@article {867, title = {Decorated papers in bookbinding: A proposal for the creation of metadata for its documentation.}, journal = {Journal of Integrated Information Management}, volume = {10}, year = {2025}, abstract = {

Purpose: The purpose of this study is the formulation of a metadata schema that represents the structure, methods, materials and designs of 19th century bookbindings. The creation of a metadata schema contributes in systematizing the information collected regarding bookbinding, guides and organizes the information collection and management process, and facilitates search and retrieval. For each individual element of the binding process, the corresponding metadata are defined. The proposed metadata schema focuses on the representation of decorated papers used in books as covers, or parts of covers, and as endpapers. Mapping of metadata elements to Dublin Core elements is also provided, to facilitate standardization and interoperability.

Methodology: To achieve systematic documentation of the decorated papers and define a comprehensive and complete set of metadata, the first step was to categorize them and identify their properties. Initially, the techniques, materials, types of designs, colours, and characteristics of the papers were studied. To this end, information from similar categorizations was sourced from the literature and the internet and utilized. Best practices followed by international standards for defining metadata and types of information encoding using controlled vocabularies and rules were identified and adopted.

Findings: This study presents a set of comprehensive and organized metadata elements for decorated papers, which can be used for the study and documentation of decorated papers.

Value: Today, in Greece, there have been only a few sporadic references to decorated papers, however no organized recording or systematic classification of these papers and their attributes is available. The present study constitutes the first step towards creating a metadata schema that will enable the recording, organization, management, and utilization of decorated paper information, as well as a populated database, aiming to deepen the understanding of book collection, correlate it with the spatial-temporal context of its use, and promote and disseminate the material to user communities.

}, keywords = {coloured paper, decorated paper, embossed paper, marble paper, Metadata, paste paper, printed paper, sprinkled paper, surface paper}, doi = {10.26265/JIIM.V10I2.41054}, url = {https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/jiim/article/view/41054/31947}, author = {Ntalouka, Efthalia and Kyriaki-Manesis, Daphne and Choulis, Konstantinos and Vassilakis, Costas} } @article {857, title = {Stitching History into Semantics: LLM-Supported Knowledge Graph Engineering for 19th-Century Greek Bookbinding}, journal = {Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction}, volume = {7}, year = {2025}, pages = {59}, abstract = {

Preserving cultural heritage can be efficiently supported by structured and semantic representation of historical artifacts. Bookbinding, a critical aspect of book history, provides valuable insights into past craftsmanship, material use, and conservation practices. However, existing bibliographic records often lack the depth needed to analyze bookbinding techniques, provenance, and preservation status. This paper presents a proof-of-concept system that explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) can support knowledge graph engineering within the context of 19th-century Greek bookbinding (1830{\textendash}1900), and as a result, generate a domain-specific ontology and a knowledge graph. Our ontology encapsulates materials, binding techniques, artistic styles, and conservation history, integrating metadata standards like MARC and Dublin Core to ensure interoperability with existing library and archival systems. To validate its effectiveness, we construct a Neo4j knowledge graph, based on the generated ontology and utilize Cypher Queries{\textemdash}including LLM-generated queries{\textemdash}to extract insights about bookbinding practices and trends. This study also explores how semantic reasoning over the knowledge graph can identify historical binding patterns, assess book conservation needs, and infer relationships between bookbinding workshops. Unlike previous bibliographic ontologies, our approach provides a comprehensive, semantically rich representation of bookbinding history, methods and techniques, supporting scholars, conservators, and cultural heritage institutions. By demonstrating how LLMs can assist in ontology/KG creation and query generation, we introduce and evaluate a semi-automated pipeline as a methodological demonstration for studying historical bookbinding, contributing to digital humanities, book conservation, and cultural informatics. Finally, the proposed approach can be used in other domains, thus, being generally applicable in knowledge engineering.

}, keywords = {bookbinding history, Cultural heritage, knowledge graphs, large language models, ontology engineering}, issn = {2504-4990}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/make7030059}, author = {Doumanas, Dimitrios and Ntalouka, Efthalia and Vassilakis, Costas and Wallace, Manolis and Kotis, Konstantinos} }