Ethan Gruber

@ewg118

Metadata librarian, University of Virginia Library. Interested in archaeology, linked open data, #OpenAccess, #LODLAM, cycling. Kerameikos.org and Nomisma.org. Charlottesville, VA

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Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir ewg118.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· 1d

Come work with me at @uvalibrary.bsky.social as a metadata systems librarian operating at the intersection of cataloging (Arabic and/or other MENA languages) and development. Knowledge of MARC required, BIBFRAME preferred as UVA moves into the future of description. jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...

The UVA Library is seeking a Metadata Systems Librarian for Non-Latin Script Resources in the Metadata and Discovery Services (MDS) department. This position develops, implements, and advances computational and semi-automated approaches for creating and enhancing bibliographic metadata for non‑Latin script resources, in alignment with the strategic priorities of the Scholarly Resource & Content Strategy (SRCS) division and the University of Virginia Library.

This role collaborates closely with Library Information Technology professionals to design and support algorithmic workflows for transliteration, translation, and normalization of bibliographic titles in Arabic, Indic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK), and other non-Latin scripts. The Metadata Systems Librarian bridges Metadata librarianship and technical development, contributing to scalable and sustainable solutions for multilingual Metadata creation and discovery.

The incumbent serves as a developer-adjacent metadata systems specialist, working across cataloging, metadata, and software development domains. This position develops and maintains expertise in cataloging principles, including MARC21, RDA, authority control, and parallel script representation, ensuring that computational approaches align with established bibliographic standards. In addition, this role demonstrates readiness for linked data and semantic metadata practices (e.g., RDF, BIBFRAME), supporting the library’s transition toward interoperable, web-based data environments.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· 10d

wineberries?

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 29

I'd like to thank @jimduncan.bsky.social and the Nest crew for responsibly selling this illegal Airbnb down the street from me (was a 100% Airbnb for 4 years)

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 18

Levantine Coins Online has been updated with the addition of photographs from more than 700 coins linked to types of Samaria, making the photographic coverage of the typology pretty close to 100%. numismatics.org/lco/results?...

Screenshot of Levantine Coins Online, with typological description on the right and new photographs for 700+ coins associated with those types in the right-hand column.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 17

Having mapped 4000 objects from @uvalibrary.bsky.social into #LinkedArt CIDOC-CRM; entities linked to Wikidata, LCNAF, Geonames, AAT, and LCSH subjects related to places having coordinates (Civil War battles, for example), it is possible to begin visualizing the collection in new ways. #LODLAM

A simple representation of a book of lithographs in UVA Special Collections library, IIIF image manifest, basic metadata, and a map of production place and subject terms rendered in Leaflet (SPARQL to GeoJSON transformation), by means of Linked Art mapping

A table listing of a few items in the UVA Library, with a map generated that depicts blue points for production places and green for the subject places, with the subjects (Library of Congress URIs) coordinates extracted from Wikidata

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 7

Mapping MARC to #cidoccrm almost completed: with an enriched, interlinked knowledge graph, it's possible to query 4000 @uvalibrary.bsky.social items that were created in or have a subject pertaining to Virginia, based on hierarchy and interoperability between Geonames and LCSH.

$A screenshot of a SPARQL query and results for all objects created in (Geonames) or the LCSH subject of anything hierarchically falling within Virginia. PREFIX la: <https://linked.art/ns/terms/> PREFIX xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> PREFIX crm: <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/> PREFIX la: <https://linked.art/ns/terms/> SELECT DISTINCT ?object ?label ?place ?placeLabel WHERE { BIND (<https://sws.geonames.org/6254928/> as ?entity) {?entity ^crm:P89_falls_within* ?place } UNION {?entity ^crm:P89_falls_within*/la:equivalent ?place} ?object a crm:E22_Human-Made_Object ; rdfs:label ?label . {?object crm:P108i_was_produced_by/crm:P7_took_place_at ?place} UNION {?object crm:P129_is_about ?subject . ?subject crm:P94i_was_created_by/crm:P15_was_influenced_by ?place } ?place rdfs:label ?placeLabel } ORDER BY ?placeLabel$

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 5

18 hours later, they haven't even started

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 2

Loaded some 4000 DPLA-bound cultural heritage objects (originally MARC records) from @uvalibrary.bsky.social into a Fuseki SPARQL endpoint after mapping them into Linked Art CIDOC-CRM. Still waiting to generate all the people/place/AAT concept RDF before I can really do some nifty stuff...

Screenshot of the Fuseki SPARQL query UI for a date range query to display objects created between 1700 and 1800 in the UVA Library special collections (only objects designated for DPLA)

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 2

Some things never change

Immediately, the plans were met with vocal opposition. Small business owners were some of the loudest opponents, concerned that changes to parking would stop customers from visiting their stores. Many feared that they wouldn’t be able to survive the construction phase of the mall.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jul 2

More vibe coding aggregation of open cultural heritage linked open data. www.metamuseum.org/en. Plus the bonus of them wanting to charge you to load your own Linked Art JSON-LD (that you took the time, money, and care to produce) into their system. Only does keyword search on all that rich #LOD

A paid service plan to host Linked Open Data on an AI-generated vibe coded Linked Art aggregation website that only does keyword search.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 29

This isn't rocket science, but reconciling entities to Geonames in MARC bibliographic records enables programmatic generation of standardized human-readable labels, which could be used for faceted search that is far more consistent across entire cultural heritage collections.

RDF Turtle of CIDOC-CRM reflecting the place, Petersburg (Va.) and its links to external vocabulary services and internal geographic hierarchy

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 26

Getting very, very close to constructing the full conceptual hierarchy and equivalent URIs (extracted from Wikidata) of subject headings, Geonames places, entity names, and Getty AAT concepts connected with 4K cultural heritage objects. This JSON will be written to Linked Art CIDOC-CRM

A screenshot of a JSON model generated with a Python script for Library of Congress Subject Headings and associated hierarchy and skos:exactMatch URIs to other thesauri. This will be written into Linked Art compliant CIDOC-CRM and linked to cultural heritage objects.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 24

Simpsons Democrats meme: We can't govern. We hate life and ourselves

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 18

How it started vs how it's going: Creating a crosswalk between MARC 21 and #LinkedArt JSON-LD / CIDOC CRM, with an intermediate semi-automated linking (and human vetting) of entity terms to LCSH, LC name authority files, Geonames, Getty AAT URIs.

A screenshot of MARC 21 text of a bibliographic entry for a French book in special collections.

A screenshot of JSON data of the same French book after having been normalized from the source MARC record in the library catalog database, according to Linked Art specification.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 17

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you

A screenshot of the cartoon, Mr. Bogus (1991)

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 11

Remembering a time we took the UVA UBikes out for a ride #RETVRN

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 9

Oh boy news.virginia.edu/content/uvas...

“AI is redrawing the landscape,” Beardsley continued, “and this area is an incredible opportunity for UVA to lead.”

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 2

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 1

Pro mountain biker Jeremiah Bishop came out to ride and give tips to the kods

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Jun 1

I went home to Hardy County, WV yesterday for the opening of the county's first purpose built adaptive mountain bike trail, which will be the training ground for the local youth mountain bike team, for which I've been fundraising for 5 years with my Lost River Classic gravel bike race

Hardy County Cryptids mountain bike team doing a cheer at the opening of mountain bike trails in WV

Mountain bikers lining up at a trailhead for its first official ride. The trailhead is heavily wooded

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· May 8

Uh, ok

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· May 7

Me every time the NEH official account makes a post these days

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Apr 22

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Apr 10

Three Ospreys and Marine One

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Apr 9

Over 22,000 lots published to the ANS database, greatly improving provenance research: including distribution maps and object lists related both to lots and the people/orgs that contributed to the ANS over their lives. Following #linkedart provenance model numishare.blogspot.com/2026/04/obje...

A screenshot of https://numismatics.org/lot/1944.100, the Edward T. Newell bequest to the American Numismatic Society, with acquisition history metadata and distribution map and object list from the object lot.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Mar 28

CoMmUnIsTs

Screenshot of Fox News home page "investigating" Communist "dark money" behind No Kings protests

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Mar 28

About 100 here in Romney, WV for #nokings. For reference, I doubt there was even a Vietnam War protest here.

A line of protesters for No Kings along Main Street, Romney, WV

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Mar 26

Baseball!!!!!!!!!

Holding a beer up with the TV in the background showing the Orioles opening day game.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Mar 25

Coming soon to the American Numismatic Society database: provenance records for object lots, with distribution maps of the lot contents and a list of associated objects. It is possible to drill down into entities (eg Edward T. Newell) to gain a big picture view of their collecting/donating history.

The landing page for an object lot in the American Numismatic Society database, with provenance metadata, a map showing the geographic distribution of the lot, and a paginated list of specimens from the lot.

The landing page for Edward T. Newell in the American Numismatic Society database, with provenance metadata for all associated object losts, a map showing the geographic distribution of the lots, and a paginated list of specimens from related lots.

Ethan Gruber@ewg118· Mar 23

So much for the ceasefire