Article

Library of Congress Releases AVPreserve’s New BIBFRAME Report On Technical Metadata For Audiovisual Resources

By: Bertram Lyons
January 8, 2016

AVPreserve is happy to announce the release of the results of our recent study (on behalf of the Library of Congress) of technical metadata for Audiovisual resources in the context of BIBFRAME.

Audiovisual resources provide important use cases for testing the scope and breadth of BIBFRAME as it is being developed. First, simply the category of “audiovisual” represents a wide array of media types, from traditional celluloid film to digital video files; the complexity of each of these individual categories of media offers a rich test bed with which to examine BIBFRAME. Additionally, given that most (if not all) physical audiovisual resources will need to be migrated to the file-based domain for preservation and access purposes within the next few years (if they have not been already), it is urgent that a clear plan for technical, structural, and preservation description of both physical and digital resources be articulated for the library community. It is our hope that this report simplifies and provides clarity on a complex set of questions for a complex set of resources by offering concrete suggestions for the handling of audiovisual resources within BIBFRAME.

The study analyzes the relationship between BIBFRAME and the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata
(http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis); investigates the applicability for structural and technical descriptions within the bibliographic context; looks at the technical information in MARC 21 and other metadata standards; and provides recommendations on which technical attributes of audiovisual material should be included in the BIBFRAME vocabulary.

The report, entitled “BIBFRAME AV Assessment: Technical, Structural, and Preservation Metadata” can be accessed at the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/docs/pdf/bf-avtechstudy-01-04-2016.pdf.

Comments, concerns, and discussion are encouraged via the BIBFRAME listserv (see the BIBFRAME contact page
http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/contact) or directly to [email protected].