2026 BCMIG Fall Event -- Phase II Update: MARC21 Bibliographic to LRM/RDA/RDF Mapping and Transformation Project

Hi all,

Please join the ALA Core Bibliographic Conceptual Models Interest Group (BCMIG) 2026 Fall Event on November 12 at 11:00 AM Central Standard Time (CST) for an update on the MARC21 Bibliographic to LRM/RDA/RDF Mapping and Transformation Project, Phase II. Please register to attend <https://ala-events.zoom.us/meeting/register/fLWpF57GRHOBbhajoEkmOg> online<https://ala-events.zoom.us/meeting/register/fLWpF57GRHOBbhajoEkmOg>.
Event description:
The LRM/RDA/RDF linked data ontology offers an opportunity for legacy MARC21 data to become internationally interoperable, facilitating RDF entity sharing across language and cataloging practice communities while adhering to the internationally-accepted IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM) and Official RDA. A large pool of sample LRM/RDA/RDF data is needed for further development of library linked open data systems, and is useful in authoring application profiles for Official RDA.
Volunteer librarians and students from national libraries, academic libraries, library schools, and private and government sectors around the world teamed up to launch the MARC21 to LRM/RDA/RDF Mapping and Conversion Project (M2R) in 2021. Participants set out to create a robust mapping from MARC21 Bibliographic to LRM/RDA/RDF and a corresponding conversion tool for single-expression manifestations and simple augmentation aggregates during Phase I, which published its outputs at the end of 2025. Since then, the team has begun working on adding more complex aggregate manifestations and diachronic works to the mapping and transformation, published a large experimental GraphDB triplestore for output data, and begun work on entity deduplication using a combination of pattern logic-based XSLT coding and human-in-the-loop machine learning strategies.
This presentation will include a progress update on Phase II of the project, touching on the completed mapping and conversion work and in-progress deliverables. The presenter will zoom in on several challenges the project has overcome, challenges on the project’s horizon, and help the project could use from the community.
Presenter:
Crystal E. Yragui (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-282X<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/orcid.org/0000-0001-5000-282X__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!kj7rOz2elypuUiZE-PmKpLGJmPvFcmFB-ehqDN_NuPDnL5LHq7HijoXL50PNuTpdqtXQJ_646LI0pQ$>)
Crystal E. Yragui’s work encompasses socio-political and technical aspects of knowledge organization with focuses on critical cataloging, linked open data, and data modeling. Yragui serves as a co-convener of the Homosaurus Collective’s Implementation Board and co-founded the Orbis Cascade Alliance’s Homosaurus Implementation Project. She co-led the creation of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Entity Management Cooperative Program as co-chair of the PCC Identity Management Advisory Committee. Yragui is part of several leadership efforts to develop and maintain knowledge organization standards, models and technologies including the MARC21 Bibliographic to LRM/RDA/RDF Mapping and Transformation Project (M2R), which she co-leads with Cypress Payne of West Virginia University. Yragui also serves on the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Bibliographic Conceptual Models Review Group, which supports the maintenance and development of the IFLA LRM, FRBRoo, and PRESSoo. Yragui was born and raised in Seattle and holds both a bachelor’s in Comparative Literature & Cinema Studies and an MLIS from the University of Washington.