Reuse and Alignment Principle
LD4L Labs / LD4P Ontology Group
December 2016
Based on impression of the LD4L Labs / LD4P Ontology Group, the Library of Congress is unlikely to reuse external classes/properties in place of BIBFRAME resources. However, they are open to other forms of external ontology alignment in BIBFRAME, and revisiting the reuse option in the future when they are more comfortable with the stability of external ontologies.
The LD4L Labs / LD4P Ontology Group recommends:
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Use BIBFRAME for core resources and default to BIBFRAME usage for as many fragments as the LD4L Labs / LD4P Ontology Group considers feasible.
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Recommend for reuse to Library of Congress, and if not approved, reuse as part of bibliotek-o, external ontology fragments where the external ontology fragment is equivalent (or improves) the replaced BIBFRAME ontology fragment.
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Send recommendations to the Library of Congress for external ontology reuse and other forms of external ontology alignment within the BIBFRAME ontology.
For most patterns, the LD4L Labs / LD4P Ontology Group and the LD4P Ontology Extension Groups will need to consider external ontology fragments on a case-by-case basis; this recommendation is meant to help guide decisions and options considered at that time.
Reuse & Alignment recommendation steps include:
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Aim for external ontology fragment reuse/import into BIBFRAME;
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If not the above, aim for external ontology fragment reuse/import into bibliotek-o or recommendation to simply use the external ontology fragment with BIBFRAME;
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If not the above, upon agreement with ontology or namespace owners affected, declare equivalences between relevant external ontology fragments and BIBFRAME (and/or bibliotek-o) fragments.
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If not the above, declare subclasses/subproperties between external ontology fragments and BIBFRAME (and/or bibliotek-o) fragments