The Library of Congress has released the initial plan for its Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative, the goal of which is to pursue “a replacement of the MARC format as the common exchange currency for bibliographic data.”
According to the plan released today, the requirements for a new bibliographic framework environment are:
- Broad accommodation of content rules and data models
- Provision for types of data that logically accompany or support bibliographic description
- Accommodation of textual data, linked data with URIs instead of text, and both
- Consideration of the relationships between and recommendations for communications format tagging, record input conventions, and system storage/manipulation
- Consideration of the needs of all sizes and types of libraries, from small public to large research
- Continuation of maintenance of MARC until no longer necessary
- Compatibility with MARC-based records
- Provision of transformation from MARC 21 to a new bibliographic environment
The plan also states that “the new bibliographic framework project will be focused on the Web environment, Linked Data principles and mechanisms, and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a basic data model.”
The plan is available on the
Library of Congress website.
