Future Of Bibliographic Control

= Response to Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control (Library of Congress) =

Please note that the deadline for submission of comments has now passed and so this document has now been 'locked' to prevent further modification.

Response
The draft report of the Library of Congress's Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control features many interesting suggestions. In particular we wholeheartedly endorse the vision of a bibliographic ecosystem which is "collaborative, decentralized, international in scope and web-based". However, we are concerned that the report lacks any discussion of a key component for any future of bibliographic data: open licensing and access.

Over the past few years, open licensing has facilitated the explosive growth of a 'knowledge commons'. To give a few prominent examples: Open Access journals, Open Educational Resources and Open Data in scientific research have all been enabled by licenses which permit material to be freely re-used and re-distributed. And a recent meeting of open government advocates, including people from Yahoo, Google, Stanford, and Berkeley, called for government agencies to follow eight principles of Open Data. This outpouring of support for openness has led to an incredible rise in community-led development and innovative uses.

Bibliographic records are a key part of our shared cultural heritage. They too should therefore be made available to the public for access and re-use without restriction. Not only will this allow libraries to share records more efficiently and improve quality more rapidly through better, easier feedback, but will also make possible more advanced online sites for book-lovers, easier analysis by social scientists, interesting visualizations and summary statistics by journalists and others, as well as many other possibilities we cannot predict in advance.

Government agencies and public institutions are increasingly making data open. We strongly encourage the Library of Congress to join this movement by recommending that more bibliographic data is made available for access, re-use and re-distribution without restriction.

''NB. For background information please see our original blog post. For more detailed comments on the draft, see our separate Appendix.''

Signed:
 * Rufus Pollock, The Open Knowledge Foundation
 * Jonathan Gray, The Open Knowledge Foundation
 * Peter Suber, The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
 * Aaron Swartz, Open Library
 * Karl Fogel, QuestionCopyright.org
 * Tim Spalding, founder, LibraryThing.com
 * Alexander Johannesen, Shelter.nu
 * Casey Durfee, LibraryThing for Libraries
 * Christopher Holland, LibraryThing developer, DigMaster creator
 * Abby Blachly, LibraryThing
 * Rick Mason, LibrarySupportStaff.org
 * Steve Oberg, Family Man Librarian
 * Barbara Fister, Academic Librarian, Gustavus Adolphus College
 * Terry Willan, Talis
 * Rob Styles, blog Talis
 * Paul Miller, Talis
 * James Jacobs, Free Government Information
 * Shin Joung Yeo, Free Government Information
 * Bradley P. Allen, Siderean Software, Inc.
 * Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons
 * Janelle Walker Warden, retired cataloging librarian
 * Jennifer McGaffey, bookaholic and LibraryThing user
 * Alexis Rossi, Internet Archive
 * Jon Phillips, Creative Commons
 * Rick and Megan Prelinger, Prelinger Library & Archives
 * Joseph Lorenzo Hall, UC Berkeley School of Information
 * William David Martin, student, UT Austin School of Information
 * F. Tim Knight, cataloguer, composer, Library Thing user, York University Law Library
 * Dimitri Lundquist, Information Architect, graduate of UT Austin School of Information
 * Anand Chitipothu, Open Library
 * Julia Pichler, bookaholic, architect (..and adventurer)
 * Sarah Mould, library user http://www.librarything.com/profile/sarahemmm
 * Ed Summers, library software developer http://inkdroid.org
 * David Weinberger, writer, Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society fellow
 * antonius thausing, always interested, nearly architect...
 * Richard Wallis, Panlibus Blog Talis
 * Tom Mustill, Documentary Researcher
 * Ray R. Larson, UC Berkeley, School of Information
 * Magnus Enger, librarian and LibraryThing-user, colLib.info
 * Miles Travis, grad student, regular LC researcher
 * Nate Olson, ProjectSuperpower
 * Luis Villa, GNOME Foundation and Open Definition Advisory Council
 * Bruce D'Arcus, scholar, Miami University
 * Art Rhyno, University of Windsor, OurOntario, Essex Free Press
 * Edwin Mijnsbergen, Librarian, Zeeuwse Bibliotheek
 * Daniel Lovins, Yale University Library
 * Michael Kreyche, systems librarian, Kent State University
 * Kevin Clair, librarian, Penn State University
 * Tomasz Kalata, cataloger, Brooklyn Public Library
 * Randy Metcalfe, eIFL.net
 * Anneh Vanessa Fletcher, interim reference and technical services librarian, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Library
 * Johan Hoenink, ict-consultant Bibliotheekhuis Limburg http://www.bibliotheekhuis.nl
 * Yohannes Mulugeta, Systems Librarian Addis Ababa University
 * Walt Lessun, librarian,  Gogebic Community College
 * Gabriel Sean Farrell, Library Systems Developer, Drexel University
 * Nasser Saleh, Integrated Learning Librarian, Queen's University Library http://library.queensu.ca
 * Oleksii Vasyliev, Association "Informatio-Consortium" (Ukraine) http://www.informatio.org.ua
 * Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO O'Reilly Media
 * Ryan Shaw, UC Berkeley School of Information
 * Cody Hennesy, Librarian, California College of the Arts
 * Joerg Messer, UBC Library
 * Yann Nicolas, ABES
 * Margaret Maurer, Librarian, Kent State University
 * Steve Toub, California Digital Library
 * May Yan-Mountain, UBC Library
 * Erik Hetzner, California Digital Library
 * Chris Strauber, Reference Librarian, Wofford College
 * John Ridener, UC Berkeley Earth Sciences and Map Library
 * Bill Hooker, biomed postdoc, Open Reading Frame (blog)
 * Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, http://www.webchick.org/
 * Gerard Bierens, Library Developer
 * Mark Perkins, Librarian
 * Chris Pickford, Librarian, San Diego County Public Law Library
 * Jenn Nolte, Yale University Library
 * Matthias Steffens, refbase
 * Kristin McLane, Library Thing user
 * Mark Kille, Allen Ginsberg Library at Naropa University
 * ´Klaus Graf, archivist RWTH Aachen Archivalia (blog)
 * Rick Welch, Library Staff, UBC Library http://www.library.ubc.ca
 * Patrick M. White, Sheridan Country Fulmer Library
 * Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive
 * K.G. Schneider, librarian and writer http://freerangelibrarian.com
 * Sören Auer, AKSW research group, Universität Leipzig
 * Mark A. Matienzo, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics
 * Louise Ratliff, social sciences cataloger, UCLA Library
 * Christopher Budnick, Free Culture
 * Tatyana Zaytseva, Director, Khazar University Library Information Center
 * Chris Bizer, Web-based Systems Group, Freie Universität Berlin
 * Maria Vittoria Savio, Director, Sistema Bibliotecario del Politecnico di Torino
 * Heinrich C. Kuhn, Seminar für Geistesgeschichte und Philosophie der Renaissance
 * S.D.Kulkarni, Assistant Librarian, Acquision & Technical Processing, Central Library, IITB, Mumbai
 * M.G. Sreekumar, Visiting Professor, University of Malaya and Librarian, IIM Kozhikode
 * K.R.Mulla, Librarian, HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore
 * John Wonderlich, Program Director, Sunlight Foundation
 * Tiago Murakami, Librarian
 * Jeffrey Barnett, Yale University Library Research and Planning
 * Marlene Vikor, librarian, University of Maryland Libraries
 * John Brothers, CTO Sunlight Foundation
 * Brenda Reeb, University of Rochester
 * Galen Charlton, Koha Developer, LibLime
 * Thomas Lord, Software Engineer, lord@emf.net
 * Ian Ibbotson, OSS Libraries Developer, Knowledge Integration Ltd
 * Martin Springer, Digital Media Strategist (Blog)
 * Dr. med. Christian Renner, Physician, Germany http://www.christian-renner.de
 * Tracy Mehlin, Librarian
 * Torie Quinonez, Librarian
 * Joshua M. Neff, Librarian and blogger, the goblin in the library
 * Carrie Preston, Continuing Resources/Database Maintenance Librarian, Ohio University
 * Theodore Roffe, once and future library assistant
 * Laura Smart, Metadata Services Manager, Caltech and infodiva
 * Stephen De Gabrielle, Library User.
 * Adelle Frank, Web Developer, Emory University Libraries
 * Thomas Dukleth, Agogme
 * M. Chantiny, former cataloger, Univ. of Hawaii Library
 * Jakob Voß, GBV and Wikimedia Germany
 * Dorothea Salo, Digital Repository Librarian, University of Wisconsin
 * Dan Cook, LibraryThing user
 * Donna Dinberg, Systems Librarian
 * Eric Wallace, blogger, LibraryThing user, http://ecrosstexas.com/
 * Brenda Chawner, Senior Lecturer, School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington http://info541.sim.vuw.ac.nz/blogs/
 * Xavier Agenjo, Research Manager, Librarian, Fundacion Ignacio Larramendi, Spain http://www.larramendi.es
 * Jodi Schneider
 * Nicolas Morin, Librarian, French National LIS School (enssib)
 * Patrick Danowski, Librarian Berlin Germany
 * Art Zemon, Hen's Teeth Network, and Cheerful Curmudgeon
 * Leif Longva, University of Tromsø Library, and Munin
 * Deborah Kaplan, Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives
 * Elijah Wright, Ph.D Student, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University Bloomington
 * Jake White, Slavic and East European Acquisitions Specialist, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle
 * Francisca Hernandez, Librarian, DIGIBIS, Publicaciones Digitales http://www.digibis.com
 * Paola Gargiulo, Library Automation Service, CASPUR, Italy http://www.caspur.it
 * Domenico (Ingo) Bogliolo, AIDA, Italy http://www.aidaweb.it
 * Pierluigi Feliciati, University of Macerata (Italy) http://beniculturali.unimc.it
 * Eloy Rodrigues, Universidade do Minho (Portugal) http://www.sdum.uminho.pt
 * Antonella De Robbio, University of Padua (Italy) http://www.cab.unipd.it
 * Alessandra Bezzi, Insubria University, Varese (Italy) http://www.uninsubria.it/web/siba
 * Luca Maggiore, University of Antwerp (Belgium) http://www.ua.ac.be
 * Ilaria Fava, University of Padua (Italy) http://www.cab.unipd.it
 * Simona Bambi, University of Pisa (Italy) http://www.agr.unipi.it/biblio/
 * Maria Cassella, University of Turin (Italy)
 * Enrico Martellini, Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy) http://biblio.sns.it/
 * Fiorella Liotto, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples (Italy) http://biblio.szn.it
 * John Russell, Social Sciences Librarian, Univ. of Oregon
 * Antonella Trombone, University of Basilicata (Potenza), Italy http://www.unibas.it/biblio/
 * Liliana Bernardis, University of Udine (Italy) http://www.uniud.it/didattica/offerta/strutture_speciali/servizio_bibliotecario
 * Steering Committee, ITALE Italian Association of Ex-Libris Users, Varese (Italy) http://www.itale.it
 * Carla Colombati, University of Teramo (Italy)
 * Luigi M. Reale, Secondary School Teacher (Italy) Italianistica OnLine
 * Annabal Dazzi, cognitive model consultant, http://www.unimarconi.it
 * Anna Maria Grasso, Futur@antica srl - Servizi per i beni culturali, Palermo Italy
 * Lucio Lubiana, librarian, SISSA, Italy (lubiana@sissa.it)
 * Francesca Valentini, Librarian, Università degli studi di Trento (Italy) http://portale.unitn.it/biblioteca/
 * Ivana Truccolo and Laura Ciolfi, Librarian, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico Aviano (Italy) http://www.cro.sanita.fvg.it/biblioteca/set_bibliotecascientifica.htm
 * Christian Zimmermann, RePEc team http://repec.org/
 * Andrea Marchitelli, CILEA
 * Loredana Colecchia, librarian, CNDC, Italy http://www.bibliotecacndc.it
 * Rita Iori, Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova-Reggio Emilia (Italy) http://biblioteca.asmn.re.it