Hierarchical Catalog Records: Implementing a FRBR Catalog
There’s a great new paper at D-Lib: Hierarchical Catalog Records: Implementing a FRBR Catalog by David Mimno, Gregory Crane, and Alison Jones. It’s about how they used FRBR in making a catalogue for the Perseus Digital Library, a wonderful resource holding classics. papyri, Renaissance writing, and much more.
Abstract
IFLA’s Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) lay the foundation for a new generation of cataloging systems that recognize the difference between a particular work (e.g., Moby Dick), diverse expressions of that work (e.g., translations into German, Japanese and other languages), different versions of the same basic text (e.g., the Modern Library Classics vs. Penguin editions), and particular items (a copy of Moby Dick on the shelf). Much work has gone into finding ways to infer FRBR relationships between existing catalog records and modifying catalog interfaces to display those relationships. Relatively little work, however, has gone into exploring the creation of catalog records that are inherently based on the FRBR hierarchy of works, expressions, manifestations, and items. The Perseus Digital Library has created a new catalog that implements such a system for a small collection that includes many works with multiple versions. We have used this catalog to explore some of the implications of hierarchical catalog records for searching and browsing.
Don’t miss the appendix (794 KB PDF) which is a printout of an XML record showing the work Vergil’s Aeneid and its expressions and manifestations. If you have the time, look at what they put in which tags for the two English translations (and the Latin version). The title and translator are in the manifestation level, but shouldn’t they be at the expression level? The publisher is at the manifestation level, which is right, and there is no item level.
Notice that at the top of their home page for Dryden’s translation of the Aeneid you can go to another English translation or a Latin version. In fact, on any page in any edition, you can jump to the identical position in another edition. (If you look at it in their new interface then the other translations are listed on the right.) I presume this is generated from the FRBR data.
There’s a screenshot in the paper of the catalogue, but I can’t find it on their web site. If you see it, please leave a comment.
(First noticed on Catalogablog.)
….I am having trouble understanding FRBR records ….at this point can you please give one example.
ex;The Aeneid,by Virgil
two expressions and one manifestations for each expression
regards
Comment by liza — 18 May 2011 @ 6:13 pmliza
Liza, I’m trusting that you’re not just “outsourcing” a coursework assignment. ;)
Hope this example helps clear things up a little.
Work: The Aeneid, by Virgil
Comment by Dennis — 26 May 2011 @ 1:08 pmExp1: Virgil’s original Latin text
Man1: Virgil’s original manuscript
Itm1: The physical copy (now presumably lost)
Exp2: The text in Latin, edited by Alessandro Paganini, 15th-16th cent.
Man1: The edition made in Venice, Italy, 1515
Itm1: The copy held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome, Italy
Exp3: John Dryden’s translation into English
Man1: As published by P. F. Collier & son, 1909(?)
Itm1: The copy held at Toronto Public Library
Man2: As published by Penguin, 1997
Itm1: The copy held at Dallas Public Library, Central branch
Itm2: The copy held at Dallas Public Library, Pleasant Grove branch
Exp4: Henry Salt’s translation into English
Man1: As published by Harvard University Press, 1928
Itm1: The copy held in Harvard’s Schlesinger Depository
Itm2: The copy held in Harvard’s Widener Library
i have two question, about frbr software that do? or for example library software base unimarc etc. 2. in the unimarc is include tags, 100, 200 and etc, frbr is include entity group one and etc. please how do compare to one frbr record unimarc record?
Comment by zeinab — 8 January 2012 @ 12:08 pmthank you