The Future of Serials in a Linked Data World

Serials, from a cataloging, search, and retrieval point of view, are currently described and accessed via metadata records. Each record is tied to the title of the journal, newspaper, or magazine. The record might cover a range of years for that publication under its current title, or it might cover the current iteration and previous titles. But in our libraries, to find a serial we look for the appropriate record, usually a MARC record, in OPACs and search systems. The cataloging rules are changing, and RDA will soon replace AACR2 as the content standard for creating MARC records and other library metadata for books and serials. The Library of Congress has announced that as the cataloging rules are changing, so too will the bibliographic framework change. The current framework, FRBR (a linear, hierarchical conceptual model) and the MARC standard (the flat format used for catalog records in the US and many other countries around the world), form the basis of many catalog records. All signs are pointing toward a new framework built on RDF and linked data. How will current MARC records adapt to use in a linked data world? Should future structures and displays use the traditional hierarchical approach, or should they take as a model the web-like structure taking shape for the Semantic Web? And how can libraries and librarians take part in this next phase of information access and