Linked Data

Linked Data (LD) is about communities agreeing on the meaning of their data and sharing it in a massively networked information space. For libraries, LD provides a way to represent the library community's resources on the web as "entities" with interconnected relationships. It improves the efficiency of data publishing, increases the discoverability of resources, and has wide applications to cataloging, discovery portals, institutional repositories and any functions served by discovery-focused metadata.

In 2022, the CSU started, intentionally and collaboratively, to learn about where LD is headed in libraries and what library workers should be learning and preparing for. A formal Task Force of the ULMS Resource Management Committee spent several years surveying the landscape and establishing engaged, local, communities of practice in both the ULMS environment and digital repositories and special collections. Some of its initial activity is reflected on the archived site here.

Information linked from these ULMS Guide pages reflects current activity. It touches on LD aspects of our current ULMS as well as other LD-aware efforts in CSU libraries and archives. LD, by focusing on a massively networked information space, has a scope of activity beyond any single system no matter how unified and comprehensive.

CSU librarians created some reflections on where linked data development and applications are headed, in libraries, in the coming decade.

Linked data landscape and the CSU System 2025This link will open a PDF file. -  (pdf)