OCLC Releases FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology) as Linked Data
Kudos to Lorcan Dempsey and the OCLC Research Team.
From OCLC:
FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology), an enumerative, faceted subject heading schema derived from the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), is now available as an experimental Linked Data service (http://id.worldcat.org/fast/) and is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License.
The FAST authority file, which underlies the FAST Linked Data release, has been created through a multi-year collaboration of OCLC Research and the Library of Congress. Specifically, it is designed to make the rich LCSH vocabulary available as a post-coordinate system in a Web environment.
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The release of FAST as Linked Data provides FAST headings that support both human and machine access. FAST incorporates links to corresponding LCSH authorities. In addition, many of the geographic headings have links to the GeoNames geographic database.
“The response to VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) as Linked Data has been very positive,” said Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President, OCLC Research, and OCLC Chief Strategist. “We are now pleased to be making this very extensive resource available in this way.”
Read the Complete Announcement
Learn More About FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology)
Related Experimental Resources (and Demos) From OCLC Research:
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About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.