ShareVDE:Activities/Integrations

Background and overview

The global library community is exploring what will replace MARC-based copy cataloging as the cataloging paradigm of the future. While BIBFRAME stands as the most likely replacement for MARC today, this change challenges many existing library practices and interconnections. The LOD Platform technology implemented by the Share Family of initiatives is experimenting with new strategies to improve interoperability to bridge the gap between traditional cataloging workflows and emerging, collaborative entity management practices.

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. New data workflows are being analysed to support this use of the LOD Platform, whereby its linked data ecosystem can simultaneously operate on its centralised knowledge base as well as on local library systems using libraries’ own tools, and share and cooperatively edit linked data resources across different environments using the JCricket entity editor and LOD Platform APIs.

This is being achieved through the API-based integration of the LOD Platform tools with local ILS and LSP, or cataloguing modules:

• Alma:
  • the connection to circulation processes established has been developed;
  • data from Share can be posted to Alma APIs, and further operations are being implemented. This has been presented at the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025.
• FOLIO:
  • pilot integration in progress with Lehigh University (Share-VDE member and FOLIO adopter);
  • the automated data flow from JCricket into FOLIO’s Inventory module has been implemented, so that data from Share can be posted to FOLIO;
  • from JCricket editor users can query FOLIO and retrieve data to enrich Share entities. This has been presented at the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe 2025.
• Sinopia LD4P BIBFRAME cataloguing module:
  • connection to Sinopia to fetch BIBFRAME data;
  • ingestion of a set of Sinopia data from Stanford;
  • creation of the parser so that RDF data coming from Sinopia can be clustered by Share-VDE processes;
  • after the testing phase, Sinopia data will be included in the LOD Platform CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base.

This initiative 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.

JCricket and FOLIO Inventory use case

JCricket is the Linked Data Entity Editor developed by the Share Family community, a tool designed for collaboratively curating entity data living in the CKB - Cluster Knowledge Base, the database of linked data entities. Conceived as a live source of authoritative data, JCricket opens new forms of cooperation: through JCricket editor, member institutions engage in collaborative entity management and in a new way of performing authority control. Entity editing and curation capabilities are designed to support both manual as well as machine-to-machine workflows, not only for sharing entities’ data, but also to perform original cataloging.

The solution to connect JCricket and FOLIO Inventory module offers a dual-pathway approach, allowing different records to maintain their own source of truth in FOLIO LSP’s Inventory app, thereby supporting a gradual transition towards a linked data ecosystem.

The larger vision is to create a combined solution that will support a number of different approaches to bibliographic description, from conventional MARC-based copy-cataloging and authority control flows all the way to shared entity management, and to provide migration paths and alternatives to allow different libraries to adapt the technologies to support local needs while still working in a shared space.

The technical strategy under development to connect JCricket and FOLIO Inventory module has already achieved early results with several steps being piloted:

• the LOD Platform deduplicates, groups, clusters, and merges data contributed by participant institutions and produces a uniform, enriched, linked, and integrated Cluster Knowledge Base (CKB);
• the entire JCricket curation feature is exposed through a documented set of APIs that external systems like FOLIO can use to embed these capabilities;
• JCricket users manage entities within the Cluster Knowledge Base and automatically synchronize instances in the Inventory module, enhancing data efficiency and consistency.

The output of this integration will be available in real time in a bi-directional workflow:

• from the LOD Platform to FOLIO (in piloting phase);
• from FOLIO to the LOD Platform (to be developed).

As a result, an integrated ecosystem is offered that supports linked data entity curation and sharing in the Share Family common space, allowing at the same time autonomous bibliographic descriptions at local library level through FOLIO LSP that benefit from the enrichment provided by Share Family Cluster Knowledge Base.

References

This integration scenarios have been presented in several conferences and events:

• the current status of developments and future perspectives has been presented by Tiziana Possemato, Boaz Nadav-Manes and Nate Trail at WOLFcon 2024, see MARC My Words: Navigating the BIBFRAME Frontier;
• perspectives for the integration of JCricket entity editor and Alma ILS have been presented by Jim Hahn at the LD4 conference 2024, see Integration of the Share Family Entity Editor and the Alma ILS, recording available;
• a closer look at integration capabilities between SVDE and FOLIO was presented by Sebastian Hammer and Boaz Nadav Manes at the Share Family Workshop 2024, see https://bit.ly/SVDE_Workshop2024_slides;
• experiments to leverage SVDE linked data into an Alma environment have been presented by Jim Hahn in the context of the LD4P project, see https://wiki.share-vde.org/w/images/7/7d/ld4-discovery-affinity-group_JimHahn.pdf;
• the collaboration around this project was presented by Tiziana Possemato and Sebastian Hammer at Charleston Conference 2023, see Share-VDE and beyond – Cooperation and innovation to bring Linked Open Data into practice;
• the correlation of SVDE with FOLIO was introduced by Andrea Gazzarini and Sebastian Hammer at WOLFcon 2023, see FOLIO meets Share-VDE.

Benefits of Cooperative Cataloguing

The integration with external ILS / LSP contributes the shaping of a cooperative cataloguing environment, a cooperative/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.

Similar integrations will follow, based on the same open-API interactions and data exchange principles — with MARVA, Sinopia (already near completion), Koha, WeCat, and others.

Another use case for cooperative cataloguing developed within the Share Family is the dashboard developed as part of the Parsifal project — a shared BIBFRAME catalogue and a common authority system in MARC 21, built for the URBE (Unione Romana Biblioteche Ecclesiastiche) network. Through this shared dashboard, the library network can review and correct errors made both by machines and by catalogers. They can move entire sets of bibliographic and authority records from one entity to another, request specific corrections to access points and entity properties from individual libraries, check and fix links between entities and external URIs, and even identify cases where multiple entities in the CKB share the same Wikidata URI — revealing issues in entity resolution and correcting them. What makes this tool unique is that catalogers can work seamlessly on both MARC21 records and BIBFRAME entities, all within a single shared environment.

The value of the cooperative cataloguing approach is significant: it offers a wide range of nuanced possibilities that enable libraries to address very diverse, real-world use cases — some of which are still being fully defined by libraries themselves.