MODS

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MODS
Metadata Object Description Schema
Version 3.1 2005.07.27

• What is it?
• An XML format for storing references of all
  shapes and sizes
• Developed by the Library of Congress
• Competition against established bibliography
  formats like BibTeX and EndNote

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MODS
Book Citation Example
Blundell, Tom. Protein Crystallography. New
York Academic Press, 1976.
MLA
MODS
BibTeX
Clearly, the MODS format provides a higher level
of detail than existing ones. This is both an
advantage and a disadvantage.
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MODS

• Why do people like MODS?
• Allows for extremely detailed characterization of
  all reference aspects
• Allows for enhanced structuring of data which
  permits references within references
• Allows for special cases that are hard to handle
  in a simplistic environment
• Benefits of XML

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MODS
MODS
Academic Journal Citation Example
BibTeX
Notice the reference type is clearly defined in
the first line of BibTeX. The same cannot be said
for MODS.
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MODS

• Why do people dislike MODS?
• Determining the type of a particular reference
  requires going through a variety of fields
  within, all other format have a simple type field
• Not everyone likes the MARC standard
• The ability to deviate from the MARC standard is
  a double-edged sword because MODS entries which
  do so wont work with existing programs

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MODS

• Usage with OObib
• For a large-scale bibliography manager, MODS is
  preferable due to its high level of detail
• OObib API will be designed to provide the Ref.
  Manager with a front-end to the MODS data
• Ref. Manager doesnt access MODS XML but it needs
  to be aware of the values it may have to work
  with when reading, writing, or searching
  references
• MODS is used in official OpenOffice bibliography
  managing software

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MODS
Presentation Sources
Metadata Object Description Schema
(MODS) http//www.loc.gov/mods
Introduction to MODS version 3 http//www.scripps.
edu/cdputnam/software/bibutils/mods_intro.html