Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-ckgrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-08T12:11:51.034Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - The library and the web of data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2018

Get access

Summary

Introduction

As has been seen throughout the previous chapters, the web of data is increasingly becoming a reality as a wide range of organizations from all sectors begin to make data available online in a variety of machine-readable formats. Whilst the previous chapters have only given a brief overview of some of the technologies currently being used to make this data available, what should have become clear is that the web of data is a complex ecosystem, with various technologies emerging and competing for attention. Whilst some data may be most suited for publishing in RDF/XML, in other situations it may be more appropriate to provide access through more controlled APIs, or to use microformats to embed the data within web pages. Such decisions require both an understanding of the technologies, the aims and objectives of the organizations making the data available and the implications for potential users. What are needed are data professionals to help individuals and organizations make use of the data that is available, and help them make their own data available. Libraries, and the information professionals within them, are ideally placed to fulfil such a role.

Today, the amount of data collected dwarfs the small social science data repositories of the 1970s and 1980s, with an experiment like the Large Hadron Collider producing 15 petabytes of data each year (CERN, 2008), and it has been suggested that these large amounts of data have brought about a new paradigm in science (Bell, 2009). Many libraries are already recognizing the importance of the vast increase in data that is being created, especially research libraries which are trying to respond to an increased recognition of the importance of e-science and e-humanities. The Association of Research Libraries carried out a survey of the 123 member libraries in August 2009 (Soehner, Steeves and Ward, 2010) and found that among the 57 respondents, 21 institutions provided infrastructure and support for e-science, 23 institutions were in the planning stages and 13 did not provide any support for e-science.

Type
Chapter
Information
Facilitating Access to the Web of Data
A guide for librarians
, pp. 119 - 140
Publisher: Facet
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×