Charge and Deliverables

June 18, 2020

Membership

Meredith Hale, Lead

Mark Baggett

Bridger Dyson-Smith

Mat Jordan

Introduction

Over the next several months, UT Libraries will be migrating its Fedora 3 based repository system, Islandora, to a next generation repository platform built on Fedora 4 or later. The adoption of this new platform necessitates transitioning from XML-based metadata stored as datastreams on the Fedora object to metadata stored as RDF properties. While a shift from a file serialization like XML to an abstract model like RDF is already challenging, it is further complicated by our use of MODS.

Since 2014, UT Libraries have been heavily invested in MODS XML for descriptive metadata. UT Libraries originally adopted MODS due to its rich granularity as compared to our previous standard, DublinCore, and because it was the metadata format used most often by other Islandora institutions. Using MODS allowed us to capture and display more robust metadata about our digital objects and to prepare for our eventual move to RDF and Linked Data. As we begin our migration to RDF and a new digital library platform, we as a digital library program are faced with some stumbling blocks. We must either: 1. adopt the out-of-the-box metadata application profile of whatever system we use and knowingly lose the descriptive elements that we’ve worked so hard in recent years to capture or 2. develop our own metadata application profile based on our MODS practices that will inform our developers how to migrate our metadata and that will inform digital library workflows required for capturing metadata in the new system.

While this work should focus on search, display, and discovery in the new platform, the group should keep in mind that their work will also affect interoperability with OAI-PMH, Ex Libris Primo, and the Digital Public Library of America.

Charge and Deliverables

  1. Discuss and develop a shared understanding across the group about why migrating our MODS to RDF is complex.

  2. Review our current MODS records to inform elements a metadata application profile should cover.

  3. Using resources from the greater digital library community, develop a metadata application profile that details how to transform our MODS to RDF.