RDA, Linked Data, and the End of Average

Abstract

The concept of average as the ideal became an epidemic in the twentieth century. We developed standardized production lines, standardized intelligence exams, and cataloging rules to create ideal metadata descriptions for standard library resources. RDA’s emphasis on flexibility and relationships, as well as its readiness to be expressed in linked open data, opens the door to its use in describing rapidly evolving resource types and making them discoverable on the Semantic Web. Stanford's recent Mellon grant, Linked Data for Production, will explore the transition of traditional technical services workflows to linked data and RDA’s place in that process.