Choosing a Profile

Not everyone needs all four ZineCore2 profiles. This guide will help you determine which profiles fit your use case.

Quick Decision Tree

Start here and follow the path that matches your needs:

Common Use Cases

1. Solo Zinester Cataloging Their Own Work

You are: A zinester documenting your publications

What you need to describe:

• Your zines (titles, dates, genres, subjects)

Profiles to use:

• ✅ ZineCore2 — Describe each zine you've published

Profiles you can skip:

• ❌ AgentCore2 — Not needed unless collaborating with others
• ❌ HoldingCore2 — Not needed unless tracking where copies are held
• ❌ RepoCore2 — Not needed unless you're an institution

Example records:

// ZineCore2 only
{
  "id": "zine_my_queer_life_1",
  "title": "My Queer Life #1",
  "creator": ["Your Name"],
  "subject": ["lgbtq", "personal-narratives"],
  "genre": ["personal-zine"],
  "date": "2024",
  "language": ["en"],
  "rights": "cc-by-nc-sa-4.0"
}

2. Distro Managing Inventory

You are: Operating a zine distro (physical or online)

What you need to describe:

• Zines in your inventory
• Which copies you have in stock
• Your distro itself

Profiles to use:

• ✅ ZineCore2 — Describe each zine title
• ✅ HoldingCore2 — Track specific copies (in stock, sold out, on order)
• ✅ RepoCore2 — Describe your distro as a repository

Optional:

• ⚪ AgentCore2 — If you want to maintain a creator directory

Example workflow:

1. Create RepoCore2 record for your distro
2. Create ZineCore2 records for each zine title
3. Create HoldingCore2 records linking zines to your distro
4. Mark holdings as "in stock" or "sold out"
5. Update distro_status (can duplicate, can digitize, etc.)

3. Library Cataloging a Zine Collection

You are: A library, university, or archive cataloging zines

What you need to describe:

• Bibliographic information for each zine
• Author/creator information (including pseudonyms)
• Physical copies in your collection
• Your institution

Profiles to use:

• ✅ ZineCore2 — Bibliographic records
• ✅ AgentCore2 — Creator authority records
• ✅ HoldingCore2 — Holdings/copies
• ✅ RepoCore2 — Your institution

Why all four:

• Normalization: One agent record references from many zine records
• Circulation: Track which copies are reference-only vs. loanable
• Discovery: Enable "show me all zines by this creator" queries
• Interoperability: Export to MARC with proper authority control

Example workflow:

1. Create RepoCore2 record (with MARC org code, ISIL)
2. Create AgentCore2 records for creators (one per person/collective)
3. Create ZineCore2 records referencing agent IDs
4. Create HoldingCore2 records for each physical copy
5. Assign call numbers, access status, condition notes

4. Digital Archive (No Physical Holdings)

You are: Building a digital zine archive or discovery platform

What you need to describe:

• Zines (with links to digital copies)
• Creators and contributors

Profiles to use:

• ✅ ZineCore2 — Bibliographic metadata
• ✅ AgentCore2 — Creator authority records

Profiles you can skip:

• ❌ HoldingCore2 — No physical holdings to track
• ❌ RepoCore2 — Platform itself isn't a traditional repository

Example use:

• Searchable database of zine metadata
• Creator directory
• Export to Schema.org for SEO
• JSON-LD for semantic web integration

5. Researcher Querying Multiple Institutions

You are: A scholar researching zines across institutions

What you need:

• Standardized metadata to query across collections

How ZineCore2 helps:

• Query multiple repositories using the same metadata structure
• Find all zines about a subject across institutions
• Track where physical copies are held
• Build datasets for analysis

What repositories should provide: All four profiles for maximum interoperability and discoverability.

Profile Dependencies

Some profiles depend on others:

RepoCore2 (standalone)
  ↑
HoldingCore2 (requires ZineCore2 + RepoCore2)
  ↑
ZineCore2 (can reference AgentCore2)
  ↑
AgentCore2 (standalone)

What this means:

• AgentCore2 can stand alone (creator directory)
• ZineCore2 can stand alone (bibliographic database)
• HoldingCore2 requires both ZineCore2 and RepoCore2 (must reference both)
• RepoCore2 can stand alone (institution directory)

Minimal vs. Comprehensive Implementations

Minimal (Quick Start)

Use only required fields in each profile:

ZineCore2 minimal:

• title, creator, subject, genre, date, language, rights

AgentCore2 minimal:

• id, kind, display_name, public

HoldingCore2 minimal:

• id, zine_id, repository_id

RepoCore2 minimal:

• id, repository_name, repository_kind

Best for: Quick prototypes, small collections, testing

Comprehensive (Full Metadata)

Use all available fields where applicable:

ZineCore2 comprehensive:

• All required fields plus: series_title, issue_designation, format, extent, description, publisher, place_of_publication, identifier, relation, coverage, audience

AgentCore2 comprehensive:

• All required fields plus: legal_name, alternative_names, sort_name, pronouns, biography, scope_note, orcid, wikidata, other_identifiers, active_dates, location, website, email, social_media

Best for: Libraries, archives, comprehensive catalogs

Profile Combinations Reference

Next Steps

Now that you know which profiles you need:

• Implementation Options — Choose how to implement ZineCore2
• ZineCore2 Profile — Full bibliographic specification
• AgentCore2 Profile — Creator authority specification
• HoldingCore2 Profile — Holdings specification
• RepoCore2 Profile — Repository specification