From Metadata to linked Open Data and Wikidata:  Yemenite Hebrew Manuscripts and Wikidata

1. Abstract

The Hebrew Manuscripts catalogue in the National Library of Israel provides metadata for most Hebrew manuscripts in the world. Traditionally, library catalogues have served as a tool to manage library collections causing library catalogues to be data silos. In order to break down these metadata silos, information must be accessible and free. The semantic web, and in particular, linked open data, are initiatives that can turn library catalogues into a real part of the Internet. In order to explore the potential of linked data to this type of data we plan to convert a small part of the catalogue’s metadata of Hebrew Manuscripts in the NLI to Wikidata and create Wikidata items for each of the chosen manuscripts. We hope this will lead to an enrichment of the data and easy access to tools for querying and visualizing the collection. As a case study we have chosen Yemenite script manuscripts.