Bibliographic data seems like it would be a fairly simple and straightforward thing. However, it is really just the beginning of the sorts of data tracked in library catalogs. What about metadata standards and information classification systems?

This very interesting topic was brought to our attention by O’Reilly Media in their post, “The Search for a Concise and All-Encompassing Library Record.” The Open Library seeks to create a web page for every book published, but in the process has run into these challenges.

In this article, the author interviews George Oates, Open Library lead. It is worth the time to read and asks some prevalent questions about digital libraries and their future.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.