) and users can browse through vocabulary to the bibliographic records. A large number of terms has a cross-language equivalence relationship with Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) preferred terms, linked at “Equiv. LCSH”. This article aims to present the possibility of enriching the terminological heritage of the Thesaurus with musical terminology. In addition, a case study (Sinfonie term) is presented which describes some interesting peculiarities about the musical terms. The management of the term has involved the examination of the scope note (SN) which is usually used for polysemi-terms. The case of Sinfonie is a significant example of this because of the evolution that the form has undergone over the centuries. This study also illustrates how a general thesaurus could be profitably employed also in a specific domain as well as how the results could be improved if librarians and specialists collaborate.

Knowledge Representation of digital Hermeneutics of archival and literary Sources

Abstract: Scholarly analysis of archival, library, and literary sources results in a variety of digital artefacts meant to foster knowledge discovery and new research enquiries. Guidelines and standards to formally represent disciplinary information are available (e.g. XML schemas, ontologies, vocabularies). However, digital artefacts rarely address reusable structured information on the hermeneutical approach adopted by scholars when validating hypotheses. As a consequence, reproducibility and assessment of research results is hampered, and comparing online contradictory information is still a hard task. In this work we show how to leverage Semantic Web technologies in a high-level, portable data model for representing hermeneutical aspects related to cross-disciplinary analysis of archival and literary sources. We showcase three representative scenarios in the Cultural Heritage domain where the model is applied, and we describe benefits and limits of our solution.

Using correspondence to underline changes in a historiographical network. Ideas for an inter-archival analysis starting from the correspondence between Armando Sapori, Gino Luzzatto, Roberto S. Lopez and Angelo Sraffa

Abstract: Lo scopo di questo studio e di analizzare alcuni scambi di corrispondenza per esplicitare una serie di legami tra entita ricorrenti trovate nei documenti, entita che formano un network complesso in cui corrispondenti, persone, libri e articoli citate nelle lettere, entita citate legate al mondo accademico e i documenti stessi sono uniti tra loro. La prospettiva della multidimensionalita dell'ambiente in cui si trovano le fonti, che e composta dalla dimensione verticale - i singoli documenti che compongono la corrispondenza - e la dimensione orizzontale - rappresentata dai collegamenti tra le dimensioni verticali - aiuta a procedere con l'analisi di questi collegamenti inter-archivistici. Questa analisi e effettuata due livelli: il focus sulla corrispondenza generale ( distant reading ) e poi su un singolo documento facente parte della corrispondenza ( close reading ). La corrispondenza tra Armando Sapori e Gino Luzzatto e stata il punto di partenza per la creazione del dataset, poi ampliato con i documenti delle corrispondenze tra Roberto Sabatino Lopez e Gino Luzzatto, Armando Sapori e Lopez, Angelo Sraffa e Sapori. I risultati della network analysis rendono esplicite le connessioni tra le varie entita: a livello macro sottolineano i cambiamenti nel tempo della corrispondenza, mentre a livello micro evidenziano link tra nodi all'interno di singoli documenti.

Intellectual Freedom as core Value for library Collections : an international Outlook

Abstract: La liberta intellettuale ha una continua applicazione in biblioteca, particolarmente nell’ambito dello sviluppo delle collezioni. Questo articolo in primo luogo esamina la liberta intellettuale e la censura nelle dichiarazioni dell’IFLA, di alcune associazioni bibliotecarie europee e, infine, dell’ALA . Quindi vengono analizzati gli strumenti dell’ALA a difesa della liberta intellettuale, soffermandosi in particolare, seguendo lo specifico “manuale” dell’ALA, sulle politiche di sviluppo e di selezione delle collezioni e sulla procedura di riconsiderazione dei materiali, in quanto policies fondamentali a prevenzione e difesa dagli eventuali attacchi alla liberta intellettuale in biblioteca. Vengono poi esaminate le principali tipologie di censura che riguardano le collezioni delle biblioteche ed anche l’autocensura, detta anche “censura sileziosa”, le sue caratteristiche e le strategie di difesa, e si fa riferimento ad un particolare tipo di pressione commerciale nel processo di selezione, tendente all’omologazione delle collezioni. Infine viene presa in considerazione la posizione di Micheal Gorman relativamente alla liberta intellettuale, riaffermando ancora la liberta intellettuale come un valore anche per la selezione e lo sviluppo delle collezioni.

From Authority Enrichment to AuthorityBox. Applying RDA in a Koha environment

Abstract: If used up to their most important recommendations, RDA guidelines lead to a semantic web oriented catalog. Both authority and bibliographic records require to be curated, especially under the point of view of persistent identifiers, connecting entities to relevant external resources, thus boosting the navigability of the retrieved information and finally of the whole catalog. To dramatically improve these goals, also established records need to be provided with links, URIs, or persistent identifiers. An automatic approach was studied and applied in two phases to authority records of a Koha catalog. A new tool was created and added to the detailed display of a bibliographic record in order to show valuable information for each agent having a responsibility.

Birth and Development of Data Librarianship

Abstract: Data librarianship and the role of the data librarian are an established reality in many countries, even though at different levels. Particularly, academic librarians have been involved in research data management for a long time and this role is acquiring precise features. In Italy, the data librarian is a figure still to be built and defined. The aim of the article is to offer a first systematic exploration in the fields of data librarianship and the role of the data librarian, both in their practical (what activities) and methodological (how activities are performed) features. The hope is to encourage the beginning of a necessary reflection on these topics.

Preservation of Linked Open Data

Abstract: The paper explores the strategies and methods for preserving Linked Open Data (LOD). To this aim it first presents an overview of the main scientific initiatives that have dealt with this topic. Then it describes some digital technologies that may result useful for preserving LOD, providing some insights on their application to LOD. It also provides a concrete example of implementation of the Semantic Web technologies for preserving Linked Data. Finally, it suggests some specific themes and directions that should be further investigated in order to elaborate a comprehensive solution to this problem: the preservation of Linked Open Data cannot be demanded to a single tool or method, it is rather the result of technical, organizational and procedural choices that altogether make up a consistent framework for LOD preservation.

Proposal of Visual Literacy Indicators for competencies courses. An academic literacy perspective for academic excellence

Abstract: The paper presents the results of a reasearch based on the evaluation culture approach and particularly on the social corporate responsibility of universities and their duty to account for the quality of their mission, researches, teaching and dissemination of knowledge. Metrics and international rankings have been developed to measure value and performance of the universities; as a consequence, the academic world must express appropriate means in order to improve its position in quality evaluation rankings. The research project focuses on “La Sapienza” University of Rome and especially on international rankings and metrics used to measure its degree of information literacy.The indicators that would take advantage of a program devoted to digital competences are here listed and analyzed to underline: a) the instructional plan, based on the cooperation between researchers-professors and librarians; connectivism as a pedagogical concept; the flipped classroom methodology; the necessity of taking into due account visual competencies and social networks; Educational Digital Objects as Web didactic materials; b) the educational plan meant to enhance visual competences, given the relevance of virtual and augmented reality for university education. The best Visual Literacy standards are selected to empower iconic and visual reading and to envision effective goals, learnign units, methodology and quality. The evaluation must then be considered as one of the principal results of the research itself: it must be based on competecies and quality, and the 13 indicators suggested to measure the educational program – feedback and other metrics included – will be of great use to help the University to highlight its quality standards.

Inside the Meanings. The Usefulness of a Register of Ontologies in the cultural Heritage Sector

Abstract: L’articolo affronta il tema del semantic web e della pubblicazione delle informazioni relative al patrimonio culturale in modalita linked open data . In particolare, oggetto dell’analisi sono i registri di ontologie, vale a dire quegli strumenti che descrivono formalmente i modelli ontologici disponibili sul web e ne agevolano il reperimento e la valutazione, incentivandone il riuso e facilitando i processi di allineamento semantico e di interoperabilita. I registri di ontologie rispondono in modo efficace all’assenza di strumenti di riferimento e di orientamento nei processi di modellazione concettuale delle risorse informative e sono stati sperimentati con successo in diversi domini, ma sono ancora inediti in ambito culturale. L’esame delle iniziative condotte nell’ultimo decennio nell’ambito dei beni culturali ha evidenziato con chiarezza la mancanza di un assetto epistemologico consolidato nella modellazione concettuale delle risorse informative, a fronte delle numerose ontologie realizzate in funzione dei molteplici progetti di pubblicazione di linked open data . Di conseguenza, risulta tutt’altro che agevole conoscere esaustivamente tutte le ontologie disponibili in relazione al proprio ambito di interesse ed ottenere in maniera agevole e sistematica una valutazione attendibile circa la loro capacita rappresentativa e il loro grado di interoperabilita semantica. L’analisi dei principali registri di ontologie finora realizzati al di fuori del dominio dei beni culturali ha consentito di individuare e definire i requisiti di un registro di ontologie per i beni culturali, e di elaborarne la relativa ontologia. L’esplicitazione dei requisiti ha tenuto conto anche di una peculiare funzione che i registri potrebbero svolgere nel dominio culturale, come strumenti a supporto di alcune funzionalita di una digital library del patrimonio culturale.

“Le ordinarono in serie a proprio ed altrui vantaggio”. Collections of autographs and archival science

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reflect on production, organization and tradition of autograph collections since the beginning until the end of the nineteenth century. In particulary, these collections, considered by the classical archival science only such one of the principle causes of destruction of the archives and as the result of the collectors’ craze that pervaded Europe in that turn of years, were used as a kind of archives, where historians could find all sorts of records, performing a para-archivistical function in absence of the availability of public archives, also influencing the methods of the archival arrangement.

OAI-PMH and Linked Open Data in the context of Hispana and Europeana. Some historical reflections

Abstract: Se resume la gestacion y desarrollo de Hispana: Acceso en linea al patrimonio cultural sobre el protocolo Open Archives Initiative, y su evolucion basada en una estrategia del Ministerio de Cultura de Espana de convocar ayudas para el desarrollo de proyectos de digitalizacion normalizados. Se analizan brevemente los efectos de los cambios en la estructura de datos de Europeana y su reflejo en las instituciones de memoria europeas y espanolas.

Wikidata at Fondazione Levi (Venice, Italy). A Case Study for the Publication of Data about Fondo Gambara, a Collection of 202 Musicians’ Portraits

Abstract: L’articolo presenta un caso di studio per la pubblicazione su Wikidata dei dati del Fondo Gambara, raccolta grafica composta da duecento-due ritratti, prevalentemente di musicisti della fine dell’Ottocento conservata presso la Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi di Venezia. Lo scopo dello studio era la sperimentazione della pubblicazione di un campione di dati del database Levidata su Wikidata e la definizione del flusso di lavoro ottimale da utilizzare in modo piu esteso per la pubblicazione progressiva dei dati di tutti i fondi rilevanti individuati. L’articolo presenta le fasi del processo di pubblicazione dei dati: individuazione e raccolta, analisi ed elaborazione dello schema delle proprieta di Wikidata, riconciliazione, caricamento e controllo. Si discutono infine i risultati raggiunti e i vantaggi attesi e ottenuti dalla pubblicazione dei dati su Wikidata.

Universities, Third Mission and academic libraries’ heritage. Towards an assessment scheme

Abstract: The guidelines about Third Mission/Social Impact published by the Italian relevant authority (ANVUR) in November 2018 are focused also on the academic libraries’ heritage and on the activities aimed to promote it. This heritage – not only the special collections but also the buildings where libraries are housed – is unique and original, so can identify each library. As libraries’ heritage is often fascinating, as well as outstanding from the historical and artistic points of view, and sometimes of local interest, it can attract non-academic audiences, too. Many different skills (about history, bibliography, ICT, marketing, financial management etc.) are required to manage projects on libraries’ heritage, so cooperation both with academic staff and external partners may be helpful. Furthermore, this perspective can make academic libraries explore new ways to strengthen their role in society (e.g. cultural tourism). An evaluation scheme for such activities is proposed thanks to some methodological suggestions gathered from professional literature, guidelines, reports and case-studies. The scheme refers to academic libraries in the context of Third Mission/Social Impact..

When Linked Data is (not) enough. Cataloguing Tools between Obsolescence and Innovation

Abstract: The irruption of the informative space of Web, as new manner to disseminate and share information content, has imposed in the last years an important rethinking of international bibliographic production in its theoretical and methodological basis. In this paper we try to understand the evolutive way of the cataloguing tools though the identification and definition of several change factors (technical and functional): which could be in the next future the new challenges related to the creation and treatment of information?

Sustainable. Libraries in the time of ecological crisis (notes in the margin of Going Green)

Abstract: Going green e un recente volume IFLA che ospita un’ottima rassegna di cio che le biblioteche stanno facendo, in varie parti del mondo, per proteggere l’ambiente e per aiutare le loro comunita, la collettivita tutta, a fronteggiare la crisi ecologica. In piu, Going Green ci consente anche di riflettere sulle implicazioni che un’opzione verde e sostenibile comporta nel modo di interpretare il ruolo sociale delle biblioteche stesse e nell’orientarne le politiche e i modelli gestionali, migliorarne la percezione nella sfera pubblica, valutarne l’impatto. L’articolo ha lo scopo di inquadrare e discutere i contenuti del libro alla luce del percorso concettuale e applicativo del Green Library Movement. Quest’ultimo tende oggi a stabilizzare – nelle biblioteche e con le biblioteche – un’idea di sostenibilita non solo ambientale, ma anche sociale, economica e culturale.

ISNI and traditional authority work

Abstract: This article describes key differences between ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) and the authority work traditionally performed at libraries. Authority work is concerned with establishing a unique form of name for a person and collocating materials under that form of name. ISNI, on the other hand, is concerned with establishing a unique numerical identifier for each entity, and differentiating distinct entities. The focus of the work becomes identity management rather than the establishment of authorized name forms. This article looks not only at the differences in workflows, but also explains how these theoretical differences can affect the way librarians identify and collocate named entities. The focus is on the future, and how we can best use our skills to ensure that entities are properly differentiated and accessible to our patrons.

L'Edizione digitale dell'epistolario di Alcide De Gasperi: Alcune riflessioni su un progetto in corso

Abstract: This article presents the National Edition of Alcide De Gasperi’s correspondence project (www.epistolariodegasperi.it). An introduction about digital editions, where some examples of the publication of letters in digital form are offered, is followed by a description of the project, of the reasons why the online edition was chosen and of the technical features of the software for the collection of metadata, digital images and transcriptions. Finally, after a description of the methods for the publication of correspondence on the open access platform of the National Edition, the future developments of the publishing initiative, especially in terms of browsing the records in the database, are summarized.

The Reengineering of the Process of Signature of administrative Documents at the Università Politecnica delle Marche

Abstract: L'articolo descrive il progetto relativo alla reingegnerizzazione del processo di firma dei documenti amministrativi monocratici avviato nell’Universita Politecnica delle Marche. Dopo un accenno al quadro normativo di riferimento, si descrivera il caso di studio con un approccio di Business Process Reengineering : l’ambito di applicazione dell’intervento, le fasi di diagnosi delle criticita e delle priorita, la riprogettazione del processo, sviluppata in linguaggio di Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) ed infine il prodotto della reingegnerizzazione, ovvero la produzione di un flusso di lavoro informatizzato ed integrato nel sistema di gestione documentale.

Introductory Note to the Article “Aspetti e problemi della ricerca biblioteconomica di Luigi Balsamo”

Abstract: The purpose of this contribution is to introduce Luigi Balsamo’s article “Aspetti e problemi della ricerca biblioteconomica” originally published in «Bollettino d’informazioni. Associazione Italiana Biblioteche» (vol. 14, n. 1, 1974). Taking into consideration the situation in Italy of that time, Balsamo’s article highlights the limitations of the research in the LIS field, especially in comparison with foreign experiences in the same disciplinary area, as well as a substantial lack of government policy for libraries. Balsamo’s article also outlines a future development perspective for librarianship based on the close relationship that must exist between university and profession: the relationship between these two areas can act as a stimulus for the implementation and improvement of public library services, also in relation to the development of regional autonomies in the field of cultural heritage which, precisely in those years, began to take shape.