Multi-entity models of resource description in the Semantic Web: A comparison of FRBR, RDA and BIBFRAME

Bibliographic description in emerging library standards is embracing a multi-entity model that describes varying levels of abstraction from the conceptual work to the physical item. Three of these multi-entity models have been published as vocabularies using the Semantic Web standard Resource Description Framework (RDF): FRBR, RDA, and BIBFRAME. The authors test RDF data based on the three vocabularies using common Semantic Web-enabled software. The analysis demonstrates that the intended data structure of the models is not supported by the RDF vocabularies. In some cases this results in undesirable incompatibilities between the vocabularies, which will be a hindrance to interoperability in the open data environment of the Web.