Update: 6/21/2021: I uploaded a video with sound that demonstrates the process. You can find it here:
During this past year while working on MarcEdit 7.5.x/3.5.x, I’ve been giving some thought to how I might be able to facilitate some workflows to allow users to move data to and from BibFrame. While the tools has had a BibFrame testbed since 1.0 and has included dedicated processes to move data from BibFrame to MARC based on LC’s conversion tools – these have been one-off process that exist outside the normal processing workflows. With some PCC libraries looking at how BibFrame could be integrated into normal workflows and the ongoing need to be able to facilitate the easy move of data between the BibFrame and MARC worlds – I’ve been starting to shift parts that had previously been just in the test bed into the MarcEditor.
I see this work as an initial foray into what I’m assuming will be more development work. To that end, the current version of MarcEdit will see the following changes:
New Config options:
To help facilitate BibFrame processing, MarcEdit needs a little information from the user. These are usually in the form of baseuris, fields where control information is stored, and conversion rules to be utilized. This information will be set in the Options window under a new bibframe area:
This information will be utilized in the generation of bibframe data when moving data from MARC.
Workflows
In the MarcEditor – MarcEdit’s tooling is built around MarcEdit’s mnemonic interface. Added to the Save As and Open options will be options to open and save BibFrame 2.0 RDFXML data. Potentially, this can make it easier to take a record that starts out as MARC – process it, automatically add uris, and then output data in rdfxml for systems that accept data using the bibframe model. Likewise, the tool will provide an option to open rdfxml formatted bibframe data and translate it to MarcEdit’s mnemonic format – where data can then be edited and output in any number of metadata formats. I’ve provided a video (no sound) example of this here: https://twitter.com/reese_terry/status/1405753651520446466
In this video, I pull a record from LC using Z39.50, build uris, then output as rdfxml. I them demonstrate how this rdfxml data can be re-loaded for editing in the MarcEditor. It demonstrate a potential workable workflow – and a starting point as I start to think about how MarcEdit can continue to provide data creation in a wide range of metadata frameworks. As I mentioned on the MarcEdit listserv, while I’m somewhat ambivalent to Bibframe (I don’t actually think most metadata folks need to care about the underlying data output – this is why we build tools to facilitate metadata creation), I’m actually deeply concerned at the schisms these kinds of changes introduce into the library community given the significant investments necessary to take advantage of what bibframe may offer. As I think about the development work I’m doing in MarcEdit, I’m thinking about how MarcEdit can continue to facilitate workflows that allows all our global library community to continue to share information, regardless of data model being employed.
These initial changes will show up in an updated planned to post on 6/20/2021.
–tr