To Openness and Beyond: Report of the Core MARC Formats Transition Interest Group Meeting, ALA Core Virtual Interest Group Week

Tang Cindy Tian, Notre Dame Law School
Brian Clark, University of Alabama Libraries

Abstract

On Friday, July 30, 2021, the MARC Formats Transition Interest Group (MFTIG) hosted a virtual program of three presentations, presented by Kyle Banerjee, Wayne Schneider, and Laura Daniels.

The MFTIG provides a forum to educate the library community about ongoing efforts to transition from the MARC Standard for bibliographic data and examines new approaches and strategies for implementing bibliographic data models within the framework of linked open data and semantic web technology.1 After a year-long hiatus from hosting synchronous activities following the cancellation of the 2020 ALA Annual Conference due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, this year’s program was revived as the first online program hosted by MFTIG as part of the ALA Core Virtual Interest Group Week.

Thanks to the free and open-to-all programming of Virtual Interest Group Week, this year’s program attracted more participants than previous in-person MFTIG sessions with 327 registrants and 166 attendees who attended the session live. The presentations were followed by a brief and lively discussion.