XML: New perspectives in the library and information sciences

Abstract

The study introduces the Extensible Markup Language (XML), with a special focus on those of its features that make it an especially valuable tool for the library field. XML is a less than five-year-old standard desígned for the description and computerbased management of (semi)-structured data and structured texts. The Department of Computer-related Graphic Design and Library and Information Sciences of Debrecen University launched a new development project in order to standardise bibliographic description with the application of XML. The development aims at the creation of a set of standards that provides information in XML on the structure of bibliographic descriptions.