Abstract

Description of an ongoing project that aims to model the cultural heritage domain in an ontology, the Cantabria’s Heritage Ontology, lead by Fundación Marcelino Botín. The ontology will contain data from different and heterogeneous sources (bibliographic records, finding aids, catalogues, etc.). The project will develop a series of applications that get the most out of the ontology, beginning by a semantic portal. The portal will provide easy and intuitive access to a huge volume of information that comes from heterogeneous sources selected by domain experts. People interested in Cantabria will be able to find with as few clicks as possible, not only the information they are interested in, but also some contextual information that complements the one the user is watching, suggesting new navigation directions, and uncovering hidden relations. The ontology has been designed based on the international standards for cultural models, such as CRM, FRBR or Dublin Core, and W3C recommendations for the semantic web.

Abstract

The article discusses new RDA (Resource description and access) cataloguing rules, which are based on the FRBR and FRAD conceptual model. The basic entities (work, expression, manifestation and item), as well as their attributes and relationships are described, and RDA structure and substantial changes from existing AACR2 rules explained. New terminology, new cataloguing models, and specifically “the rule of three” are included, no abbreviations, annotations of numbers and errors, and use of square brackets. New MARC 21 fields are explained: the 264 field for publisher data and the 3XX field for content, media and carrier types. The paper addresses the application of these changes in cartographic documents, especially in the 255 field for mathematical data elements, containing a sub-field for scale, cartographic projections and coordinates, and in the physical description field, including record samples. The essential role in the RDA development and training of cataloguers for cartographic documents is carried out by an expert group called Magirt (ALA). The rules offer freedom of application for cataloguers and cataloguing agencies; therefore, their interpretation is required, taking into account national cataloguing conventions. The instructions have already been translated into the major world languages.