RDF to MARC Conversion

The RDF-to-MARC conversion component of Sinopia continues to be updated; latest changes may not yet be reflected in this document.

Sinopia has an RDF-to-MARC conversion module called rdf2marc, accessible from the MARC menu in the Editor.

It is considered a basic converter, in other words, it does not produce a full MARC record, but a MARC record that meets these requirements for an "operational" MARC record that can support basic ILS functions.

Technical details are here: https://github.com/LD4P/rdf2marc

How to Use the Converter in Sinopia

• From a description in the Editor (see below for description requirements), click the MARC button and select "Request MARC conversion" from the menu
• When conversion finishes, the menu button will turn from blue to green (successful) or red (conversion failed).
• If conversion is successful, click the MARC button again to see a preview of the MARC and to download it
• If conversion fails, use the error message and requirements below to troublehsoot

Requirements

The conversion works only if the following are true:

• Your RDF description is from a template whose class is BIBFRAME Instance http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/Instance
• The template has a field with BIBFRAME property instanceOf http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/instanceOf, and the field has a value that is a URI of a Sinopia Work
• The template has a field with BIBFRAME property adminMetadata http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe/adminMetadata, and the field has a value that is a URI of a Sinopia AdminMetadata "record"
• The referenced adminMetadata description uses the yyyy-mm-dd date format
• Note that ordered subjects are not supported.

What is Converted

This doc lists the MARC fields that are converted (where data is available and in expected format): https://github.com/LD4P/rdf2marc/blob/master/lib/rdf2marc/model2marc/record.rb

Other info

• Where the converter expects a URI but finds a literal, the converter will use whatever label is present.