Metadata and Linked Open Data
Return to Alma Roadmap Highlights Overview

Metadata and Linked Open Data
Overview
Alma's metadata roadmap and strategy aim to enhance the creation and management of your library’s resources. This roadmap outlines our plans to enhance existing metadata practices and expand with new capabilities like linked open data and using AI for metadata creation. We aim to create more interconnected and discoverable information. Additionally, using AI technologies will help streamline metadata creation and maintenance. These initiatives will improve the metadata, making it more accessible and valuable to your library.
Useful Links
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For information on our Linked Open Data theme, see Linked Open Data.
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For documentation on BIBFRAME capabilities already available in Alma see BIBFRAME support.
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For documentation on the new LOD editor in Alma see Navigating the New Linked Open Data Editor for BIBFRAME
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For documentation on linked data capabilities for legacy formats see Linked Data Enrichment Configuration
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For documentation on contributor pages see Contributors Section
Roadmap
2026 H1
Configure Bibliographic Text Search Indexes for Any MARC Fields
Idea Exchange
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Administrators will be able to create custom bibliographic search indexes in Staff Search for any MARC fields to address the institution’s needs. For example, create a text-based search index based on metadata from MARC field 306. |
Allow the option to create custom search indexes for any MARC fields. |
Empower the library to better search and manage its metadata by allowing the creation of customized search indexes. These tailored indexes will enable more precise and efficient searches, giving the library greater control over how its data is organized and accessed, and allowing it to align the search functionality with its specific needs and priorities. |
MARC21 Bibliographic Resource Types Enhancement
Idea Exchange
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Libraries will be able to classify continuing resources with enhanced granularity, distinguishing between Magazines, Blogs, Repositories, Newsletters, and Directories through automated classification to address specific collection needs.
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Improves resource organization, discovery, and collection management through more precise classification options.
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Enhance Language Codes Support
Idea Exchange
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Introducing a new combined language code table that merges MARC21 codes with ISO 639-3, providing broader and more granular language coverage.
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The enriched list offers expanded language support, including lesser-known languages and dialects, while maintaining compatibility with MARC21 for existing workflows.
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Improve Handling of Related Records
Idea Exchange
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Introduces new logic for handling linked record relationships, making the “Contains” relation more accurate in Alma and Primo. |
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Libraries benefit from improved resource discovery and a better user experience. Related holdings are displayed only where appropriate, reducing confusion and ensuring location-based filtering works correctly. |
Linked Open Data Editor - General Availability
Linked Open Data theme
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Librarians will be able to create BIBFRAME templates and records (work and instance) in a new Linked Open Data Editor, using a user-friendly and flexible unified form interface guided by the ontology.
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Libraries can create BIBFRAME work and Instances as part of the metadata creation workflow inside Alma, using a user-friendly interface, incorporated seamlessly into Alma, and including guidance from the BIBFRAME ontology, and out-of-the-box templates that meet interoperability standards.
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Person Entity Page - Supporting Additional Languages
Linked Open Data theme
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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| Librarians will be able to view the info card and contributor page in multiple languages based on the interface language. | Utilizing multilingual support for the person entity pages. | Improved user experience for non-English speakers. |
Entity Pages - Supporting Additional Entities: Location and Organization
Linked Open Data theme
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Librarians will be able to view additional entity pages for new entity type, such as location and organization.
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AI Metadata Assistant - Expand to Additional Subject Vocabularies - Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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It will be possible to use the AI Metadata Assistant to create records using additional subject authority vocabularies, according to the global community's quality evaluation.
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Reduce the time and effort a cataloger spends on creating or enriching bibliographic records.
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2026 H2
Bulk Bibliographic Records Enrichment with Automated Copy-Cataloging and AI Title Matching - General Availability
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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It will be possible to enrich a set of bibliographic records by copy-cataloging from the library's regular search profiles, using automated results filtering and AI title matching.
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Reduce the time and effort a cataloger spends on copy-cataloging to enrich bibliographic records.
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AI Metadata Assistant - Expand to Additional Languages - Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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It will be possible to use the AI Metadata Assistant to create records for resources in additional languages, by applying OCR tools to improve handling of such resources.
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Work with our global community to responsibly widen the AI Metadata Assistant capabilities to support cataloging resources in more languages.
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Reduce the time and effort a cataloger spends on creating or enriching bibliographic records.
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Customizable Crosswalks Platform
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Introducing an open, editable crosswalk framework that exposes crosswalks for editing, enabling institutions to independently customize, test, and apply metadata format conversions directly via the UI.
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Enables customers to define and adjust metadata crosswalk logic to meet local needs, with immediate, real‑time application to cataloged records.
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Linked Open Data Editor - Additional Enhancements
Linked Open Data theme
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Expanding the functionality of the new LOD Editor with BIBFRAME providing additional enhancments to expand the usage and adaptability of BIBFRAME creation.
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Libraries can create BIBFRAME work and Instances as part of the metadata creation workflow inside Alma, expanding the usability and supporting core cataloging functionalities for BIBFRAME works and instances.
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Collaborative Network Workflows for Linked Open Data

Linked Open Data theme
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Collaborative Networks will be able to work with BIBFRAME records alongside MARC records.
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Expanding the support of BIBFRAME workflows, allowing BIBFRAME and MARC records to exist side by side in a Collaborative Network's catalog.
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2027 H1
AI Metadata Import - Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Libraries will be able to create brief records for a group of resources using their images.
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Libraries will be able to easily provide basic information on uncataloged collections, improving the discoverability of the library's collections.
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XSL Normalization Rule Assistant - Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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An assistant embedded in the Alma Metadata Editor that allows users to generate XSL normalization rules using natural language input, empowered by AI.
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Makes XSL rule creation accessible to non-technical staff, saves time, reduces errors, and encourages broader participation in metadata configuration. Improves efficiency and modernizes cataloging workflows.
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Linked Data Enrichment for UNIMARC
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Support for enriching URIs of linked authorities to UNIMARC records.
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Catalogers enjoy a seamless workflow for automatically adding URIs to relevant subfields, creating a foundation for ongoing work based on the authorities' IDs.
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Linked Open Data - Support Core Functionality for RDA/RDF – Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Libraries can manage RDA/RDF records in a new metadata format within Alma.
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Using RDA/RDF entities in end-to-end workflows, bringing new linked data metadata formats and standards to the cataloger within Alma.
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Linked Open Data - Support Descriptive Item Level Metadata Creation Based on BIBFRAME Item - Early Access
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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Librarians will be able to create item-level descriptive information based on the BIBFRAME ontology for items.
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Catalogers will be able to create item-level descriptive information based on an ontology standard, providing an accurate and interoperable metadata structure.
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Authorities Staff Search – Early Access to Enhanced UX
| What’s New | Highlights | Impact |
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The Authorities search will be updated and redesigned for better usability, performance, productivity, and overall user experience.
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The user will be able to quickly find authority records.
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