This article aims to providing a comprehensive overview of the possible interactions between Wikidata and authority files, which can be classified into two main categories: firstly, the methods of reconciliation between Wikidata items and authority records; secondly, the ways in which the Wikidata community can improve Wikidata items using the authority records to which they link, and in which the cataloguers can improve their authority records using the Wikidata items that link to them, in a collaborative perspective. The purpose of this overview is optimising existing workflows and encouraging to establish new ones, so as to foster the reciprocal improvement of Wikidata's and authority files' data. The last part of the article describes a few major collaborations between Wikidata and authority files of national and international relevance, and the main attempts to use Wikibase (Wikidata's software) as a platform to store authority files.
This study investigates whether Hip & aacute;tia can be characterised as a digital preservation model for records and information. Developed by the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (Ibict), Hip & aacute;tia functions as an infrastructure for integration and automation among information systems, aimed at implementing Trusted Digital Archival Repositories (TDARs). Motivated by the lack of conceptual consensus surrounding the term "model" in scientific literature, the article offers a theoretical and epistemological examination of Hip & aacute;tia's relevance to Information Science and Archival Science. It employs a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach grounded in a literature review. Works from Philosophy and Information Science addressing the notion of model were analysed, alongside technical and scientific studies on Hip & aacute;tia, especially its configuration as a TDAR and its alignment with the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model. Findings suggest that, although Hip & aacute;tia does not fully conform to traditional definitions, it can be framed as a Kuhnian exemplar, an analogical model (Hesse), an operational representation (Abrantes), an applied method (Dutra), and a logical structure (Silva). Its databus (BarraPres) and capacity for integrating diverse systems highlight its flexibility, interoperability, and diagnostic potential. The study concludes that Hip & aacute;tia operates not only as a technical tool but as a multifaceted model.
The essay examines the role of measurement and data analysis in the evaluation of archival services, highlighting delays, resistance and critical issues in comparison with other fields such as libraries and museums. Drawing on international standards and guidelines, it presents the recovery and reworking of historical data relating to the reading room services of the State Archives of Florence and Venice, which led to the development of a prototype web application for calculating metrics and generating tables and charts. The paper discusses in detail the limitations identified in the legacy data and proposes several measures to improve future data collection, advocating the integration of data gathering and analysis functionalities within the Sala Studio platform, which is gradually intended to manage user services for all Italian State Archives.
The article examines the function of the archival bond and the different ways in which it manifests itself in processes of documentary sedimentation, and then proceeds to analyse the persistence of this foundational concept and its evolutions within the context of the dematerialisation of archives.
The representation of gender metadata in personal name authority records maintained by national libraries in the Americas and Europe is the central focus of this study. Anchored in contemporary discussions on descriptive practices and standards, the research investigates the application of frameworks such as RDA, alongside metadata encoding formats like MARC21, UNIMARC, and INTERMARC, in the inclusion and treatment of gender-related information. Adopting a descriptive and exploratory methodology, the study examines public authority catalogues and analyses institutional responses to identify how gender is recorded, made visible, or omitted. The findings reveal substantial variation across institutions: while some adopt binary classification models, others employ more inclusive and expanded vocabularies, and certain libraries opt to suppress gender data from public access. The analysis further highlights the potential of semantic web technologies and linked data as ethical and sustainable alternatives, enabling the connection of authority records to external sources such as VIAF, Wikidata, and ORCID. The study concludes that, when managed with responsibility and transparency, gender metadata not only supports academic research and improves data quality but also enhances the visibility of diverse contributions to cultural and scientific production.
The expansion of open access has positioned Article Processing Charges (APCs) and publication times as key dimensions for understanding the functioning of the scholarly publishing system. This study aims to characterise both components in scientific journals that are simultaneously indexed in Scopus and listed in DOAJ, identifying patterns by subject area and quartile. Data from Scopus, the 2024 SJR and DOAJ were integrated, considering only active journals with available information on average time to publication and APCs. The analysis, descriptive in nature, examined the distribution of these indicators across subject areas and editorial levels. The results show that publication times are similar among journals within the same subject area but differ when comparing different subject areas, whereas publication costs display larger differences in the upper quartiles and tend to decrease in the lower ones, with parallel trajectories in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Health Sciences and a differentiated pattern in Social Sciences. The study provides an updated empirical characterisation of how temporal stability and economic stratification coexist within a broad segment of the open access ecosystem.
Cultural Heritage (CH) data are inherently ambiguous: attributions shift, authorship is debated, and titles or dates are often uncertain or contested. Cataloguing conventions vary across institutions and time, leading to inconsistencies that affect interoperability. Photo archives amplify these challenges, as early cataloguing practices developed in the absence of shared standards and often treated photographs as secondary to artworks. Linked Open Data (LOD) technologies have opened opportunities to restructure and reconcile such records. However, most models and workflows assume certainty and one-to-one matches between entities, producing overly “clean” interfaces that risk erasing interpretive diversity. Fully reassessing records to resolve uncertainty is rarely feasible, and archivists increasingly face the need to historicise metadata and embrace ambiguity as part of the record itself. This article argues that modelling uncertainty should be treated as a first-class requirement in CH infrastructures, not as a data-cleaning problem. Drawing on cases from PHAROS photo archives, it categorises recurring forms of ambiguity and proposes design principles for representing uncertainty across both data structures and catalogue interfaces, balancing scholarly accuracy with usability.
This study examines the role of the Wikisource Indonesia Community, a volunteer-based organization, in digitizing ancient manuscripts. It explores the communication strategies and organizational practices that help the community manage this project. Using a qualitative approach, the research involved interviewing key members, including the founder, manuscript experts, and volunteers who are directly involved in the digitization work. Data was collected over seven months through in-depth interviews and participant observation, where the researcher attended meetings, recorded discussions, and observed digitization activities. The data was then analyzed to identify key themes and cross-checked for accuracy. The findings show that effective communication, both within the community and with external partners, is crucial for smooth coordination. The community stays connected using WhatsApp groups and Zoom meetings, even though members are spread out geographically. However, there were common challenges like miscommunication, technical issues, and leadership gaps. Despite these hurdles, a strong sense of identity and a shared commitment to preserving Indonesia’s cultural heritage kept volunteers motivated. Regular updates and transparent decision-making also helped the community overcome these challenges. This study sheds light on how volunteer-driven projects can successfully preserve cultural heritage and highlights the importance of shared purpose and open communication in keeping volunteers engaged and motivated.
This paper analyzes the phenomenon of self-publishing within the context of contemporary publishing, with particular focus on its impact on the library system, cataloguing practices, and legal deposit policies. Starting with the quantitative and structural development of self-publishing in Italy, the study examines the critical issues that arise in relation to bibliographic identification, metadata management, and the definition of publishing responsibilities, highlighting the difficulties libraries face in handling materials lacking traditional editorial mediation. The essay analyzes the role of the ISBN, the limitations of authority systems, and the issues related to the availability and reliability of information on authors, as well as the impact of these factors on cataloging and preservation practices. Particular attention is devoted to the legal framework of legal deposit and its implementation challenges in the case of self-published works, especially regarding digital content. Overall, the article offers a reflection on self-publishing as a structural phenomenon of the contemporary publishing landscape and as a test case for libraries’ ability to adapt tools, criteria, and functions to the transformation of cultural production models.
This article presents the SHARE Catalogue project as an advanced model of library cooperation and semantic innovation. Developed through an agreement among Southern Italian universities, SHARE has built a Linked Open Data infrastructure based on open and interoperable ontologies (BIBFRAME and SHARE-VDE), enabling the representation of bibliographic resources according to an entity-relationship model inspired by FRBR and LRM, implemented in the BIBFRAME format within a Linked Open Data environment. The paper outlines the platform's architecture, collaborative practices, integration with Wikidata, and systemic implications for the evolution of the National Library Service. It positions SHARE as both a conceptual and technical laboratory for a sustainable and replicable model of semantic cataloguing.
The article retraces the history and evolution of the collaboration between ITALE, the Italian community of Ex Libris users, and the National Library Service (SBN), focusing on ITALE's role in promoting cooperation among library institutions. It outlines the main stages of the technical and institutional dialogue with ICCU, aimed at ensuring interoperability between library management systems (initially Aleph, later Alma) and the SBN infrastructure. Special attention is given to the challenges posed by the management of the UNIMARC format and its relationship with the SBN-MARC protocol, as well as to the role of ITALE working groups in providing technical support and negotiating with Ex Libris. In the final section, the article explores future perspectives, particularly the introduction of Linked Open Data and the evolution of the UNIMARC format, identifying the synergy between ITALE and ICCU as a crucial element in guiding the Italian library community toward new descriptive paradigms and greater international visibility of bibliographic data.
This article presents the SHARE Catalogue project as an advanced model of library cooperation and semantic innovation. Developed through an agreement among Southern Italian universities, SHARE has built a Linked Open Data infrastructure based on open and interoperable ontologies (BIBFRAME and SHARE-VDE), enabling the representation of bibliographic resources according to an entity-relationship model inspired by FRBR and LRM, implemented in the BIBFRAME format within a Linked Open Data environment. The paper outlines the platform’s architecture, collaborative practices, integration with Wikidata, and systemic implications for the evolution of the National Library Service. It positions SHARE as both a conceptual and technical laboratory for a sustainable and replicable model of semantic cataloguing.
The article introduces NaMo, a tool developed to achieve effective and integrated bibliographic control and to enrich person entities in library catalogs, with particular reference to the work carried out by the Library of the Pontifical University Santa Croce. In a context of increasing use of entities and URIs within the semantic web, NaMo leverages Wikidata to integrate and update biographical information — such as birth and death dates — through catalogers’ contributions, using SPARQL queries and a dynamic interface. The tool operates on two data sets: one consisting of recently updated records in Wikidata, and another enabling retrospective work, both aimed at enriching authority entities. NaMo facilitates the identification of records with incomplete data, supporting critical review and validation processes. It proves effective not only in data enrichment but also in error correction and disambiguation, highlighting the importance of standardized query tools and collaboration across bibliographic systems. The study also explores the potential extension of NaMo to other systems such as SBN, GND, and BNF.
The article deals with the intersection of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and bibliographic/metadata practices, assessing how large language models (LLMs) can support cataloguing and metadata creation while navigating the constraints of formal knowledge architectures. In the first section, the article discusses the evolution of cataloguing paradigms from MARC to Linked Open Data (LOD), emphasizing the shift from rigid records to semantic, entity-based models like FRBR, RDA, and BIBFRAME. The second section deals with the epistemological clash between deterministic, rule-based metadata standards (the "architect") and probabilistic, generative AI systems (the "oracle"). Three strategies are proposed for integrating AI into bibliographic workflows: 1) Specialized AI systems trained exclusively on controlled, high-quality datasets. 2) Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), blending LLMs with authoritative knowledge bases. 3) Next-generation LLMs enhanced via reasoning models, multimodal inputs, expanded context windows, and small/medium-scale local models to align generative outputs with metadata standards. Key challenges include hallucinations, data sparsity in bibliographic corpora, and the obsolescence of MARC-centric experiments. The article argues for caution against retrofitting AI onto outdated data models, urging alignment with LOD and IFLA’s Library Reference Model (LRM). Ethical considerations (bias, transparency, AI literacy) and the potential of local SLMs/MSLMs for privacy-sensitive applications are highlighted.
The context of cataloging has changed since 1984, the year SBN was launched. Its philosophy risks remaining unknown to young librarians, increasingly burdened by daily work and, in many cases, bureaucratic burdens. The context has also changed with respect to the numerous developments that have occurred over the years. Today, it is comforting to recognize that methodological and technical solutions developed at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries (FRBR, IFLA LRM; linked data) offer unimaginable potential compared to what was possible at the beginning of SBN, when there was no internet and even a single bit needed to be saved. What can be done, therefore, in light of a renewed conceptual awareness and the reaffirmed need to operate with an eye to the international context and technological innovations. What is the relationship between BNI and Casalini Libri, the bibliographic agencies that collaborated on the BNI's issues XI (1968) to XXVII (1984)?
Nearly 45 years after the birth of the National Library Service (SBN), a highly valuable bibliographic tool, JLIS.it resumes, from its proper academic journal perspective, the debate on cataloging cooperation in Italy, and the national bibliographic services promoted for the benefit of the research community and the broader reading public. The journal wishes to offer a proactive contribution at a time when many bibliographic agencies and libraries are experiencing a long transition period that is forcing them to thoroughly rethink their mission. Therefore, JLIS.it has chosen to focus this issue on a problematic axis, with a critical rather than celebratory dimension, and with an open eye to the innovative global context. It seeks to seize the opportunities offered by the language of the web and to highlight some Italian experiences that are useful for redefining cataloging cooperation in the contemporary context.
The catalogue of the National Library Service (SBN), developed and expanded through cooperative cataloguing, has experienced exponential growth over time. Currently, the titles archive contains over 21 million records, while the authors archive includes around 4,200,000 entries. However, not all authority records in SBN meet the level of completeness and accuracy required of a national catalogue. As part of the collaboration between Wikimedia Italy and ICCU, a project was launched to enrich a portion of the authority records related to personal names in SBN that lacked information. This enrichment was made possible thanks to data available on Wikidata, where many records include the SBN identifier. The number of entries in Wikidata associated with SBN identifiers is expected to grow further, also thanks to ICCU's recent decision to make all records related to personal and corporate names in the Index visible in the SBN OPAC, regardless of their authority level.
The contribution analyzes the escalating cyber risks for cultural heritage, driven by digitization and conflicts, highlighting severe incidents (e.g., British Library) causing economic and reputation damages, and data loss. It proposes considering these infrastructures as "critical" through the "C3E - Cultural Cyber Critical Ecosystem" model. Legal, managerial, and technological criticalities of SBN and Magazzini Digitali, as core components of this ecosystem, are then examined. The conclusion emphasizes the need to invest in cyber resilience and foster a cultural shift in risk management.
The SBN Sommerso project was developed with the aim of integrating bibliographic heritage not yet described in the centralised database into the collective catalog of the National Library Service (Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale, SBN). To enrich the catalog, the project involves an automated process based on the use of artificial intelligence techniques for the processing of UNIMARC records which, when compared with the data in the SBN, are recognised as identical, similar or new, thus making new bibliographic data or new information relating to library holdings available, while ensuring that the uniqueness of the bibliographic record within the SBN Index is maintained. The automation of activities, which is necessary considering the amount of data managed, is achieved through the use of specific machine learning algorithms, designed and developed for the I.PaC infrastructure and adapted within SBN Sommerso through training on data and metadata specific to the bibliographic domain. For the clustering and deduplication of entities represented in the records, namely Manifestation, Agent, Series, Work, Subject and Printer’s Mark, the algorithms took into account all the specific metadata for each element. The output required from the system involves presenting the user with groups of identical entities and identifying new ones. The system also groups entities that are assessed as similar and presents them to the domain expert user for verification of the results and correct modulation of the evaluative choices made by the AI, for an increasingly rich, accurate and reliable collective catalog.
