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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Share Family Bulletin - n. 10 April 2025}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Share Family Bulletin - n. 10 April 2025}}


You can download a printable version at https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n10_Apr2025
You can download a printable version at https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n11_Feb2026


Citation: Share Family Team, ''Share Family Bulletin'' ''10'' (April 2025), https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n10_Apr2025
Citation: Share Family Team, ''Share Family Bulletin'' ''10'' (April 2025), https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n11_Feb2026
==Introduction==
==Introduction==
The Share Family is committed to fostering cooperation among its member institutions and within the broader GLAM community to showcase the immense value of being part of an initiative developed and driven by libraries for libraries.
==LOD Platform developments==
 
After the announcement of [https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n10_Apr2025 LOD Platform version 3] that was done in the last Share Family Bulletin and also through a [https://www.share-family.org/news?id=69711a59dbd9b press release], we have been doing hard work to progress with developments that will enable users to fully benefit from the tools and components available on the various Share Family environments and tenants.
The Share Family’s collaborative approach to linked open data results in advanced technology applications for bibliographic descriptions and shared data management tools. Member institutions embrace the recent progress of LOD Platform technology and are empowered by the advantages of linked open data for knowledge sharing.
==Version 3.1.1 and LOD Platform developments==
The version 3.0.0 of the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform|LOD Platform]] that was announced [https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n9_Jul2024 in the latest issue of the Share Family Bulletin] has introduced substantial changes to the technology framework supporting the system. JCricket entity editor and shared cataloguing tool is the major enhancement of v.3.0.0, but the system has undertaken important optimisations in the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/Release notes|following software releases 3.1.0 and 3.1.1]], which are currently being tested by member institutions.


The LOD Platform technology is shared across all environments of the [https://www.share-family.org/ Share Family initiative], and software releases are rolled out to the various [[ShareFamily:Main Page#The%20Share%20Family%20branches%20(tenants)|tenants]] following a dedicated schedule.
The LOD Platform technology is shared across all environments of the [https://www.share-family.org/ Share Family initiative], and software releases are rolled out to the various [[ShareFamily:Main Page#The%20Share%20Family%20branches%20(tenants)|tenants]] following a dedicated schedule.
===Cluster Knowledge Base and data management===
'''<big>Entity model and Cluster Knowledge Base</big>'''


The LOD Platform currently supports the latest version of the BIBFRAME ontology, and will upgrade the MARC-to-BIBFRAME mapping to the most up to date version. The use of BIBFRAME within the Share Family initiative has been extended to guarantee interoperability with IFLA LRM and with applications not based on BIBFRAME. The [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.8332350 SVDE Ontology] is the result of work that has been carried on since last year by the [https://wiki.share-vde.org/wiki/ShareFamily:NewsAndUpdates#Share_Family_Community_updates SEI - Sapientia Entity Identification Working Group], with the svde:Opus entity being the most prominent extension of the ontology.[[File:opus-work-model UpdateOpusTypes VersioneMia.drawio.png|none|thumb|735x735px]]
===Data management and Cluster Knowledge Base===
'''<big>LDF - Linked Data Fragments</big>'''


We are advancing developments of the LDF - Linked Data Fragments structure to support an innovative approach to linked data creation and consumption. LDF are being implemented to provide a distributed and scalable approach for publishing and serving linked data via real-time RDF generation, on-demand ontology mapping, and multi-provenance management. The goal is to create an efficient RDF data distribution process without relying on a RDF storage: this will greatly benefit scalability and resource saving.


This module is currently in development with the following major expected output:


The output of the SEI Working Group is being incorporated in the LOD Platform components, e.g. the OpusType property is available in the test environment and can be used in the JCricket entity editor that is being tested.
* a set of APIs that adopt Linked Data Fragments;
* RDF Data is translated/generated on demand;
* output data available in multiple formats.


A key aspect of LOD Platform data management is the ability to manage data at a very fine granularity level. The aim is to have the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/ClusterKnowledgeBase|CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base]] (or Entity Knowledge Base) as a single source of truth for the LOD Platform and Share Family installations. This will improve:
The latest presentation of LDF implementation for the LOD Platform has been given at the LD4 conference 2025: [https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/1/17/Leveraging_Linked_Data_Fragments_for_enhanced_data_publication.pdf Leveraging Linked Data Fragments for enhanced data publication], by Andrea Gazzarini; the [https://www.youtube.com/live/zttp0H1ao5k?feature=shared&t=876 recording is available].
*a “format-agnostic” CKB where all input formats converge into one conversion source (eg. MARC21, UNIMARC, native BIBFRAME/RDF eg. from LD4P Sinopia application profiles…);


*improved conversion from MARC to BIBFRAME and vice versa;
*single conversion pipeline from the CKB – removing the conversion pipeline based on MARC.
One of the main pipelines we’re following in this context is the management of attributes through controlled vocabularies instead of literals. This is being achieved by:
*defining each controlled vocabulary in collaboration with the Sapientia Entity Identification Working Group;
*enriching each vocabulary with external authoritative sources (RDA, Library of Congress, FINTO…);
*clustering of controlled vocabularies and assignment of a URI to each value.
After completing the work on these vocabularies, they will be made available on JCricket.


'''<big>Entity Cluster Knowledge Base</big>'''


As described in previous updates, the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/ClusterKnowledgeBase|CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base]] of linked data entities has been undergoing significant refactoring to make the data structure more and more granular. This will serve a twofold purpose:


'''<big>UNIMARC</big>'''
* allowing a single conversion pipeline that does not use MARC structure as an intermediate BIBFRAME conversion step;
* prepare the data structure for the new NoSQL database that will be implemented (see also the [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pk3iVEw_Hlww6dpyrW7rIUfnTQKax41lXae2q5V9uRM/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.cwlyr8fvnbmv Architecture and infrastructure section] below).


The direct management of UNIMARC records in clusterization and reconciliation processes without the “middle step conversion” from UNIMARC to MARC21 has been completed, and a Wikibase instance https://unimarc2bibframe.wikibase.cloud/ documents this work. An update has also been provided at the 6th IFLA UNIMARC Users Meeting in November 2024, with the presentation by Tiziana Possemato and Claudio Forziati [https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/c/c4/10_Possemato_Forziati.pdf ''UNIMARC-BIBFRAME Mapping: Evolving Interoperability in Data Modelling''] ([https://youtu.be/uNpQXHTS3pw?feature=shared&t=3561 recording available]).
As part of the granularization work, attributes that were previously managed as literals are now controlled vocabularies sets; therefore, they have been clustered and assigned a URI.


The related developments had as a result the migration of the SHARE Catalogue platform to the new CKB infrastructure and enhanced entity discovery portal https://www.sharecatalogue-lod.org/ (see also the [https://wiki.share-vde.org/wiki/ShareFamily:NewsAndUpdates#Share_Family_Community_updates updates on Share Family tenants] below).
===JCricket Entity Editor===
Share Family members have been testing [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/EntityEditor|JCricket]] throughout 2025 and raised input for improvement, while the Share Family team has been continuing the work on new features to enable granular and effective cataloguing and progressively make JCricket a production-ready tool.


Among these features, it’s worth mentioning the advancement in the integration with third parties’ systems (see [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pk3iVEw_Hlww6dpyrW7rIUfnTQKax41lXae2q5V9uRM/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.43igfzquu2gn Third parties integration] section), the creation of the Provision Activity metadata block and the review of the Provenance-based function.


'''Provision Activity''' is a set of attributes of the Instance entity that represent an event or action describing:


'''<big>UAT – User Acceptance Testing environment</big>'''
* how an Instance was produced and made available;
* the agents involved (e.g., publishers, printers, distributors);
* the space-time coordinates (location and date of the activity).


In the Share-VDE tenant, sets of real data from SVDE members institutions have been loaded to a UAT (User Acceptance Testing) environment that runs on the latest software version. The purpose is to test the most recent output of the clusterization of SVDE libraries’ data in a small-scale data pool. Members are validating the results of clusterization processes in the common CKB, ie. the quality of data processing, clustering, linked data conversion and entity display on the discovery portal. Input from the SVDE and Share Family community has always been the foundation of the initiative and an added value to developments.
This new metadata block serves not only the enrichment of the information available for an entity, but also the curation of publisher data according to RDA guidelines (e.g. the ability to record the Publication statement). Also, the Provision Activity is in fact a multi-entity metadata block, because it includes information that is described as individual entities in their turn. So, we needed JCricket to handle this complex data structure that will also serve other use cases: this multi-entity metadata block approach will be used for the management of Subject entities in JCricket.
[[File:Provision Activity.png|none|thumb|594x594px|https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/6/66/Provision_Activity.png]]




The LOD Platform system is '''Provenance-based''', meaning that the relationship between the entity and the source record that contributed to its creation is always retained through the Provenance, in order to maintain the relationship with the data that generated an entity over time and allow to manage the entity both in automated update processes and in manual processes (via JCricket entity editor). '''See also [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/EntityEditor#Provenance%20and%20Prism|the wiki section on the Provenance]]'''.


'''<big>Data update procedures</big>'''
This is the background for some important improvements to the “IsLeader” information: this feature is key to streamline cataloguing in a cooperative system where different users work on entities stored in the same Cluster Knowledge Base, so the underlying logic must be solid.


Incremental updates of data ingested from member institutions are managed through a dedicated module that has been continuously fine-tuned to streamline and automate the so-called “delta updates” imports. On the Natbib tenant, the institutional portal for the BNB - British National Bibliography currently supports a stable workflow of delta updates ingestion.
We reviewed and improved the way JCricket handles the “IsLeader” value to better support libraries’ cataloguing needs. The IsLeader value identifies which data values are shown on public portals, helping limit redundancy in a collaborative environment where multiple libraries contribute similar information. Previously, many values were automatically marked as leader and could not be edited or unmarked, creating issues when data was entered incorrectly. With the new behavior, catalogers can freely add or remove the leader flag from any value, even if it is the only one present, for both single-value and multi-value fields.


The delta updates workflow will be applied to all tenants as soon as massive data import and indexing will be stable.
We also fixed issues with multi-value fields, where all values were treated as leaders by default. Catalogers can now choose which values should be leaders. Finally, leader values can now be deleted with an explicit confirmation, and internal handling of multi-value fields has been improved to ensure consistent saving and retrieval of data. Overall, these changes make JCricket more flexible, reliable, and aligned with real-world cataloguing practices.
===JCricket Entity Editor===
Other JCricket features useful to facilitate real-world cataloguing practices:
Upon the release of the LOD Platform v.3.0.0, JCricket was rolled out in a test environment dedicated to member institutions. The first round of tests has been done in the second half of 2024, and a new testing phase is ongoing. Feedback from testers will be incorporated in the application. You can explore more of JCricket in the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation|Public Documentation section]] of the Share Family wiki at [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/EntityEditor|LOD Platform Entity Editor - JCricket]] and check out the demo of JCricket entity editor at the [https://youtu.be/sD3qYbx0n0Q BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2024] ([https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/6/6c/day1_004_SFamily_BFWE_2024.pdf slides] are also available).


JCricket operates on all layers of the LOD Platform entity model (ie. bf:Agent, svde:Opus, svde:Work, bf:Instance, Item). Also, JCricket users see multi-provenance data at individual attribute level. The tracking of the [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation/LODPlatform/EntityEditor#Provenance%20and%20Prism|Provenance]] has been implemented since the beginning as a pivotal element to enable entity data curation by cataloguers from different institutions in a shared space.
* display of contributors roles’ URIs;
* display of contributors’ role term in the provenance metadata block;
* properties menu has been restructured and now groups properties by category;
* display of properties’ URIs and descriptions (see the Front-end enhancements section below);
* OpusType implementation.


The evolution of JCricket over time illustrates the progress of the tool and future goals.[[File:JCricket timeline.png|none|thumb|658x658px]]
===Architecture and infrastructure===
===Architecture and infrastructure===
<big>'''Multi-tenant architecture'''</big>
<big>'''Multi-tenant architecture'''</big>


Multi-tenancy is an infrastructure configuration that allows many clients to share a single instance of a software application and the related infrastructure resources. We have implemented and are rolling out this approach to reduce effort and machine resources needed to set-up and configure a new tenant or an institutional installation within it. This ensures that data is stored and managed in a unified way, optimizing security, scalability, and efficiency. While built for multi-tenancy, the architecture also seamlessly adapts to private deployments for those who require a dedicated installation.
The [[ShareFamily:NewsAndUpdates#Architecture%20and%20infrastructure|multi-tenancy infrastructure configuration]] has been deployed and is being progressively rolled out to the various tenants: the first multi-tenant installations are two UAT - User Acceptance Testing environments for the National Bibliographies tenant and the National Taiwan University Library tenant. Uploading institutions’ data to UAT environments is the preliminary step to production, for testing and verification with libraries.
 




'''<big>New database</big>'''
'''<big>New database</big>'''


Because the scale of the Share Family environment has been growing at a big data level (particularly for the largest tenant Share-VDE), we are testing a new database solution that would rely on a NoSQL approach. This would ensure scalability and stable performance in massive data imports and incremental updates.
We are working on the preliminary implementations for the new NoSQL database where to migrate the current database; these implementations include the ongoing granularization of the CKB. This process is crucial to have a sustainable environment in terms of scalability and performance for the whole LOD Platform system, and in terms of hosting resources, which is a critical factor for the sustainability of the initiative.
===Third parties integration===
===Third parties integration===
The evolution of the LOD Platform technology encompasses the ability to mutually integrate the data produced with external systems, notably with local ILS and Library Service Platforms and authority sources. This is being achieved through the integration of the LOD Platform tools with local ILS and LSP, or cataloguing modules:
The [[ShareVDE:Activities/Integrations#Benefits%20of%20Cooperative%20and%20Shared%20Cataloguing|integration of LOD Platform components with ILS/LSP]] has progressed and has been demonstrated during 2025:
*Alma: connection to circulation processes have been established; exploration of CRUD APIs together with Alma libraries is in course, to push data from JCricket to Alma;
*FOLIO: pilot integration in progress with Lehigh University (Share-VDE member and FOLIO adopter); initial tests are completed for the automated data flow from JCricket into FOLIO’s Inventory module. The FOLIO Instance is automatically updated starting from input data in JCricket as the “source of truth”. Further use cases of mutual integration are being analysed and tested.
*Sinopia LD4P BIBFRAME cataloguing module: connection to Sinopia and parsing of Sinopia-generated data has been completed; after the testing phase, Sinopia data will be included in the LOD Platform CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base and edited through JCricket.
[[File:Integrations 1729264956711.png|none|thumb|662x662px]]This work aims to facilitate a hybrid cataloging environment that retains support for existing MARC-based integrations while developing the flexibility and interconnectedness offered by Share Family-maintained entities. By automating this process, this integration project not only enhances the metadata management capabilities of libraries but also paves the way for seamless collaborative cataloging within the Share Family community.[[File:JCricket interactions.png|none|thumb|656x656px]]Further references can be found at this wiki page [https://wiki.share-vde.org/wiki/ShareVDE:Activities/Integrations Integration with third parties].


Lookup on authoritative sources such as Wikidata is also being developed to query and pull data while using JCricket. An endpoint has been set-up to query Wikidata Agents and Works via API and SPARQL. Currently, this implementation lives in the internal development environment.[[File:integrazione fonti esterne3.jpg|none|thumb|656x656px]]Finally, efforts to integrate LOD Platform features in other applications are progressing steadily also on other fronts. Two conference presentations by Jim Hahn (University of Pennsylvania) have demonstrated some of the options for interoperability supported by JCricket and LOD Platform search APIs:
* the workflow '''from JCricket to Alma''' has been set up so that data created in JCricket can be posted to Alma APIs. This has been presented at the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mpENSDeYY BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025]. Further operations are being implemented to close this loop.
* After the initial operation '''from JCricket to FOLIO''' was implemented earlier last year, the workflow from JCricket to FOLIO has been further enhanced:
** the data flow from JCricket into FOLIO’s Inventory module was already been implemented, so that data from Share can be posted to FOLIO;
** from JCricket, users can query FOLIO and retrieve data to enrich Share Family entities. This has been presented at the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mpENSDeYY BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025].


Finally, efforts to integrate LOD Platform features in other applications are progressing steadily also on other fronts. Two conference presentations by Jim Hahn (University of Pennsylvania) have demonstrated some of the options for interoperability supported by JCricket and LOD Platform search APIs:
[[File:Cooperative cat. in FOLIO.png|none|thumb|449x449px|https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/6/68/Cooperative_cat._in_FOLIO.png]]
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/3/3a/Integration_of_The_Share-VDE_Entity_Editor_and_Alma.pdf ''Integration of the Share Family Entity Editor and the Alma ILS''], at the LD4 Conference, 11 October 2024;
[[File:Cooperative cat. in Alma.png|none|thumb|447x447px|https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/4/4b/Cooperative_cat._in_Alma.png]]
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/3/39/SWIB_2024_Jim_Hahn_browser-plugin-linked-data-find.pdf ''Browser plugin to enable linked data discovery in a Blacklight Catalog''], at SWIB Conference 2024, 27 November 2024.
===Front-end enhancements===
The majority of front-end enhancements has been devoted to improving JCricket, also as a consequence of users’ feedback and tests, as well as following the evolution of the tool. Ongoing optimisations include not only design revisions, but also data curation features. Just a few examples:
*the Provision Activity block of information structures publication data by mirroring the corresponding RDF group of publication attributes, and ensures better identification and reconciliation of Publishers.
*The ability to edit svde:Work data (as mentioned above, JCricket operates on all layers of the LOD Platform entity model).
*A preview of RDF entity representation has been designed and will be implemented.
The presentation layer of the discovery portal is also being improved, especially as far as accessibility for visually impaired users is concerned. Work is ongoing to validate the accessibility features of the web portal to confirm compliance with international guidelines. Also, refinements are ongoing to the management of Arabic script on the user interface. This task complements the management of multilingualism of Share Family data, that is already handled in two fashions:
*Clusterization processes (automated processes): in this case, the variant forms in various languages and scripts retrieved from the available national and international data sources are used to enable the end user to perform searches on the discovery portal using different scripts and getting the same results.
*Using JCricket entity editor (manual process): in this case, cataloguers can enrich the entity cluster with variant forms in terms of both different languages and different scripts.
==Community work==
===New Open Metadata Policy===
The Share Family strives to support and invest in open data to freely share information, and an updated [https://bit.ly/ShareFamily-Open-Metadata-Policy Open Metadata Policy] has been approved by its Advisory Council. The community is committed, wherever possible, to share data transformed by its series of Linked Open Data (LOD) processes.


The [https://bit.ly/SVDE-Open-Metadata-Policy previous version of the policy] was published in 2023 to encourage open access to data produced by Share Family processes.
===Share Family Community updates===
As usual, exchanges within the Share Family community steer the vision and the evolution of the initiative and the output of working groups nurtures technical developments:
*The [[ShareVDE:Members/Share-VDE working groups#SVDE-AC%20Sapientia%20Entity%20Identification%20working%20group%20(SEI)|Sapientia Entity Identification Working Group]] is committed to the [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.8332350 SVDE Ontology] to define svde:Opus entity properties for different content types. RDA properties are also taken into account in framing the ontology, and this will ensure greater interoperability.
*The [[ShareVDE:Members/Share-VDE working groups#SVDE-AC%20User%20Experience.2FUser%20Interface%20working%20group%20.28UX-UI.29|User Experience – User Interface Working Group]] continues working jointly with the [[ShareVDE:Members/Share-VDE working groups#Share%20Family%20National%20Bibliographies%20working%20group%20.28Natbib.29|National Bibliographies Working Group]] on a design proposal for the Publication page of the entity discovery portal, focusing on the aggregation of svde:Work and bf:Instance data. The group has narrowed down the core metadata for each material type and is now deciding how to display additional metadata that is not core to publication identification, with the aim of improving navigation and optimizing how end-users interact with and utilize the data.
On 19th September 2024 an informal Share Family meeting dedicated to members was held in Helsinki, at the National Library of Finland, after the two-day BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe. The engagement of the membership around key areas of development confirmed the added value of being part of an active and diverse community.


On behalf of the various [[ShareFamily:Main Page#The%20Share%20Family%20branches%20(tenants)|Share Family tenants]] we are happy to mention important advancements:
The integration with external ILS / LSP contributes to shaping a cooperative cataloguing environment, an integrated workflow where local and central systems are fully interoperable: data entered locally is reflected centrally, and conversely, central data is discoverable and reusable locally. The focus is on bidirectional synchronization; cataloging gains added value by keeping local and central environments aligned. This model enables full interoperability between local and central systems, ensuring that data flows in both directions. This new cooperative cataloging scenario is built on strong interoperability between systems, allowing libraries the freedom to design their own workflows — whether starting from the central hub or from the local environment — depending on their specific cataloging needs at any given time.
*The Share Catalogue tenant has transitioned to the latest version of the LOD Platform, which includes the advanced entity discovery portal and JCricket. The new version is online at https://www.sharecatalogue-lod.org/ and will be enhanced in the next period as far as data quality and data curation functions.
*The NLN - National Library of Norway joined the [https://natbib-lod.org/ National Bibliographies tenant]. Already a member of the SVDE tenant contributing its catalogue, the NLN will also provide the Norwegian national bibliography data and will be the second institution feeding this tenant along with the British Library.
*The beta British National Bibliography in linked data is stable in the institutional portal [https://bl.natbib-lod.org/ https://bl.natbib-lod.org], which is populated with regular updates.
*The Parsifal tenant https://parsifal.urbe.it/parsifal/ is effectively enabling the URBE network in the curation of a shared authority file originally created through the aggregation of the catalogues from participating libraries. We are working on a dashboard that orchestrates the workflow between the central authority file and the Cluster Knowledge Base, to facilitate individual libraries’ operations.
All members are welcome to contribute expertise, specific experience and bibliographic information for the enrichment of a collective catalogue and the entire Share community.
===Collaborations with the library community===
The Share Family team and member institutions continue to nurture the [https://wiki.share-vde.org/wiki/ShareVDE:Members/Share-VDE_working_groups#Liaisons liaisons] with the library information experts and linked data and BIBFRAME communities, to increase interoperability to the advantage of new bibliographic and linked data workflows and to enhance existing ones.


Moreover, participation in international working groups and networks is strategic to the Share Family community, and responds to its core principle of creating connections and increasing communication across initiatives and projects.
===Front-end enhancements===
'''<big>Accessibility</big>'''


An important achievement is the [[Main Page#Accessibility|accessibility certification]] that has recently been issued by a specialised company that has validated the front-end components of the LOD Platform Entity Discovery Portal.


While we are going to publish the certifications on the relevant Entity Discovery portals, the certifications of compliance are also available here:


'''<big>RDA Steering Committee</big>'''
* [https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/b/b4/20251210_AccessibilityStatement_ShareFamily.pdf Accessibility statement] in a standard synthetic format;
* [https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/a/a8/20251218_VPAT2.5Rev_WCAG_ShareFamily.pdf Accessibility Conformance Report WCAG Edition] based on VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template).


A [https://www.rdatoolkit.org/sites/default/files/uploads/RSC_Chair_2025_9_BIBFRAME_protocol_ShareVDE_2025_0.pdf liaison protocol] has been signed to establish the relationship at the strategic level between the Share Family Advisory Council and the RSC - RDA Steering Committee.


This step is considered particularly fruitful also in consideration of the activities that libraires from different countries and continents are bringing forward in the Share Family Working Groups with the scope of enhancing the practical implementations and the concrete interoperability of the emerging bibliographic ecosystem based on linked open data. The protocol has been published:
'''<big>User interface enhancements</big>'''
*on RDA Chair Documents page: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rsc/chair-documents
*in RDA protocols and liaisons page: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rsc/RSCprotocols;
*as a RDA news item: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rsc/ShareFamilyProtocol;
*as a Share Family news item: https://www.share-family.org/news?id=67fe5ec16e504.


As mentioned above, the Provision Activity, the management of Provenance-based functions, and the integration with external sources entailed intense back-end and front-end work.


Among other enhancements, it’s worth mentioning that:


<big>'''IFLA'''</big>
* the review of the '''Publication page''' has been completed under the guidance of the UX-UI and Natbib Working Groups (see the Share Family Community Work section below) and is going to be released shortly. As part of this effort, the group shortened the current metadata list into a core set of metadata, tailored according to the material type. They also took into account which selected metadata should appear exclusively on the National Bibliographies portal. Any additional metadata that is not part of the core set will be accessible via a “Show more” option, which will expand the information in an accordion-style display. The group also revised the current “More options” button, relocating the download formats functionality under a new “View source description” button.
* The new '''Opus types''' defined by the SEI Working Group have been incorporated into the user interface. The changes to the SVDE Ontology that this work has entailed have been reflected at the technical level with the reconciliation of pre-existing Opus types (e.g. multi-volume types).
* We have implemented the informative feature of '''displaying properties’ details''' for JCricket cataloguers. This has given the occasion to improve the way that users are presented with the actions that can be performed on properties. The Property details dialogue box shows information about the property from the SVDE ontology (URI, name description) and provides a dedicated space where we can list all actions available for a property (e.g. adding a language). This UI pattern allow for many more actions to be added in the future.


As a member of the[https://www.ifla.org/units/bibliography/ IFLA Bibliography Section], Tiziana Possemato is also the official liaison IFLA Bibliography Section / Share Family National Bibliographies group.
[[File:property details.png|none|thumb|448x448px|https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/e/e3/property_details.png]]


Highlights from two IFLA events:
==Community work==
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/9/9b/IFLA_Webinar_2024-Nov-27-_BNB-Share-Family.pdf ''The British National Bibliography Experience in the Share Family Linked Open Data Environment''], at the webinar Linked Open Bibliographies: Exposing, Linking, Reusing, 27 November 2024, by Thurstan Young and Anna Lionetti.
===Share Family Community updates===
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/c/c4/10_Possemato_Forziati.pdf ''UNIMARC-BIBFRAME Mapping: Evolving Interoperability in Data Modelling''], at the 6th IFLA UNIMARC Users Meeting, 12 November 2024, by Tiziana Possemato and Claudio Forziati discussed the interoperability and UNIMARC-BIBFRAME conversion.


 
===Collaborations with the library community===
 
<big>'''PCC - Program for Cooperative Cataloguing'''</big>
 
Share Family representatives have been involved at various levels in PCC - Program for Cooperative Cataloguing activities including various stakeholders:
*The PCC Task Group on AI and Machine Learning for Cataloging and Metadata provides guidelines for the integration of AI and Machine Learning technologies into cataloging and metadata work. This includes emphasizing strategic planning and ensuring that AI augments rather than replaces the valuable work of cataloging professionals. For more information, visit the [https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/PFCCP/PCC+Task+Group+on+AI+and+Machine+Learning+for+Cataloging+and+Metadata PCC Task Group on AI and Machine Learning for Cataloging and Metadata wiki] and the PoCo-approved [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UIDqZGU-1gVfRmWb_-UKRhZRUySyr1SdrU6qSA2f-80/edit?usp=sharing draft of the Guiding Principles for Use of AI and Machine Learning Technologies in Cataloging and Metadata Work].
*The [https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/bibframe/Linked-Data-Tactical-Planning-Meeting-Outcomes.pdf Outcomes of the Linked Data Tactical Planning Meeting] report on the meeting organised by the PCC in November 2024 about transitioning cooperative cataloging workflows to a linked data-based production environment. Share Family staff and members contributed to the discussion with the experience of SVDE environment and JCricket entity editor.
*The newly created [https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/PFCCP/EMCO EMCO - Entity Management program] has kicked off the activities building on current PCC programs for authority control, to create an international cooperative program for managing linked data entities from any source PCC member institutions choose to use in their descriptive metadata practices.
 
 
 
<big>'''BIG - BIBFRAME Interoperability Group'''</big>
 
The Share-VDE participation in the [https://wiki.lyrasis.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=249135298 BIG - BIBFRAME Interoperability Group] is strengthening cooperation among institutions adopting BIBFRAME internationally. Recently, Xiaoli Li, Tiziana Possemato and Kalli Mathios presented at the [https://iflacos.eu/index.php/meeting-and-sympsosium-program/ IFLA Advisory Committee on Standards Symposium] in Athens, on March 19th, sharing insights from ''BIBFRAME Interoperability Group: Tackling Implementation Challenges Across Institutions''.
 
 
 
<big>'''Consortia'''</big>
 
We are striving to share the benefits of the Share Family approach to consortia and networks of institutions working with shared practices. The LOD Platform entity identification and reconciliation processes are suitable to environments that are already designed to be shared spaces. The potential for consortia of applying Share Family principles and tools is being investigated in a cooperative effort with consortia representatives. The [https://bit.ly/SF-Executive-Summary-Consortia Share Family Executive Summary for Consortia] sketches the outcomes envisioned when supporting consortia in adopting linked data methodologies for enhanced collaboration.
==Information resources==
===Publication documentation section in the wiki===
The knowledge base of informative resources describing and documenting Share Family tools and activities continues to grow. The [[ShareDoc:PublicDocumentation|Public Documentation]] section includes detailed information on the LOD Platform workflow and components, the available APIs, the release notes, and public user guides.
 
A summary of useful resources was published in the [[ShareFamily:NewsAndUpdates/July2024|previous issue of the Bulletin]].
===Publications===
Among recent publications, it’s worth mentioning:
*''Smithsonian Libraries & Archives: BIBFRAME linked data experiment with the Share Family technology'', by Jackie Shieh, in «Art Libraries Journal»; 50:1, 12 - 18 (April 2025); online access https://doi.org/10.1017/alj.2025.5.
*''Share-VDE and Beyond: Cooperation and Innovation to Bring Linked Open Data into Practice'', by Jim Hahn, Sebastian Hammer, Tiziana Possemato, Nina Servizzi, in «Charleston Conference Proceedings, 2023», 309-333 (2024) [[doi:10.3998/mpub.14509768|https://doi.org/10.39''98/mpub.14509768'']]''.''
*''Un esempio di entity modeling: l’Opus in Share-VDE, Proprietà delle entità svde:Opus, svde:Work e bf:Hub, L’ontologia Share-VDE: un’estensione di BIBFRAME per la discovery dei linked data, L'ontologia di Share-VDE come estensione di BIBFRAME'', by Tiziana Possemato, in «Entity modeling: la terza generazione della catalogazione», 112-138, 281-302 (2024); free online access https://doi.org/10.36253/979-12-215-0393-7.
===Dissemination channels===
As part of outreach actions, we have issued an informative e-mail communication to publicize the Share Family promotional videos and the initiative as a whole. This type of broad communication runs in parallel with more specialized information such as the Share Family Bulletin, and will be issued from the new e-mail contact address [mailto:info@share-family.org info@share-family.org], which will be active together with [mailto:info@svde.org info@svde.org].
 
Check out our presentation videos and learn more about the Share Family mission on Youtube: [https://youtu.be/MswOgMsiRns COOPERATION], [https://youtu.be/wJDqEeB0wNk SUSTAINABILITY], [https://youtu.be/PLNP6G0Ml8U OPENNESS], [https://youtu.be/tf0YGV5Sk14 INCLUSIVITY], [https://youtu.be/KjI648JXpn0 DYNAMISM].
 
The Share Family website https://www.share-family.org/ remains the informative showcase and we are working to enrich it and expand it with new sections. See the latest news https://www.share-family.org/en/news.
==Events==
==Events==
Regular virtual and in-person events, such as conferences, workshops, and working group meetings, provide opportunities for member institutions to connect, share ideas, and explore potential areas of collaboration.
Presentations not mentioned above are reported in this section. Full documentation is available on the page [[ShareFamily:Resources|Resources]].
===BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2024===
Hosted by the National Library of Finland, the [https://www.bfwe.eu/helsinki_2024 BFWE 2024] has seen an important contribution from Share Family representatives, including a [https://youtu.be/sD3qYbx0n0Q demo of JCricket].
===WOLFcon 2024===
A session featuring the evolution of the pilot integration in progress between Share-VDE and Lehigh University’s FOLIO installation has been presented at WOLFcon 2024:
[https://wolfcon2024.sched.com/event/1eesB/marc-my-words-navigating-the-bibframe-frontier ''MARC My Words: Navigating the BIBFRAME Frontier''], by Wayne Schneider, Charlotte Whitt, Tiziana Possemato, Nate Trail, Boaz Nadav Manes, Lisa McColl; slides:
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/8/86/MARC_My_Words.pdf MARC My Words];
*[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/b/b8/BIBFRAME_in_Production2.pdf BIBFRAME in production].
===DCMI 2024===
[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/e/ef/Leveraging_Linked_Data_Fragments_for_enhanced_data_publication_the_Share-VDE_case_study.pdf ''Real-Time “RDFization”. Leveraging Linked Data Fragments for enhanced data publication: the Share-VDE case study''], at DCMI 2024, 23 October 2024, by Andrea Gazzarini.
===Charleston Conference 2024===
[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/c/c0/Share_Family_-_Charleston_2024.pdf ''New pathways for resource description and interoperability: innovative strategies from the Share Family Ecosystem''], at Charleston Conference 2024, 14 November 2024, by Nina Servizzi, Jeanette Norris, Sebastian Hammer, Tiziana Possemato.
===SWIB Conference 2024===
[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/e/ef/Leveraging_Linked_Data_Fragments_for_enhanced_data_publication_the_Share-VDE_case_study.pdf ''Leveraging Linked Data Fragments for enhanced data publication: the Share-VDE case study''], at SWIB Conference 2024, 27 November 2024, by Andrea Gazzarini; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnN3lco3tYU recording available].
===IFLA webinar on National Bibliographies===
[https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/9/9b/IFLA_Webinar_2024-Nov-27-_BNB-Share-Family.pdf ''The British National Bibliography Experience in the Share Family Linked Open Data Environment''], at the webinar Linked Open Bibliographies: Exposing, Linking, Reusing, 27 November 2024, by Thurstan Young and Anna Lionetti; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GZlPbhOoDw&t=457s recording available].
==Next events==
Public presentations where Share Family staff or members contribute their experience are announced at https://www.share-family.org/en/events.
The cross-domain vocation of the Share Family will be represented in the art libraries sector at the [https://arlisna53rdconference.sched.com/about ARLIS/NA 53rd Annual Conference]: on May 14th, Jackie Shieh and Anne Evenhaugen will present [https://arlisna53rdconference.sched.com/event/1x5y4/breaking-barriers-using-art-and-architectural-data ''Data Unleashed: Smithsonian Library Data for Artists and Artwork in Share-VDE BIBFRAME''].
In the context of the Share Catalogue achievements with UNIMARC-to-BIBFRAME mapping, the Lightning talk [https://openreview.net/forum?id=UaBDWHMWJa ''Mapping UNIMARC to BIBFRAME: The SHARE Catalogue Knowledge Base on Wikibase.cloud''] will be presented by Claudio Forziati and Alessandra Moi on June 5th - 6th at [[metawikimedia:Wikidata_and_research|Wikidata and research]], at the University of Florence (Italy).
Like every year, the Share Family will be present at ALA Conference 2025 in Philadelphia. A Share Family Workshop is being organised on Monday June 30th. A full announcement will be shared as soon as more details for participation are available.
The yearly appointment with the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe is confirmed on September 16th - 17th 2025, in Naples (Italy). This event is a major gathering for sharing knowledge and practices about BIBFRAME implementation.
Your opinion is always welcome: to provide feedback on the Share Family discovery website, report bugs and suggestions as external users reach out through the forum<nowiki/>https://forum.svde.org/ or send a message to [mailto:helpdesk@svde.org helpdesk@svde.org]. For general information on the initiative, contact [mailto:info@share-family.org info@share-family.org].

Revision as of 16:12, 2 February 2026


You can download a printable version at https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n11_Feb2026

Citation: Share Family Team, Share Family Bulletin 10 (April 2025), https://bit.ly/SFBulletin_n11_Feb2026

Introduction

LOD Platform developments

After the announcement of LOD Platform version 3 that was done in the last Share Family Bulletin and also through a press release, we have been doing hard work to progress with developments that will enable users to fully benefit from the tools and components available on the various Share Family environments and tenants.

The LOD Platform technology is shared across all environments of the Share Family initiative, and software releases are rolled out to the various tenants following a dedicated schedule.

Data management and Cluster Knowledge Base

LDF - Linked Data Fragments

We are advancing developments of the LDF - Linked Data Fragments structure to support an innovative approach to linked data creation and consumption. LDF are being implemented to provide a distributed and scalable approach for publishing and serving linked data via real-time RDF generation, on-demand ontology mapping, and multi-provenance management. The goal is to create an efficient RDF data distribution process without relying on a RDF storage: this will greatly benefit scalability and resource saving.

This module is currently in development with the following major expected output:

  • a set of APIs that adopt Linked Data Fragments;
  • RDF Data is translated/generated on demand;
  • output data available in multiple formats.

The latest presentation of LDF implementation for the LOD Platform has been given at the LD4 conference 2025: Leveraging Linked Data Fragments for enhanced data publication, by Andrea Gazzarini; the recording is available.


Entity Cluster Knowledge Base

As described in previous updates, the CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base of linked data entities has been undergoing significant refactoring to make the data structure more and more granular. This will serve a twofold purpose:

  • allowing a single conversion pipeline that does not use MARC structure as an intermediate BIBFRAME conversion step;
  • prepare the data structure for the new NoSQL database that will be implemented (see also the Architecture and infrastructure section below).

As part of the granularization work, attributes that were previously managed as literals are now controlled vocabularies sets; therefore, they have been clustered and assigned a URI.

JCricket Entity Editor

Share Family members have been testing JCricket throughout 2025 and raised input for improvement, while the Share Family team has been continuing the work on new features to enable granular and effective cataloguing and progressively make JCricket a production-ready tool.

Among these features, it’s worth mentioning the advancement in the integration with third parties’ systems (see Third parties integration section), the creation of the Provision Activity metadata block and the review of the Provenance-based function.

Provision Activity is a set of attributes of the Instance entity that represent an event or action describing:

  • how an Instance was produced and made available;
  • the agents involved (e.g., publishers, printers, distributors);
  • the space-time coordinates (location and date of the activity).

This new metadata block serves not only the enrichment of the information available for an entity, but also the curation of publisher data according to RDA guidelines (e.g. the ability to record the Publication statement). Also, the Provision Activity is in fact a multi-entity metadata block, because it includes information that is described as individual entities in their turn. So, we needed JCricket to handle this complex data structure that will also serve other use cases: this multi-entity metadata block approach will be used for the management of Subject entities in JCricket.

https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/6/66/Provision_Activity.png


The LOD Platform system is Provenance-based, meaning that the relationship between the entity and the source record that contributed to its creation is always retained through the Provenance, in order to maintain the relationship with the data that generated an entity over time and allow to manage the entity both in automated update processes and in manual processes (via JCricket entity editor). See also the wiki section on the Provenance.

This is the background for some important improvements to the “IsLeader” information: this feature is key to streamline cataloguing in a cooperative system where different users work on entities stored in the same Cluster Knowledge Base, so the underlying logic must be solid.

We reviewed and improved the way JCricket handles the “IsLeader” value to better support libraries’ cataloguing needs. The IsLeader value identifies which data values are shown on public portals, helping limit redundancy in a collaborative environment where multiple libraries contribute similar information. Previously, many values were automatically marked as leader and could not be edited or unmarked, creating issues when data was entered incorrectly. With the new behavior, catalogers can freely add or remove the leader flag from any value, even if it is the only one present, for both single-value and multi-value fields.

We also fixed issues with multi-value fields, where all values were treated as leaders by default. Catalogers can now choose which values should be leaders. Finally, leader values can now be deleted with an explicit confirmation, and internal handling of multi-value fields has been improved to ensure consistent saving and retrieval of data. Overall, these changes make JCricket more flexible, reliable, and aligned with real-world cataloguing practices. Other JCricket features useful to facilitate real-world cataloguing practices:

  • display of contributors roles’ URIs;
  • display of contributors’ role term in the provenance metadata block;
  • properties menu has been restructured and now groups properties by category;
  • display of properties’ URIs and descriptions (see the Front-end enhancements section below);
  • OpusType implementation.

Architecture and infrastructure

Multi-tenant architecture

The multi-tenancy infrastructure configuration has been deployed and is being progressively rolled out to the various tenants: the first multi-tenant installations are two UAT - User Acceptance Testing environments for the National Bibliographies tenant and the National Taiwan University Library tenant. Uploading institutions’ data to UAT environments is the preliminary step to production, for testing and verification with libraries.


New database

We are working on the preliminary implementations for the new NoSQL database where to migrate the current database; these implementations include the ongoing granularization of the CKB. This process is crucial to have a sustainable environment in terms of scalability and performance for the whole LOD Platform system, and in terms of hosting resources, which is a critical factor for the sustainability of the initiative.

Third parties integration

The integration of LOD Platform components with ILS/LSP has progressed and has been demonstrated during 2025:

  • the workflow from JCricket to Alma has been set up so that data created in JCricket can be posted to Alma APIs. This has been presented at the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025. Further operations are being implemented to close this loop.
  • After the initial operation from JCricket to FOLIO was implemented earlier last year, the workflow from JCricket to FOLIO has been further enhanced:
    • the data flow from JCricket into FOLIO’s Inventory module was already been implemented, so that data from Share can be posted to FOLIO;
    • from JCricket, users can query FOLIO and retrieve data to enrich Share Family entities. This has been presented at the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025.
https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/6/68/Cooperative_cat._in_FOLIO.png
https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/4/4b/Cooperative_cat._in_Alma.png


The integration with external ILS / LSP contributes to shaping a cooperative cataloguing environment, an integrated workflow where local and central systems are fully interoperable: data entered locally is reflected centrally, and conversely, central data is discoverable and reusable locally. The focus is on bidirectional synchronization; cataloging gains added value by keeping local and central environments aligned. This model enables full interoperability between local and central systems, ensuring that data flows in both directions. This new cooperative cataloging scenario is built on strong interoperability between systems, allowing libraries the freedom to design their own workflows — whether starting from the central hub or from the local environment — depending on their specific cataloging needs at any given time.

Front-end enhancements

Accessibility

An important achievement is the accessibility certification that has recently been issued by a specialised company that has validated the front-end components of the LOD Platform Entity Discovery Portal.

While we are going to publish the certifications on the relevant Entity Discovery portals, the certifications of compliance are also available here:


User interface enhancements

As mentioned above, the Provision Activity, the management of Provenance-based functions, and the integration with external sources entailed intense back-end and front-end work.

Among other enhancements, it’s worth mentioning that:

  • the review of the Publication page has been completed under the guidance of the UX-UI and Natbib Working Groups (see the Share Family Community Work section below) and is going to be released shortly. As part of this effort, the group shortened the current metadata list into a core set of metadata, tailored according to the material type. They also took into account which selected metadata should appear exclusively on the National Bibliographies portal. Any additional metadata that is not part of the core set will be accessible via a “Show more” option, which will expand the information in an accordion-style display. The group also revised the current “More options” button, relocating the download formats functionality under a new “View source description” button.
  • The new Opus types defined by the SEI Working Group have been incorporated into the user interface. The changes to the SVDE Ontology that this work has entailed have been reflected at the technical level with the reconciliation of pre-existing Opus types (e.g. multi-volume types).
  • We have implemented the informative feature of displaying properties’ details for JCricket cataloguers. This has given the occasion to improve the way that users are presented with the actions that can be performed on properties. The Property details dialogue box shows information about the property from the SVDE ontology (URI, name description) and provides a dedicated space where we can list all actions available for a property (e.g. adding a language). This UI pattern allow for many more actions to be added in the future.
https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/e/e3/property_details.png

Community work

Share Family Community updates

Collaborations with the library community

Events

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