FRBR

A few weeks ago I attended a handy morning workshop which talked about FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records). FRBR facilitates a more holistic approach to accessing and retrieving bibliographic records from a user's perspective when interacting with a library's OPAC. It represents a conceptional entity relationship model that considers three interrelated group entities: Group 1 (products of intellectual and artistic endeavour), Group 2 (those responsible for intellectual & artistic content) and Group 3 (subjects of works). FRBR thus acknowledges and expresses the multi-faceted relationships that exist between these entities and their relevant attributes (metadata).

Take a look at what the Open Library throws up when searching for "Romeo and Juliet". The result exemplifies the application of FRBR.

The following list of references was given to us for follow-up and further study; you might be interested in this too.

• FRBR: a guide for the perplexed / Maxwell, Robert L. -Chicago: American Library
  Association, 2008.
• Functional requirements for bibliographic records: final report / IFlA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records; approved by the Standing Committee of the IFLA Section on Cataloguing. -As amended and corrected through February 2009. (Also at: http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/cataloguing/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf)
• FRBR and RDA : advances in resource description for multiple format resources / Chris
  Oliver. -Library and Archives Canada, 2009. (Also at: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/iela/005002-2200-e.html)
• What is FRBR? : a conceptual modelfor the bibliographic universe / Barbara Tillett. Library of Congress, 2004. (Also at: http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF)
• FRBR: things you should know but were afraid to ask (webcast) / Barbara Tillett. Library of Congress, 2009. At: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4554)
• Understanding FRBR : what it is and how it will affect our retrieval tools / edited by Arlene G. Taylor. -Westport, Conneticut; London: Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
• Implementing FRBR in libraries: key issues andfuture directions / Yin Zhang and Athena Salaba. -New York; London: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2009.
• Introducing RDA : a guide to the basics / Chris Oliver. - London : Facet Publishing, 2010.
• Rules fbr a dictionary catalog / by Charles A. Cutter. - 4th ed., rewritten. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904. (Also at: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1048/m1/1/)
• Statement of Principles / adopted by The International Conference on Cataloguing Principles. - Paris, October 1961. (Also at: http://www.nl.go.kr/icc/paper/20.pdf)
• Functional Requirements for Authority Data / by IFLA Working Group on Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records (FRANAR), -K.G. Saur, 2009. (lFLA Series on Bibliographic Control; v. 34)
• Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD): Final Report / approved by the Standing Committee of the Classification and Indexing Section, June 2010. IHA, 2011. (IHA Series on Bibliographic Control; v. 43)
• Practical cataloguing : AACR, RDA and MARC 21 / Anne Welsh and Sue Batley.

 See also the previous post on RDA.