Linked Data and the Library of Congress

The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a machine-processable metadata standard created to link pieces of data from around the World Wide Web. It does this by creating meaningful statements about resources, which are identified by Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). The Linked Data (LD) that emerges will be part of the Semantic Web, a new way of linking, searching, and finding information on the Web. Libraries around the world have begun to adopt RDF for their metadata in an attempt to make their metadata more discoverable on the World Wide Web, where the majority of their users are. The Library of Congress (LC) is one such organization taking the lead in the conversion to LD. This research study analyzes the efforts by the LC to convert the records on its LC Authorities website to LD, by analyzing a selection of records. The analysis showed that the newer LD records were less granular and more technical in nature than the original LC Authority records. The research also led to a much greater understanding of the fact that the LC has created a vast trove of standardized URIs with which to build RDF statements