Library Discovery Systems Research Articles

Beyond the playlist: Looking at user‐generated collocation of cultural products through social tagging

AbstractSocial tagging has become a common practice across a variety of platforms on the Web. In this panel, we propose to start with one title, Casino Royale, a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, and the other cultural products that emanated from it (e.g., two movies, one song, visuals and images, articles and blog posts) to explore social tagging practices and other user‐generated content in a variety of different platforms. Goodreads, Last.fm, WordPress, Flickr and various library discovery systems will be used to expose the connections users establish between and among cultural products as well as to compare what tagging yields in different platforms. The results will be situated within the context of broader studies being performed by the panelists and audience members will be asked to contribute material for real‐time searches.

Leveraging the FRBR model for music discovery and data sharing

PurposeIn 2008, Indiana University received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a project entitled “Variations/FRBR: variations as a testbed for the FRBR conceptual model”. The V/FRBR initiative aims to provide a real world, production implementation in a music digital library system of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) suite of reports from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) that are being presented as revolutionizing library discovery systems. This paper seeks to examine this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses the issues encountered in creating an interoperable data model that implements FRBR concepts. It uses the work of the V/FRBR initiative to describe how FRBR can be used in both a generic and a music‐specific environment.FindingsAn abstract data model representing FRBR at three levels of specificity (two generic and one music‐specific) is defined, along with its binding in XML and plans for expanding into an RDF representation into the future.Practical implicationsThe data model and its XML representation created by the V/FRBR project have the potential to be re‐used by other FRBR‐based cataloging and discovery systems in the future.Originality/valueWhile much discussion of FRBR has taken place in the library community, relatively little formal testing of FRBR‐ized data has been done, with even less widespread reporting of lessons learned. The V/FRBR project is among the first to share detailed information about the practical issues faced when implementing the FRBR models.