The FRBR Blog

Two Books About FRBR, Compared, by Christine Schwartz (who blogs at Cataloging Futures), appears in The Code4Lib Journal, Issue 4. (See the code4lib web site and Planet Code4lLib if you haven’t already.)

This article reviews 2 books on FRBR published in the past year. Although both books aim to be introductions to FRBR, their approaches are very different. One is sort of a FRBR study with commentary, the other a collection of essays. Robert Maxwell’s book, FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed, takes the study guide approach. Arlene Taylor edited Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools, a book of essays about FRBR and FRAD, written by cataloging experts, aimed at a broader audience, not just the cataloging specialist. The first seven chapters lay out the basics: introductions to FRBR and FRAD, FRBR research, FRBR and the history of cataloging, FRBR and RDA. These chapters provide an excellent introduction for those new to FRBR. The last seven chapters each look at different types of resources in relation to FRBR.

Virginia Dudley wrote a book review of Maxwell’s FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed and Taylor’s Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools in Library Resources & Technical Services 52: 3 (July 2008).

She concludes:

I would recommend both of these books to any librarian who wants to learn more about FRBR. Maxwell’s comprehensive overview is the stronger of the two, and would be an excellent starting place. Although Understanding FRBR has some weak areas, it does have many fine chapters, and overall it contributes important insights into the conceptual model we call FRBR.

I’m delighted to say that Libraries Unlimited granted me permission to post my chapter from Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools, edited by Arlene Taylor (ISBN 9781591585091).

I put it in the institutional repository where I work, York University: FRBR and the History of Cataloging (211 KB PDF).

It’ll be up for five years, then I have to reapply for permission to make it available for another five.

Martha Yee’s chapter FRBR and Moving Image Materials: Content (Work and Expression) versus Carrier (Manifestation) is also available in her university’s repository. I hope other writers in the book can put their chapters up, too.

There is now a companion web site for Arlene Taylor’s Understanding FRBR. Barbara Tillett’s chapter in the book was about RDA (Resource Description and Access), which changed a lot between when she handed in her chapter and when the book came out, and she has some updates on the web site.

Martha Yee’s chapter from Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools (ISBN 1591585090) is available online for your free reading: FRBR and Moving Image Materials: Content (Work and Expression) versus Carrier (Manifestation).

ABSTRACT: Some of the major problems with Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2R) stem from the failure to clearly analyze the FRBR entities work and expression (content) so as to distinguish them from manifestation (carrier) for nonbook materials such as moving image materials. In this chapter, a clearer and more logical analysis of these concepts is attempted, and, at the end of the chapter, the progress made so far in RDA (Resource Description and Access) development is assessed as well.

I’ll check if I can put my chapter up somewhere too. Congratulations and thanks to Martha Yee for making hers available!

I’m using the Firefox extensions LIbX and OpenURL Referrer now, and they’re great. I’m going to try adding COinS data when I mention a book or article. LibX will turn the ISBNs into live links to a library search. It uses xISBN! OpenURL Referrer will give you some kind of extra button that will do a library search.

• FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed by Robert Maxwell (ISBN 9780838909508)
• Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools by Arlene Taylor (ISBN 9781591585091)

What that looks like to me:

I told you that Arlene Taylor’s collection Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools was out. Robert Maxwell, who works at the Brigham Young University library, has a book out too: FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed. I mentioned it before when it was announced, but now it’s out and you can order a copy.

I haven’t seen it yet, but if you have, feel free to leave a comment or review. Two FRBR books in two months!

Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools, edited by Arlene Taylor, is now available. If your local bookstore doesn’t have it available, or you don’t see it at a library conference vendor table, you can order it from Amazon.com or your country’s Amazon or some other online bookstore. UPDATE: Or find it in WorldCat and keep an eye on xISBN to see if any new manifestations are published.

It’s a collection of chapters by different authors on different topics. Here’s a list:

• Introduction
• 1: An Introduction to Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) by Arlene G. Taylor
• 2: An Introduction to Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) by Glenn E. Patton
• 3: Understanding the Relationship between FRBR and FRAD by Glenn E. Patton
• 4: FRBR and the History of Cataloging by William Denton
• 5: The Impact of Research on the Development of FRBR by Edward T. O’Neill
• 6: Bibliographic Families and Superworks by Richard P. Smiraglia
• 7: FRBR and RDA (Resource Description and Access) by Barbara B. Tillett
• 8: FRBR and Archival Materials by Alexander C. Thurman
• 9: FRBR and Works of Art, Architecture, and Material Culture by Martha Baca and Sherman Clarke
• 10: FRBR and Cartographic Materials by Mary Lynette Larsgaard
• 11: FRBR and Moving Image Materials by Martha M. Yee
• 12: FRBR and Music by Sherry L. Vellucci
• 13: FRBR and Serials by Steven C. Shadle

That’s me who did chapter four. I haven’t seen the book yet but I’m thrilled that Arlene Taylor included me, and I’m greatly looking forward to reading the other chapters.

The final edits for the book were due in the summer, before all the recent excitement about restructuring RDA and so on. I don’t know if or how that will affect how, for example, Barbara Tillett’s chapter reads today as compared to how it read in June. If you read the book, please leave a comment if you liked it or didn’t.

Here’s a book to look out for when it’s released next month: FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Robert L. Maxwell, “senior librarian and section head for the Special Collections and Metadata Cataloging Section at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.” I don’t know anything about the book but I’ll certainly read it as soon as I can. If you review it anywhere, let me know and I’ll post a link. A whole book about FRBR is exciting news!

Cataloging expert Maxwell offers clear concise explanations for every librarian interested in the next phase of access to their library’s digital information. He answers such questions as

• What is FRBR and how does it work?
• How will FRBR affect libraries?
• Do all librarians need to be concerned, or just those doing cataloging?
• How do authority records fit into the picture?

With an understanding of the FRBR model, public and academic librarians, technical and public services librarians, and administrators can get a jump on this vital new cataloging technology to make catalogs more user-friendly.

With this and Arlene Taylor’s Understanding FRBR, that’s two books on FRBR coming out this fall. It’s ten years since the Final Report came out, but more and more is happening.

Here’s LibraryThing’s work information page for
The Nature of “A Work”: Implications for the Organization of Knowledge, by Richard P. Smiraglia. Notice how various manifestations of the single expression (the final edited text) of this work have been grouped together.