Project Charter

Created by: Audrey Pearson

Date: January 17, 2019

Last updated: May 20, 2020

General project information

Project name	Linked Data for Production: Pathway to Implementation
Project leads	Audrey Pearson and Tim Thompson
Project sponsor	Marty Kurth, YUL Technical Services
Project review date	June 2020

Project purpose

To lay the foundations for local cataloging workflows using linked data standards in preparation for the eventual shift from MARC-based cataloging to linked data-based cataloging.

Project objectives

• Establish and refine local cataloging workflows using linked data standards
• Create and enhance metadata using BIBFRAME and Art and Rare Materials (ARM) ontology extension
• Explore the search, retrieval, and data visualization implications of linked data
• Build on existing relationships with stakeholders in the rare materials cataloging community
• Work in concert with the Black Bibliography Project (BBP) to develop data model and ontology for that project
• Participate in the next phase of the SHARE Virtual Discovery Environment project
• Together with other project participants, develop best practices for cooperative cataloging in a linked data environment
• Increase knowledge and awareness of linked data among library staff

Project success criteria

• Document workflows to use as future templates
• Create substantial metadata using BIBFRAME and Art and Rare Materials (ARM) ontology extension, and contribute it to LD4P cloud environment
• Catalog a representative subset of “medium rare” materials from collections identified as project priority in YUL and Beinecke Library backlog collections
• Install metaphactory^[1] and successfully develop a view for SPARQL-based querying
• Participate in LD4P Rare Materials Affinity Group
• Participate in and/or liaise with ARM joint task force
• Present to Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) audience on project outcomes
• Implement BBP data model using Wikibase as a pilot and create related documentation
• Convert Yale catalog data as part of SHARE-VDE project
• Contribute to SHARE-VDE Transformation Advisory Council
• Contribute to development of a rare materials BIBFRAME/ARM profile for use in Sinopia
• Measure staff self-assessed knowledge and comfort with linked data before, during, and after project
• Provide and/or facilitate linked data and BIBFRAME training

Project audience

The project audience includes stakeholders both internal and external to Yale University. Internal stakeholders include Yale University Libraries Technical Services, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Technical Services, and all departments across Yale University involved in metadata creation for cultural objects, such as Manuscripts and Archives, Yale Center for British Art, the Center for Science and Social Science Information, and the Digital Humanities Lab. External stakeholders include Stanford University, as the disperser of the subgrants and main grant project coordinator, the Mellon Foundation, all other institutions involved in the grant and subgrants, the Black Bibliography Project, and the broader cataloging and rare materials cataloging communities.

Project schedule

The project began in fall 2018 and will continue until June 30, 2020. The subgrant was awarded in September 2018, and an initial kickoff meeting with cohort representatives was held on October 15, 2018 at the Library of Congress. Training began in December 2020 and continued through January 2020.

The anticipated delivery date of the cataloging tool Sinopia was April 2019, but the development schedule experienced setbacks, and a working version was not available until later in the fall. Data creation at YUL began in February 2020 and continued through mid-March. In late spring 2020, Yale project participants will finalize and present their work. In June 2020, the Project Leadership Team will assess and report on outcomes.

For the duration of the metadata creation, YUL Technical Services will commit eleven professional catalogers and at least one paraprofessional for approximately one day of staff time per week. Beinecke Technical Services will commit four professional catalogers and two paraprofessionals for approximately one day of staff time per week.

Roles and responsibilities

Role	Staff Member(s)	Responsibility
Project Leads	Audrey Pearson, BRBL TS Tim Thompson, YUL TS	Oversee planning and administration of project; oversee budget; liaise with LD4P cohort and leadership; schedule and lead meetings with Project Leadership Team, Project Advisory Group, and Metadata Creation Team. Provide updates and presentations to staff as necessary.
Project Leadership Team	Éva Bolkovac, YUL TS Todd Fell, BRBL TS Daniel Lovins, YUL TS Youn Noh, YUL TS Audrey Pearson, BRBL TS Rick Sarcia, YUL TS Tim Thompson, YUL TS	Plan and administer project, support Project Leads by providing feedback and direction and assisting with decision-making. Liaise with supervisors of Metadata Creation Team members.
Project Advisory Group	Melissa Barton, BRBL Alison Clemens, MSSA Mark Custer, BRBL Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass, YCBA Alicia Detelich, MSSA Joshua Dull, DSS Francis Lapka, YCBA Anu Paul, DSS Kaylee Sprague, LIT Sarah Tudesco, AUXR	Provide expertise to benefit the project and represent communities with an interest in library linked data development. While not involved in the day-to-day activities of the project, advisory group members will be available to provide guidance on technical requirements, data management, and the application of metadata standards as the need arises.
Metadata Creation Team	Judit Balassa, BRBL TS Dean Bergstrom, YUL TS Dominique Bourassa, YUL TS Brenna Bychowski, BRBL TS Ruth Carruth, BRBL TS Sarah Coe, YUL TS Geraldine (Jerry Anne) Dickel, YUL TS Zoe Dobbs, BRBL TS Marena Fisher, YUL TS Rowena Griem, YUL TS Danijela Matković, BRBL TS Tachtorn (Wheat) Meier, YUL TS MaryJane Millington, BRBL TS Daniel Mugaburu, YUL TS Jeanette Norris, YUL TS Audrey Pearson, BRBL TS Charles (Chuck) Riley, YUL TS Yukari Sugiyama, YUL TS Patricia Thurston, YUL TS Jia Xu, YUL TS	Create original and copy-cataloging metadata for library materials identified for project cataloging. Participate in training and periodical feedback meetings. Help to develop and refine workflows. During metadata creation phase, each member will devote approximately 20% of cataloging time to creating metadata using Sinopia tool.

Stakeholders

Name	Relationship	Impact Assessment
BRBL Tech Services	Staff will be creating metadata	Will result in staff training and experience with emerging tools and standards, but may slow the day-to-day work of the unit.
YUL Tech Services	Staff will be creating metadata	Will result in staff training and experience with emerging tools and standards, but may slow the day-to-day work of the department.
Stanford University Library	Administers subgrants, oversees LD4P main project	Will add data to cloud data environment, feedback on tool development, and application profile expertise and development.
LD4P cohort members with projects involving rare materials	Members of Rare Materials Affinity Group	Will contribute to application profile development and high-level coordination for rare material needs.
Black Bibliography Project	Relies on expertise from LD4P in development of data	Will inform and assist in data modeling, and will convert James Weldon Johnson Collection records to linked data that may be leveraged if needed

Project cost

Item	Total Cost	Proposed Source(s)	2019	2020
Travel costs for Yale representatives to attend LD4P meetings	$4,800	Mellon grant via Stanford	$2,400	$2,400
metaphactory annual license	$35,116	Mellon grant via Stanford	€15,000/$17,558 (at current exchange rates)	€15,000/$17,558 (at current exchange rates)
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Software as a Service platform	$2,592	Mellon grant via Stanford	$1,296	$1,296
AWS General Purpose Storage	$360	Mellon grant via Stanford	$180	$180
Storage @ Yale	$258	Mellon grant via Stanford	$129	$129

Project assumptions

The project assumes that the Sinopia editor will be delivered on time by Stanford’s developers, and that profiles and profile editors will work as expected.

The project assumes that the April 2019 Sinopia launch date will provide a basic version of the tool, along with a basic set of PCC-approved profiles and supported lookups, and that as the project progresses, there will be further progress and refinement of the tool.

The project assumes that data conversion by Casalini as part of SHARE-VDE will map appropriately, in a way that enables reuse and discovery.

The project assumes that a BIBFRAME-to-MARC converter will not be available at the launch of the project, and is dependent on the rate of development by the Library of Congress.

The project assumes that the basic version of Sinopia will not allow for complex filtering of data for export or automatic syncing with external sources; data export is limited to bulk export of all of the data.

Project scope

This project is about putting concepts of linked data as a library metadata standard into practice in a production environment in order to establish workflows, best practices, a staff knowledge-base, and to test tools, ontologies, and profiles. The project will work toward better enabling a future shift in which libraries catalog in the language of the semantic web.

In order to best accomplish this, a significant portion of staff will spend approximately 20% of their time entering data directly into the Sinopia interface. Workflows will be established and refined that reflect the use of Sinopia, of application profiles, and of BIBFRAME and its extensions. Legacy catalog data will be converted by Casalini to linked data and contributed to a cloud environment managed by Stanford and shared by all partner and cohort institutions.

The project will also involve experimenting with the searching, retrieval, and data visualization of the linked data created. To this end, the project will purchase a license for the knowledge graph platform metaphactory , and will create searches to test retrieval and data visualization.

Additionally, members of LD4P will work directly with the Mellon-funded Black Bibliography Project (BBP) to establish a data model and ontology for that project’s work. Legacy catalog data of interest to the BBP, namely Beinecke’s James Weldon Johnson Collection, will be converted to linked data as part of the Casalini conversion process.

Although this project will test previous ontology development, the project will not include active ontology development, other than that done as part of the BBP. Any ontology development needs for LD4P will be documented and communicated to the body responsible for that ontology: for example, the Art and Rare Materials BIBFRAME Ontology Extension Joint Task Force.

While the need to eventually address the data requirements of manuscript description is a known issue for the future, manuscript materials are out of scope for this project.

Finally, this project does not seek to put permanent new workflows into place; rather, it will be experimental and developmental in scope in order to better prepare for future projects that might institute permanent changes.

Known risks

Risk	Likelihood/Impact*	Mitigation Strategy
Delayed delivery of Sinopia tool	3/5	Accept
Metadata Creation Team member leaves organization	2/3	Monitor
Problems procuring/using metaphactory	1/5	Monitor
Difficulty developing ARM extension application profiles	3/4	Control
Steep Sinopia learning curve for staff	3/3	Accept

*Likelihood/Impact: 1=least likely/impact; 5=most likely/impact

Communications strategy

The Project Leadership Team will meet monthly beginning in November 2018 and through the end of the project. The Project Advisory Team will meet quarterly with the Project Leads and other members of the Project Leadership Team, beginning in March 2019 and continuing through the end of the project.

A project “kickoff” meeting will take place in April 2019, with members of the Project Leadership Team, Project Advisory Group, and Metadata Creation Team. A similar “wrap-up” meeting will take place in May or June 2020.

Working drafts of documents will be created in Google Drive. Final versions of documents will be uploaded to a Yale Box folder.

Periodic updates on the project’s progress will be sent to the YULIBL e-mail list. The project leads will investigate the feasibility and utility of establishing a project blog. The Project’s Leadership and Metadata Creation Teams will also seek opportunities to present on the project more broadly; for instance, at a Beinecke Technical Services staff meeting, or at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section conference.

Project plan location

The project plan is being written in Asana.

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[1] metaphactory is a knowledge graph platform for creating and utilizing enterprise knowledge graphs built using the RDF/SPARQL stack. Using metaphactory will enable us to perform SPARQL queries and explore data visualizations.