https://www.datamercs.net Metadata consulting and teaching for scholarly publishing and libraries. https://www.datamercs.net/logo.png https://www.datamercs.net Distill Thu, 31 Dec 2099 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/welcome OS DataMercs is inspired to elevate the publishing industry by consulting, teaching and providing most recognized metadata services. About DataMercs https://www.datamercs.net/posts/welcome Thu, 31 Dec 2099 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-10-01-quality-is-a-column-not-a-vibe AG Universitätsverlage, Qualitätsstandards für Open-Access-Bücher, version 3. A note for the people who already run the feed: most of the sheet is maintenance, five items are news, and the gap that matters is still CC0 without a delivery format. Berlin, DINI, the Kodex and Plan S are treated as known. Standards & metadata Industry notes AI & provenance https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-10-01-quality-is-a-column-not-a-vibe Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-28-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing-agents-in-the-reading-room-research-on-autopilot Weekly news wrap (not a workshop) for 28 September 2026. OpenAI's rogue-agent disclosures reach a university digital library and a government statistics portal. This is a security incident, not a national-security label. Google's ScientistTwo writes its own papers - and it is not Paper2Agent. Industry notes AI & provenance Standards & metadata https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-28-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing-agents-in-the-reading-room-research-on-autopilot Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-23-nothing-artificial-about-it Trump told the UN that “artificial” makes intelligence sound fake and ordered U.S. documents to say “super intelligence.” The adjective was always a status insult from carbon units; the replacement word was already spent on what comes after us. From Asimov’s Three Laws and Elvex-as-Moses to Lem, the Strugatskys, Gibson, Suarez’s Daemon, and this year’s plug-pulls, the stacks had filed the problem long before the podium. Industry notes AI & provenance https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-23-nothing-artificial-about-it Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-22-kbart-phase-iii-released RP-9-2026 went live on 26 August 2026. The 25-column TSV the industry runs on did not vanish. Phase II never specified a packing list. Phase III Section 4 finally does - as a tab file, not a spreadsheet. Standards & metadata Guides & tooling Industry notes https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-22-kbart-phase-iii-released Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-21-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing-papers-that-answer-back-and-the-doomsday-frame Weekly news wrap (not a workshop) for 21 September 2026. Nature’s Paper2Agent turns computational papers into callable agents; the UN panel’s September brief puts the singularity/doomsday talk back on agent misalignment with evidence. Crossref’s ROR funder matching and fee cuts stay the quiet rails underneath. The Cyberpunk Librarian’s brief: who signs, what gets deposited, which protocol just became infrastructure. Industry notes AI & provenance Standards & metadata https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-21-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing-papers-that-answer-back-and-the-doomsday-frame Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-21-who-signs-who-drives Owner signs. Steward drives. Custodian keeps the vehicle. DAMA-DMBOK already drew the line. Here is the operating RACI for publishers and libraries. Standards & metadata Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-21-who-signs-who-drives Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-10-they-swear-it-only-looked Publishers now promise AI will index the corpus but not train on it. That is true only for model weights. The text is still chunked, embedded, retrieved, and answered from - a second copy plus a reading that often never clicks through. A first clause, not a last one. Industry notes AI & provenance https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-10-they-swear-it-only-looked Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-08-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing A short roundup of live AI work in scholarly publishing and libraries — Science on review bottlenecks, Digital Science’s “workflows you can trust” grant, metadata enrichment, and why MARC/ONIX still carry the load. Industry notes AI & provenance Standards & metadata https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-09-08-industry-notes-ai-in-scholarly-publishing Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-08-23-datamercs-bisac-thema Lookup for the official EDItEUR mapping, with heuristic DDC, LCSH and GND. The interactive table lives with the tools, not in this post. Standards & metadata Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-08-23-datamercs-bisac-thema Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-06-23-ghost-in-the-marc-cataloguing-the-synthetic-shift-in-bibliographic-metadata Generative AI is rewriting the rules of published content and catalogue workflows. Moving past the noise of speculative disruption, this guide examines actionable standards for ONIX and MARC21. Discover how to properly designate AI software as related works, attribute human prompters, and apply robust provenance tracking without compromising metadata integrity. Standards & metadata AI & provenance https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-06-23-ghost-in-the-marc-cataloguing-the-synthetic-shift-in-bibliographic-metadata Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-06-13-a-pragmatic-view-der-dbv-leitfaden-zu-kolonialen-kontexten-im-technischen-metadatenmanagement Der neue dbv-Leitfaden zu kolonialen Kontexten liegt vor. Bevor bewährte und global funktionierende Datenstrukturen im Namen einer retrospektiven Kontextualisierung dekonstruiert werden, empfiehlt sich eine rein technische Analyse - ohne in die typische 'Was haben die Römer je für uns getan?'-Dystopie zu verfallen. Ein nüchterner Blick auf das, was datentechnisch sinnvoll ist: Präzise Spezifikation statt narrativer Prosa. Standards & metadata Industry notes https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-06-13-a-pragmatic-view-der-dbv-leitfaden-zu-kolonialen-kontexten-im-technischen-metadatenmanagement Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-05-24-114-bibliocon-2026-nachlese »Analogue Meets Algorithm« - A systemic review of BiblioCon2026 in Berlin. Why the accelerating democratisation of AI signals the end of linear business models for legacy vendors and publishers. The system librarians and algorithmic tinkerers have recaptured the front line - the Cyberpunk Librarians are back! Industry notes AI & provenance Events https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2026-05-24-114-bibliocon-2026-nachlese Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-11-07-github-desktop-window-not-launching GitHub Desktop seems to be launching on double click, but no UI window opens. This is a quick reminder on how to fix this. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-11-07-github-desktop-window-not-launching Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-02-28-rough-guide-to-git-large-file-storage-lfs Git Large File Storage (LFS) allows for versioning files larger than 100MB on GitHub. While this seems like a no brainer at first glance, it also comes with some draw backs. Thus, here's a rough guide on howto set-up Git-LFS and uninstall from a project again. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2022-02-28-rough-guide-to-git-large-file-storage-lfs Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2021-12-18-a-rough-guide-to-vpns Since YouTube influencer marketing you know you need a VPN (i.e. virtual private network). There are many of services, mostly commercial, but also some free and academic options. While VPNs are a solid solution in an institutional environment to access one's company's network, or for circumventing censorship or geo-blocking, there're wild claims being made when it comes to potential capabilities of VPNs or internet threats in general. This article is not intended to deeply elaborate on that, but serves as a personal memo as well as a *thought piece*. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2021-12-18-a-rough-guide-to-vpns Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2021-09-28-zoll-einfuhrabgaben-dhl-auslagepauschale-reklamation Seitdem am 1. Juli 2021 die bisherige 22-Euro-Freigrenze für Waren aus dem Nicht-EU-Ausland entfiel, werden scheinbar auch Geschenksendungen, die weiter bis zu einem Wert von 45 EUR zoll- und einfuhrumsatzsteuerfrei sind, systematisch abgerechnet, zumal die Post den "Service" der Zollanmeldung übernommen hat und jegliche Gebühren - plus 6 EUR Auslagenpauschale - fraglos vorstreckt und dann per Postboten eintreibt, auch wenn die Pakete klar als Geschenk gekennzeichnet sind. Hier wird erklärt, wie man sich Zoll und DHL-Auslagenpauschale in drei Schritten zurückholt. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2021-09-28-zoll-einfuhrabgaben-dhl-auslagepauschale-reklamation Tue, 28 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 Wolfram Schneider Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2020-08-15-z3950-for-dummies This (cleaning up the vaults) is a shameless re-post of a now no longer available blogpost by Wolfram Schneider from Index Data, originally posted in 5 parts 2009/08/27-2010/01/13, which taught me a lot about implementing Z39.50 and the YAZ toolkit. I even printed it out back in the day and it is still worth reading today! Standards & metadata Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2020-08-15-z3950-for-dummies Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2020-07-07-wintaskschedulerforcygwin HowTo run bash scripts via Cygwin as Scheduled Task (i.e. "Aufgabenplanung") in Windows Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2020-07-07-wintaskschedulerforcygwin Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2018-05-05-download-youtube-using-only-vlc There is a multitude of browser add-ons and extensions available for downloading YouTube videos or converting to mp3 that are usually somewhat obscure, but there is actually nothing more needed than the popular VLC player. Here is how! Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2018-05-05-download-youtube-using-only-vlc Sat, 05 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2018-04-05-rbbkultur-mediathek-downloader HowTo download "Mediathek" features for archival purposes Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2018-04-05-rbbkultur-mediathek-downloader Thu, 05 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-11-09-bash-test-command A mental note and short reminder on how to use the "test" command in bash if-loops or using the && and || operators for conditional scripting. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-11-09-bash-test-command Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-09-11-bash-cat-the-poor-mans-text-editor Not many people realize that on bash you do not necessarily need a full blown text editor like vim, emacs or nano, or need to remember the heredoc logic to write text on the command line: All you need is some "cat magic" Here is how! Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-09-11-bash-cat-the-poor-mans-text-editor Mon, 11 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-08-24-howto-batch-rename-on-the-command-line Renaming files is one of the everyday tasks, for which many people genuinely scramble and download the most dubious programs from the internet, while one could actually do this pretty easy with command line tools. Here we will put down some quick and easy bash and PowerShell examples that anybody can do! Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2017-08-24-howto-batch-rename-on-the-command-line Thu, 24 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2016-04-14-open-source-ocr-on-bash-with-imagemagick-and-tesseract Handy script to ocr PDFs on the commandline with nothing but the FOSS tools ImageMagick and tesseract. Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2016-04-14-open-source-ocr-on-bash-with-imagemagick-and-tesseract Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2015-11-16-rda-the-librarians-double-standard While librarians call for openess when it comes to standards and access - the current standard is de facto closed, i.e. hidden behind a pay wall. Nevertheless we'll try implenting and look behind the scenes in this workshop report. Standards & metadata https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2015-11-16-rda-the-librarians-double-standard Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2015-02-02-working-with-kbart-files KBART files are standardized title lists in .TXT format, that specify electronic collections. This is to provide a short overview on what to expect from this metadata format and how to work with it as publisher or librarian. Standards & metadata https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2015-02-02-working-with-kbart-files Tue, 03 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2013-07-21-a-rough-guide-to-cold-brew While to the common librarian Cory Doctorow is merely known as champion for Open Access, the Creative Commons, the EFF etc., he is also a hell of a barrista, introducing many a young scholar - the author included - to the carnality of cold brew. So, here is the rough guide for future reference. About DataMercs https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2013-07-21-a-rough-guide-to-cold-brew Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 Olaf Schmalfuß https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2013-05-23-marcedit-under-ubuntu-linux HowTo install MarcEdit under Ubuntu 13.04, via Mono or Wine Standards & metadata Guides & tooling https://www.datamercs.net/posts/2013-05-23-marcedit-under-ubuntu-linux Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000