Algorithmic BIBFRAME and Social Signaling

Abstract

The BIBFRAME ontology, introduced by the Library of Congress, is a bibliographic metadata standard of classes and properties for describing library collections. Unlike its predecessor MARC, the BIBFRAME standard is described in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), a fundamental component of linked data. Metadata professionals struggle to effectively create BIBFRAME records without training in linked data principles. To address this sociotechnical challenge, this paper describes the BF Vibe system, which provides support for semi-automated metadata creation. BF Vibe contextualizes technical requirements with natural language explanations backed by authoritative Library of Congress sources. Grounded in social signaling theory, BF Vibe employs honest signaling through validation loops that check outputs against community SHACL shapes and ground repairs in Library of Congress exemplars, reducing the cost of probing, the manual effort of checking a metadata description against ontology rules and examples. The intervention reduced errors from 6 per description to 1. An interface analysis showed a 23% reduction in predicted cataloger task time.