Functional Requirements For Bibliographic Records

Get the straight facts on FRBR—and whether it is right for you! In 1998, Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) was a conceptual model promoted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) as being the recommended new advancement in cataloging. As libraries strive to serve their users better in the coming years, questions remain as to whether FRBR may provide an answer on how to improve cataloging systems. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR): Hype or Cure-All? explores not only the theoretical issues, such as the concept of “works” and the bibliographic relationships of musical works, but also provides a unique survey of most of the systems that actually implement FRBR such as the AustLit Gateway. This book describes the challenges that accompany implementation of FRBR, and how this abstract approach to cataloging can be a useful, practical tool to help improve library systems. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR): Hype or Cure-All? clearly explains the concepts, ideas, and practical applications of FRBR. The book is comprised of four major sections. A chronological section explains how FRBR was developed and how it will evolve in the future; a theoretical section reviews how FRBR analyzes different types of library materials; a practical aspects section examines how some systems actually use FRBR; and lastly, a section that explains an alternative to FRBR—the XOBIS project—which shows that other solutions are possible to meet future cataloging challenges. Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) explores: innovative features, including the “Semantic Web” activities future evolutions in cataloging alternatives to FRBR the history of IFLA Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records Study an updated description of the entity-relationship model being developed by the Working Group to extend the FRBR model to cover authority data key aspects of the FRBR and FRANAR models that will need to be re-examined the concept of expression the cataloging of hand press materials the AustLit Gateway musical works in the FRBR model the Paradigma Project at the National Library of Norway the FRBR and the performing arts oral traditions and FRBR the design of future systems the European FRBR research initiative FRBRizing OCLC’s WorldCat the IFPA software and application interfaces the Library of Congress’s FRBR Display Tool XOBIS—metadata—the critical bridge between content and sophisticated access Librarians, library science faculty, students, and vendors will find Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR): Hype or Cure-All? an invaluable source of information on both the theoretical and practical aspects of FRBR.

"The primary purpose of this conceptual model is to provide a framework for the analysis of functional requirements for the kind of authority data that is required to support authority control and for the international sharing of authority data. The model focuses on data, regardless of how it may be packaged (e.g., in authority records)."--Page 13.

"FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) is a 1998 recommendation of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to restructure catalog databases to reflect the conceptual structure of information resources. More technically, FRBR uses an entity-relationship model of metadata for information objects, instead of the single flat record concept underlying current cataloging standards. The FRBR model includes four levels of representation: work, expression, manifestation, and item. If fully implemented, FRBR would produce the biggest change cataloging has seen in the last century." (OCLC Research: http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/frbr.html)

The purpose of authority control is to ensure consistency in representing a value - a name of a person, a place name, or a term or code representing a subject - in the elements used as access points in information retrieval. The primary purpose of this study is to produce a framework that will provide a clearly stated and commonly shared understanding of what the subject authority data/record/file aims to provide information about, and the expectation of what such data should achieve in terms of answering user needs.