FRBR, Understanding Current Developments

1
FRBR, Understanding Current Developments

• by
• Pat Riva
• Chair, IFLA FRBR Review Group
• McGill University
• Montreal, Quebec
• Canada

2
Outline

• FRBR model basics
• Boundaries of work and expression
• Introduction to Functional Requirements for
  Authority Data (FRAD)
• Role of FRBR Review Group

3
FRBR Methodology

• An entity-relationship (E-R) model
• Defines entities
• Lists their attributes
• Identifies the relationships between the entities
• Map to user tasks

4
Users

• End-users of information retrieval systems
• Information workers assisting users
• Information workers maintaining databases

5
User Tasks

• Find entities that correspond to the search
  criteria
• Identify an entity as being the one sought
• Select an appropriate entity
• Obtain access to the entity described

6
Group 1 Entities

• Focus of bibliographic records
• 2 abstract entities reflect content
• work
• expression
• 2 concrete entities reflect form/carrier
• manifestation
• item

7
Definition Work

• A distinct intellectual or artistic creation
• Abstraction of the commonality of content of its
  various expressions
• Does not correspond to any single physical thing

8
Definition Expression

• The intellectual or artistic realization of a
  work
• The specific form a work takes when realized
• Specific sequence of words in a textual work, of
  notes in a musical work, etc.

9
Definition Manifestation

• The physical embodiment of an expression of a
  work
• The set of all items bearing the same
  characteristics, both physical form and content
• Either a published edition, or a single
  unpublished item

10
Definition Item

• A single exemplar of a manifestation
• Concrete, usually physical, thing held in library
  collections
• A copy of a publication, may be made up of
  multiple parts (volumes in a set)
• Important at the inventory level of control

11
Group 1 Entities

• WORK
• realized through
• EXPRESSION
• embodied in
• 
  MANIFESTATION
• 
  exemplified by
• 
  ITEM

12
Group 2 Entities

• Person (an individual)
• Corporate Body (an organization or a group of
  individuals and/or organizations acting as a
  unit)
• Those responsible for
• intellectual or artistic content of a work or
  expression
• physical production of a manifestation
• ownership of an item

13
Group 2 Entities

• PERSON
• CORPORATE BODY
• responsible for
• group
  1 entities
  work
• 
  expression
• 
  manifestation
• 
  item

14
Group 2 Primary Relationships

• Different types of responsibility
• Item ltis owned bygt
• Manifestation ltis produced bygt
• Expression ltis realized bygt
• Work ltis created bygt

15
Group 3 Entities

• Serve as subjects of works
• Concept (an abstract notion or idea)
• Object (a material thing)
• Event (an action or occurrence)
• Place (a location)

16
Group 3 Entities

• CONCEPT
• OBJECT
• EVENT
• PLACE
• group 1 and 2 entities
• subject relationships to
• 
  group 1 entity
• 
  WORK

17
Boundary IssuesWork and Expression

• Boundary of the Work
• Boundary of the Expression
• Modeling aggregates
• Seriality

18
How Large is the Work?

• A distinct intellectual or artistic creation
• Same primary creator(s)
• Same general content
• Reflects cultural expectation of users

19
Function of Work Citation

• Collocate expressions and manifestations of the
  work
• Distinguish works from other similar works
• User tasks Find and Identify
• Ordering displays of records by grouping
  manifestations for prolific authors

20
Superworks?

• Some have proposed an entity above the Work
• Would include also adaptations and versions in
  other forms
• Also called
• Top entity
• Bibliographic Family

21
How Small is the Expression?

• Any change in form results in a new expression
• Any change in content results in a new expression
• Any revision or modification to a text, no matter
  how minor, results in a new expression

22
When Small is too Small

• If taken literally, almost every manifestation
  will be a new expression
• Unneeded multiplication of expressions
• Loose useful grouping function of the expression

23
Practical Expression Boundaries

• Proposal to amend FRBR's discussion of expression
• Make distinctions between expressions based on
• nature of the work
• needs of users
• how the manifestation is presented
• what the cataloguer can be expected to know

24
Levels of Expressions

• Revised editions
• Translations of specific editions
• Performances of specific arrangements of music
• Formal sublevels have been proposed
• But relationships between expressions are more
  flexible

25
How Many Works?

• Works found inside works
• stories in a collection
• illustrations with text
• articles in a journal
• How small a component is still a work?
• How many levels of works?

26
Aggregates

• Augmentation
• material added to the original
• Aggregate
• Compilation or collection of other works
• Serials/Journals

27
Augmentations

• Examples
• text with new illustrations
• new preface, forward, added to book
• cover art and design
• music and lyrics
• music and choreography
• Ubiquitous?

28
Aggregates/Collections

• Examples
• stories collected into an anthology
• novels collected into an omnibus volume
• songs on an album
• compilation of art reproductions
• books in a series
• Is compilation also creation?

29
How Many Works is a Journal?

• Each article is a work
• A theme-issue is a compilation
• Any issue is a component
• The journal itself is another compilation

30
Seriality

• The attibutes of a single manifestation may
  change over time as successive parts are
  published
• Affects serials and multipart monographs
• Impact change in attributes may not mean a new
  manifestation or expression
• FRBR does not model passage of time (it is not
  event-aware)

31
Overview of FRAD

• Scope
• Users and user tasks
• Entities
• Relationships

32
FRANAR, FRAR or FRAD?

• FRANAR Functional Requirements and Numbering of
  Authority Records
• An IFLA Working Group
• Created by Division of Bibliographic Control
• Chairs
• Françoise Bourdon (1999-2001)
• Glenn Patton (2002-)

33
FRANAR Terms of Reference

• Defining functional requirements of authority
  records
• Studying the feasibility of an international
  authority data number
• Liaising with other interested groups

34
Functional Requirements for Authority Data

• A report fulfilling FRANAR's first task
• Method is entity-relationship modeling
• Conceptual model of the kind of authority data
  required to support authority control
• To facilitate international sharing of authority
  data

35
CAUTION!

• The following is based on the
• April 2007 DRAFT
• issued for world-wide review.
• Modifications, improvements
• will certainly be made prior to
• final publication.

36
Scope

• Data needed in authority control
• All types of headings at a high level
• Details only for name, name-title, or uniform
  title headings
• Includes entities involved in creating headings

37
Not in Scope

• Further breakdown of attributes of Group 3
  entities
• Relationships among Group 3 entities (concept,
  object, event, place)
• In other words, subject authorities
• Referred to FRSAR WG started in 2005

38
Not in Scope

• Relationships between Group 2 and Group 1
  entities (relator terms)
• Series treatment data
• Authority record management data

39
Users

• Information workers who create, maintain and use
  authority files directly
• End-users who interact with authority data
• maybe directly
• but usually indirectly through controlled access
  points in bibliographic records

40
User Tasks

• Find entities that correspond to search criteria,
  or explore bibliographic entities
• Identify an entity as being the one sought, or
  validate the form of name to be used
• Contextualize
• Justify

41
User Task Contextualize

• Place a person, corporate body, work, etc. in
  context
• clarify the relationship between two or more
  persons, corporate bodies, works, etc.
• clarify the relationship between a person,
  corporate body, etc., and a name by which that
  person, corporate body, etc., is known

42
User Task Justify

• Document the authority data creators reason for
  choosing the name or form of name on which a
  controlled access point is based

43
Functions of the Authority File

• Document decisions
• Serve as reference tool
• Control form of access points
• Support access to bibliographic file
• Bibliographic and authority record interaction

44
Entities in FRAD

• Bibliographic entities (defined in FRBR)
• person, family, corporate body
• work, expression, manifestation, item
• concept, object, place, event
• These entities are the focus of authority records
• Authority entities refer to them

45
New Entities

• Name by which bibliographic entities are known
  (in the real world)
• Identifier assigned to those entities
• Controlled access point based on those names or
  identifiers
• These are the heart of the authority data

46
Basic FRAD Model

• BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTITIES
• known by
• NAMES and / or IDENTIFIERS
• basis for
• CONTROLLED ACCESS POINTS

47
More New Entities

• Rules governing construction of a controlled
  access point
• Agency applying the rules, and creating/modifying
  the controlled access point
• These are control entities

48
Entity Definitions Person

• An individual or a persona established or adopted
  by an individual or a group
• A bibliographic person, may not be a real
  individual
• Consider joint pseudonyms, multiple pseudonyms
  used by one real person

49
Entity Definitions Family

• Two or more persons related by birth, marriage,
  adoption, or similar legal status, or who
  otherwise present themselves as a family
• From ISAAR(CPF)
• Would belong to FRBR Group 2 (and next edition of
  FRBR will include it)

50
Entity Definitions Name

• A character or group of words and/or characters
  by which an entity is known
• The basic name or term itself
• As found in the real world

51
Entity Definitions Identifier

• A number, code, word, phrase, logo, device, etc.
  that is uniquely associated with an entity, and
  serves to differentiate that entity from other
  entities within the domain in which the
  identifier is assigned
• Not only bibliographic identifiers

52
Entity Definitions Controlled Access Point

• A name, term, code, etc. under which a
  bibliographic or authority record or reference
  will be found
• Includes established or authorized headings
• and variant headings or references

53
Minor Entity Definitions

• Rules
• A set of instructions relating to the formulation
  and/or recording of controlled access points
• Agency
• An organization responsible for creating or
  modifying a controlled access point, and for the
  application and interpretation of the rules

54
Authority Relationships

• Inherent structural relationships
• Relationships between different Persons,
  Families, Corporate bodies, Works
• Relationships between Names and the entities they
  name
• Relationships between Controlled Access Points
  for the same entity

55
Inherent Structural Relationships

• Bibliographic entities
• are known by NAME
• are assigned IDENTIFIER
• CONTROLLED ACCESS POINT
• is governed by RULES
• is created/modified by AGENCY
• RULES applied by AGENCY

56
Relationships Between Different Entities

• Person-to-Person
• Person-to-Family
• Person-to-Corporate Body
• Family-to-Family
• Corporate Body-to-Corporate Body
• Work-to-Work (as in FRBR)

57
Person-to-Person

• Multiple bibliographic identities
• Attribution
• Collaboration
• Siblings
• Parent/Child

58
Person-to-Family or Person-to-Corporate Body

• Membership
• Family-to-Family
• Genealogical
• Corporate Bodies
• Hierarchical
• Sequential

59
Between Entities

• Relate one entity to another bibliographically
  different entity
• Provide navigation between authorized forms of
  controlled access points for different entities
• MARC21 coding 5XX (See also references)

60
RelationshipsBetween Names and Entities

• Person-to-name
• Family-to-name
• Corporate body-to-name
• Work-to-name

61
From Person to Name

• Real name / Pseudonym
• Secular name / Name in religion
• Official name
• Earlier / Later name (includes married name)
• Other variant names

62
From Corporate Body to Name

• Expanded name / Acronym/initials
• Other variant names

63
For Any Entity

• Alternative linguistic form
• Marcus Aurelius Antonius ltLatin namegt Marc
  Aurèle ltFrench namegt
• Familie Trapp ltGermangt
  Trappin perhe ltFinnishgt
• United Nations ltEnglishgt
  Nations Unies ltFrenchgt

64
Between Names and Entities

• Relate each name to the entity it names
• Relationships usually exist in pairs
• Used to create references from variant names to
  the name used for the controlled access point
  serving as the authorized form of a single entity
• MARC21 coding 4XX (See references)

65
RelationshipsBetween Controlled Access Points

• Parallel language
• Library and Archives Canada (English)
• Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (French)
• Alternate script
• Cyrillic, or Chinese as opposed to romanized
• Different rules
• Benedict XVI, Pope, 1927- (AACR2 - English)
• Benoît XVI, pape, 1927- (RCAA2 - French)

66
Between Controlled Access Points

• Relate one authorized form of a controlled access
  point to another authorized form for the same
  entity in another system
• Used when linking one authority file to another
• MARC21 coding 7XX (authority linking entries)

67
FRAD World-Wide Review

• Comments welcome until July 15, 2007
• Download PDF from IFLANET
• http//www.ifla.org/VII/d4/wg-franar.htm
• Send comments to FRANAR chair
• Glenn Patton at
• pattong_at_oclc.org

68
Ongoing FRBR Developments

• Aim to maintain FRBR
• Nearing completion amendment proposal for the
  expression entity
• Current working group charged with issues
  relating to modeling aggregates
• Eventual new editions of FRBR to incorporate
  additions stemming from FRAD and later FRSAR, as
  needed

69
FRBR Review Group Mandate

• Review and maintain the FRBR model, in both
  entity-relationship and object-oriented forms
• Develop and make available guidelines and
  interpretative documents to assist those applying
  FRBR
• Promote the model and encourage its use and
  maintain links with relevant groups both within
  IFLA and in other communities

70
FRBR/CRM Working Group

• Joint Working Group with the ICOM-CIDOC CRM SIG
  (co-chairs, Martin Doerr, Patrick LeBoeuf)
• To express the FRBR model with the concepts,
  tools, mechanisms, and notation conventions
  provided by the CIDOC CRM
• To contribute to semantic interoperability
  between the documentation structures used for
  library and museum information

71
Object-Oriented FRBR

• More information on the joint working group
• http//cidoc.ics.forth.gr/frbr_inro.html
• Drafts for public discussion (latest is April
  2007)
• http//cidoc.ics.forth.gr/frbr_drafts.html

72
More Information

• On IFLANET
• http//www.ifla.org/VII/s13/wgfrbr/wgfrbr.htm
• http//www.ifla.org/VII/d4/wg-franar.htm
• http//www.ifla.org/VII/s29/wgfrsar.htm
• Join the FRBR discussion list
• http//infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/frbr
• Read the FRBR blog
• http//www.frbr.org/

73
Thank you!

• Any questions?
• Pat Riva
• pat.riva_at_mcgill.ca