Comedy or Tragedy

1
Comedy or Tragedy ?

• Applying FRBR to Shakespeare in an Existing
  Catalog
• Mary Wu, Roger Williams University
• Martha Rice Sanders, HELIN Consortium

2
FRBR Definition

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
  (FRBR)
• Developed by an IFLA Study Group in 1998
• An entity-relationship model intended to define
  the functional requirements of cataloging records
  in relation to user needs

3
FRBR Hierarchical Structure

• Work is realized through
• Expression is embodied in
• Manifestation is
  exemplified by
• 
  Item

4
FRBR Advantages

• Hierarchical Catalog can be more easily
  maintained and searched
• FRBRized OPAC display can help users navigate in
  complex information spaces

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Conventional Catalog vs. FRBRized Catalog

• HELIN Catalog (Conventional)
• OCLC WorldCat (Improved)
• OCLC FictionFinder (FRBRized)
• FRBRized Catalog (Hypothetical)

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Author Shakespeare William and Title Hamlet

• Written Language Material
• Spoken Language Material
• Plays/Movies
• In Anthology

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Author Shakespeare William and Title Hamlet

• Written Language Material
• Chinese
• English
• French
• German
• Spanish

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Author Shakespeare William and Title Hamlet

• Written Language Material
• Spoken Language Material
• Plays/Movies
• In collection

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HELIN FRBR Project

• The HELIN Consortium
• Founded in 1984
• 11 academic and 15 health sciences libraries
• Serves over 70,000 students and faculty at
• campuses in Rhode Island and beyond
• 4.8 million items in various formats

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Why FRBRize the Shakespeare Collection
• Many large and complex works whose contents have
  been revised, adapted and described.
• Used for classes and entertainment.

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HELIN FRBR Project

• The Shakespeare Collection in HELIN
• 1289 bibliographic records with Shakespeare,
  William, 1564-1616
• in 100 field
• 624 bibliographic records with Shakespeare,
  William, 1564-1616
• in 700 field

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Pioneers and Approaches
The Work record
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Creating an Original Record
Fill in appropriate data. Add or delete any tags.
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Pioneers and Approches
The Expression record
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Pioneers and Approaches
The Manifestation record is shown with tree
expanded
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FRBR Work-Set Algorithm

• Construct a key based on the normalized primary
  author and title.
• If that key matches an existing set, add this
  record to the set.
• If not, construct additional name/title keys
  based on other names and titles in the record.
• Check each of those keys in succession. If a
  match is found with an existing set, add this to
  that set.
• If no matches are found, create a new set based
  on the original key.

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Pioneers and Approaches

• Manifestations Author/Title
• 1784 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/hamlet
• 1555 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/works
• 1375 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/macbeth
• 1141 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/romeo and
• juliet
• 1110 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/merchant
• of venice
• 829 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/midsummer
• nights dream
  
• 767 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/plays
• 696 shakespeare,
  william\1564 1616/sonnets

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Goals of the Project
• Obtain knowledge and experience in FRBRizing
  existing library catalog
• Test the feasibility of record conversion based
  on MARC elements
• Identify issues hindering the conversion

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Objectives of the Project
• Create a stand-alone FRBRized Catalog.
• Build a user search interface.
• Collect user feedback to determine the pros and
  cons of the FRBR structure.

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Task 1
• Assemble bibliographic records having
  Shakespeare, William, d 1564-1616 in 100 field.
• Assemble bibliographic records having
  Shakespeare, William, d 1564-1616 in 700 field.
• Export the records to an Access database

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Task 2 Identify FRBR Entity Levels

• Work
• Expression
• Manifestation

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Task 3 Group records based on Work Key
• Author 100 Subfields (a, d)
• 110 Subfields (a, b, c, d)
• 111 Subfields (a, c, d)
• 700 Subfields (a, d)
• Title 130 Subfields (a, m, n, p, r)
• 240 Subfields (a, m, n, p, r)
• 245/246 Subfields (a, b)
• 700 Subfield (t)

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Task 4 Group records based on Expression Key
• Language 008/35-37, 240 subfield l
• Medium Leader/06 Type
• Editor/Translator/Director/Narrator 245
  subfield c

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Task 5 Group records based on Manifestation Key
• Title 245 subfields (a, b)
• Publisher 260 subfields (a, b, c)
• Edition 250 subfield a

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HELIN FRBR Project

• The following FRBR Catalog contains 297 works by,
  about or based on Shakespeares intellectual
  endeavourer
• Demo HELIN FRBRized William Shakespeare
  Collection

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Issues in Clustering Work Records
• 1 Uniform Titles need to be inserted or
• created for Work Records
• 2 Uniform Titles that are not authorized
• 3 Embedding in anthologies

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Issues in Clustering Work Records
• 4 Titles in 240/245 are unclear/misleading
• 5 Finding individual works that are
• compiled as one publication (The
• complete work/ Selections)

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Issue 1 Uniform Titles need to be inserted or
created for Work Records
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Issue 2 Uniform Titles are not authorized
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Issue 2 Uniform Titles are not authorized
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Issue 3 Anthology
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Issue 4 Titles in 240/ 245 are
unclear/misleading
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Issue 4 Titles in 240/245 are unclear/misleading
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Issue 5 Discovering individual work contained
in The complete works/ Selections
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Issue 5 Discovering individual work contained
in The complete work/ Selection
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HELIN FRBR Project

• Issues in identifying expression records
• 1 245 doesnt contain sufficient information for
  identifying
• editors, directors, illustrators, etc.
• 2 The content of the physical item needs to be
  analyzed
• before differences among similar
  expressions can be
• discovered.
• 3 Under what circumstances should a new
  expression be
• created?

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245 doesnt contain sufficient information for
identifying editors, directors,
illustrators, etc.
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The content of the physical item needs to be
analyzed
39
Under what circumstances should a new expression
be created?
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HELIN FRBR Project

• Future Work and Suggestions
• Usability test
• Choose reasonably sized collections to FRBRize
• Improve MARC records prior to FRBRizing
• Dont rely on automation
• Apply Super Work concept
• Dont expect flawlessness
• Be flexible

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HELIN FRBR Project

• Mary Wu, Roger Williams University
• Email mwu_at_rwu.edu
• Martha Sanders, HELIN Consortium
• Email msanders_at_etal.uri.edu
• Tim Spindler, Roger Williams University
• Email tspindler_at_rwu.edu