BIBFRAME beginnings : educating ourselves for the linked data future

Colleagues from 3 collecting organizations on the UT-Austin campus (UT Libraries, the Harry Ransom Center, and the Tarlton Law Library) came together to develop knowledge and skills in anticipation of life after MARC. The group’s collaborative education efforts around BIBFRAME and linked data for libraries included in-depth discussions of current publications and resources; formal training strategies; and hands-on experimentation transforming local metadata to BIBFRAME. The results? Insight on mapping complexities, data loss, false transformations, potential new metadata displays, and the limitations of the tools involved. Overall, the experimentation process helped raise new questions about what is needed to move towards linked data and the frontier of Technical Services staff skillsets. Panelists in this session will report on approaches to maximizing the group learning experience, lessons learned from grappling with new concepts, data models, terminology, and tools, and what they see as emerging questions and next steps. Participants will be able to identify challenges involved in moving towards BIBFRAME and linked data, and describe advantages of collaborative group learning strategies.