New working group on open bibliographic data!

In the past few weeks there have been a number of developments related to opening up bibliographic metadata. At the end of January we blogged about CERN opening up their library data. Just recently Ghent University Library have published their data under an open license (see ugent_biblio and ugent_catalog) – which is excellent news!

At the 7th Communia Workshop there were several discussions about the value of Europeana, a major EU funded digital library initiative, opening up the metadata about items in national collections. This represents an amazing opportunity to bootstrap the ecosystem of open data about works and authors!

We’ve been interested in open bibliographic metadata for a number of years – and thought it was about time to start a working group on open bibliographic data to strengthen the network of individuals, projects and institutions with an interest in this area:

• http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/bibliography

In the first instance this group will aim to:

1. Act as a central point of reference and support for people interested in open bibliographic data
2. Identify relevant projects and practices. Promote best practices as well as legal and technical standards for making data open (such as the Open Knowledge Definition).
3. Act as a hub for the development and maintenance of low cost, community driven projects related to open bibliographic data.

If you’re interested in joining the conversation, you can add yourself to the open-bibliography mailing list. We’ve also started a bibliographic data group on CKAN, our open source registry of open data:

• http://ckan.net/group/bibliographic

We’ve got several new projects and initiatives planned in this area – so watch this space!

Related posts:

1. Working Group on Open Data in Science We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Working Group on Open Data in Science. In the first instance, the group will aim to: Act as a central point of reference and support for people who think they...
2. CERN opens up bibliographic metadata! As regular readers of the Open Knowledge Foundation blog will know, bibliographic metadata is a subject close to our heart (see e.g., here, here and here). Hence we were delighted to see today’s announcement that CERN Library are releasing their...
3. ‘The Future of Bibliographic Control’ and Licensing Policies for Bibliographic Data Last week the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control at the Library of Congress released their Draft Report. They are soliciting for public comment until the 15th December, in good time for final submission on the 9th January....