(24 May 2022) OCLC has completed a project, funded in part by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, to develop a shared entity management infrastructure that supports linked data initiatives in the library community. As a result of this effort, OCLC has released millions of authoritative WorldCat Entities through a publicly searchable website and will continue to partner with libraries to develop the tools needed to fully incorporate linked data into library workflows and improve resource discovery through connections.
Working closely with an advisory group of leading libraries from around the world, OCLC has created and released more than 150 million WorldCat Entities containing descriptions of creative works and persons. These entities are freely available through a look-up website for anyone to explore at entities.oclc.org. Library metadata specialists can begin to look up entity URIs and see how they can make new connections that empower discovery and research—a significant step toward making linked data work for libraries.
As part of the grant, OCLC also created a linked data management tool—OCLC Meridian—and APIs to be released following a development partner phase. OCLC is now collaborating with key libraries as development partners to explore how these tools can best be integrated into library workflows. This development partnership will help OCLC refine and enhance these new entity services so libraries can better manage, edit, and create entities.
The announcement in full is here.
