2014 EVA/Minerva Jerusalem International Conference on Digitisation of Cultural Heritage http://2014.minervaisrael.org.il http://www.digital-heritage.org.il

1. Israeli Bibliographic Data and the
International Scene
Elhanan Adler
National Library of Israel and David
Yellin Academic College of Education

2. Background
• Digital preservation and access to national cultural
heritage materials is (or should be) an important
activity of all countries.
• Local and national efforts need to be made
international in order to reach the greatest possible
audience.
• Cultural heritage materials from various countries
often overlap.
• Jewish cultural heritage materials are an extreme
example of this overlap.
• The National Library of Israel (NLI) is actively working
to make its metadata acceptable to international
projects

3. Metadata issues
• Merging metadata from various countries
creates challenges related to
– Standards
– Terminology
– Languages
– Scripts
• Israeli metadata needs to be adaptable to
international standards while continuing to
meet local needs

4. Israeli bibliographic metadata
• Generally follows international standards
(AACR, RDA) but data is recorded in four
vernacular scripts
– Latin
– Hebrew
– Arabic
– Cyrillic

5. US-style cataloging
• All entry points in Latin alphabet
• In recent years, option to enrich the record with
parallel vernacular 880 fields
• Major advantage: works in all languages and
alphabets are retrieved by a single search
• Major disadvantage: Latin alphabet heading is
not always obvious – particularly for Hebrew
names (various romanization schemes)
• This approach is now known as MARC Model A

6. Israeli style cataloging
• Works in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic and Cyrillic
scripts are cataloged in the original script
• Major advantage: headings are searched in the
native language of the work (no romanization)
• Major disadvantage: Multiple searches
necessary to retrieve material in more than
one script
• This approach is now known as MARC Model B

7. Example –Headings for Benjamin
Netanyahu
• Netanyahu, Binyamin
• Нетаниягу, Биньямин
נתניהו, בנימין •
نتنياهو، بنيامين •

8. The solution: retain separate alphabets but
enable cross-alphabet searching
• NLI Name headings: currently 4 scripts
• NLI subjects: English only (LCSH) with Hebrew translations
• The goal: searching any of the scripts will retrieve headings
using all of them

9. How?
• Create single authority record for each heading with multiple
1xx fields (one for each script), e.g.
– 1001 $aNetanyahu, Binyamin,$9eng
– 1001 $aНетаниягу, Биньямин, $9rus
– 1001 $a $$9 ,נתניהו, בנימין heb
• Each can have its own cross references
– 4001 $aNetanyahu, Benjamin,$9eng
– 4001 $a $$9 ,נתניהו, ביבי heb
• Bibliographic record contains only one form (in alphabet of
cataloging) but can be retrieved by all.

10. Software support
• This solution is non-standard (MARC field 1xx
is non-repeatable)
• It is supported by ALEPH 500 software
• It is used by other ALEPH libraries (e.g. Swiss
for French/German/Italian headings)
• It is acceptable to the VIAF project

11. Example of name cluster

12. Four separate authority
records before merge

13. After merge

14. Browse index – before merge (10+11+2+11 records)

15. Browse index – after merge
Same records under
each heading

17. VIAF project
(Virtual International Authority File)
• Authority records are loaded to the
international VIAF project where they are
further clustered with other name headings
from other countries
• Bibliographic projects using VIAF data will be
able to locate material related to all forms

19. The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an
international service designed to provide convenient
access to the world's major name authority files. Its
creators envision the VIAF as a building block for the
Semantic Web to enable switching of the displayed form
of names for persons to the preferred language and
script of the Web user. VIAF began as a joint project with
the Library of Congress (LC), the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek (DNB), the Bibliothèque nationale de
France (BNF) and OCLC. It has, over the past decade,
become a cooperative effort involving an expanding
number of other national libraries and other agencies. At
the beginning of 2012, contributors include 20 agencies
from 16 countries.
[2014: 34 agencies in 29 countries ]

23. Merging/clustering headings
• Initial clustering based on VIAF merging
• Ongoing clustering in current cataloging
• Retrospective clustering based on likelihood
that name appears in more than one alphabet
(major authors, historical figures, translations,
etc.)
• Currently over 57,000 names have multi-script
clusters

24. Further Authority record enhancement
• Import biographical data (formatted and
unformatted)
• Import alternate name forms
• Export the enhanced records to the Virtual
International Authority File (VIAF)
24

25. Bibliography of the Hebrew Book data
 BHB authority records (about 20,000) are rich in
biographical information (narrative format)
 But - very different forms of headings
 Stage 1 – Match 95% of the BHB authority records to
NLI authority records - done
 Stage 2 – transfer narrative biographical data and
alternate heading forms from BHB to NLI – done
 Stage 3a – mine biographical data to create RDA coded
data fields – done
 Stage 3b – Use BHB forms/references in NLI authority
records to expedite single search of both databases – in
process
25

26. NLI authority record enhanced with
BHB data
26

27. 27

28. Israel Museum database
28

29. Artist data transferred as Excel file
29

30. 30

31. NLI enhanced record
31

32. Link to Israel Museum site
32

33. Israel Museum data in VIAF
33

34. ACUM
אקו"ם )אגודת קומפוזיטורים מחברים ומו"לים למוסיקה בישראל(
34

35. ID numbers of creators and performers
35

36. 36

37. ACUM data in authority record
37

38. Hierarchical geographic data
• Organize data on place names in hierarchical
form (English and Hebrew) in order to use it in
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Enrich records with geographical coordinates
(field 034)
38

39. Example: Authority record for Białystok (Poland)
39

40. 40

41. 41

42. 42

43. 43

44. Subject headings
• In 2010-2011 The NLI converted its classified
catalog (modified Dewey Decimal
Classification with added descriptors) to
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
• In parallel the NLI began a project to translate
all relevant LCSH headings to Hebrew
• English forms are used in the bibliographic
records. Searching can be either on English or
Hebrew terms.

45. NLI subject thesaurus
• 990,000 subjects: base and compound
• Not all in use (includes entire LCSH file)
• Of those in use > 95% have Hebrew translations
• Unique subfield dictionary contains 104,000
translations
• Most new subject headings are compound of
subfields with existing translations (automatic
translation)
• New subfields are translated and added to the
dictionary (ongoing)

46. NLI subject thesaurus – in house
• NLI general catalog
• NLI special collections (maps, music, [mss.])
• Index to articles in Jewish studies (Rambi)

47. Creating a national Israeli authority file
• The NLI has invested much effort in clustering
names in different scripts (ongoing)
• The NLI has invested much effort in translating
subject headings to Hebrew (ongoing)
• Other Israeli libraries wish to make use of this
data for their own catalogs
• Additional partners will make the authority
work, clustering and translation more effective
and efficient
47

48. Beta site: University of Haifa
• A copy of the NLI’s authority file is part of the
Haifa ALEPH installation
• It is automatically synchronized every evening
• Headings can link to either the NLI authorities
or the local Haifa ones – priority to NLI
• U. of Haifa catalogers have authorization to
add and update original NLI authority records
• Requires coordination of cataloging practices!
48

49. Use of NLI authority data by other
Israeli libraries
• 2014 – University of Haifa
• 2015 – Some members of the College Libraries
consortium

50. Future development plans
• Partnership with other institutions in
developing and expanding the NLI authority
date (NACO/SACO model)
• Maintain and expand Latin script forms of all
possible headings for international
compatibility
• Make data available to international metadata
and cultural heritage projects