Definindo integração de dados a partir do desenvolvimento dos catálogos

Abstract

Data integration, despite being mentioned in the context of digital environments, goes back to a concern that appears throughout the history of cataloging standards. Contextualizing this history, the objective of this work is to propose a definition of “data integration”. It seeks to elucidate, in the context of Information Science, how data integration came about, what this integration consists of, and to verify the need and importance of its implementation. This is a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, seeking to check under which perspectives “integration” is approached in the Brazilian literature on Librarianship and Information Science. A bibliographic survey was performed at Brapci and 14 articles contributed to the discussion on the topic. Integration is a topic addressed in the area, being mentioned in topics that cover the organization of knowledge in digital environments and the use of Semantic Web and Linked Data technologies, but it is not an explicitly defined term. Integration appears as an objective to be achieved and has some of its benefits mentioned. As a contribution of this work, it is proposed that the term be defined as the union of one or more elements, which can occur at the level of information sources, systems and information agencies, and is related to an integrated view of a set of information resources.