BIBFRAME

The BIBFRAME Initiative is a community endeavor led by the Library of Congress to re-imagine and implement a bibliographic environment for a post-MARC world.

BIBFRAME Chronology

May 2011: LC Announces Bibliographic Framework Initiative
Intended to replace MARC 21

October 2011: Framework Plan Published
To be a linked data model with RDF vocabulary

November 2012
BIBFRAME Draft Model NOV & Primer
Developed with Zepheira LLC

Early Experimenters:
US National Library of Medicine, the British Library, the German National Library, OCLC, George Washington University, and Princeton University

November 2012 – Today
Iterative Testing & Discussion Paper Developments
Includes ongoing Vocabulary updates

January 2013
bibframe.org Demonstration Website Launched at ALA Midwinter, Seattle
Includes draft Vocabulary & transformation tools

August 2013
Updated Discussion Papers
Papers on: Use Cases, Annotations, Resource Types, Authority

2014 Plans
Experimental Implementations
Software development and demonstrations

Expert Groups
Short-term analysis of lingering issues

BIBFRAME Data Model Core Classes

WORK: A resource reflecting a conceptual essence of the cataloging item

AUTHORITY: A resource reflecting an authority concept which has a defined relationship to a Work or Instance

INSTANCE: A resource reflecting an individual, material embodiment of a Work

ANNOTATION: A resource that augments another main BIBFRAME class when knowing who asserted the Annotation is vital information

At the advent of 2014, with serious, hands-on work beginning little more than a year ago and a half ago, BIBFRAME—as an Initiative, as a data model, as a vocabulary—is not just walking, it's running. For more information: Kevin Ford (kefo@loc.gov), Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress