FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed

by Robert L. Maxwell

"FRBR has the potential to inspire dramatic changes in library catalogs, and those changes will greatly impact how reference and resource sharing staff and patrons use this core tool."
--netconnect, 2005 FRBR – Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records– is an evolving conceptual model designed to help users easily navigate catalogs and find the material they want in the form they want it – be that print, DVD, audio, or adaptations. Developed by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Cataloging Section, FRBR is now being integrated into cataloging theory and implemented into systems and practice. 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 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.

Genres: Library Science, Nonfiction

151 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2007

About the author

Robert L. Maxwell is a senior librarian at the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, USA, where he is chair of the Special Collections and Metadata Catalog Department. He is the author of books on cataloging, including FRBR: A Guide for the Perplexed (Chicago: American Library Association, 2008); Maxwell’s Guide to Authority Work (Chicago: ALA, 2002), which won the 2002 Highsmith Library Literature Award; and Maxwell’s Handbook for AACR2 (Chicago: ALA, 2004). He has taught cataloging at Brigham Young University and the University of Arizona, and is a voting member of ALA’s Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access, the ALA body responsible for developing official ALA positions on AACR2 and RDA. In addition to an MLS from the University of Arizona, he holds a JD from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in classical languages and literatures from the University of Toronto.

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class. It is dry as hell, but has lots of examples to help the reader understand.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the early seventies, libraries began converting their catalog card files to flat databases, with the AACR2/MARC format. By the turn of the century, computer science and user expectations had outgrown the capabilities of a flat database. In 1998, the FRBR (Fundamental Requirements for Bibliographic Records) study was set up, along with the somewhat later FRAD (Fundamental Requirements of Authority Databases) and FRANSAR (Fundamental Requirements and Numeration of Subject Authority Records) to study what exactly was needed by different types of catalog users and how this could be achieved in principle with an entity-relationship type of relational database structure.

This book, by BYU cataloging guru Robert L. Maxwell, is designed to explain what FRBR is all about. There are two problems with the book: first, it was written in 2007, when FRBR was fairly advanced, but FRAD was still in early rough draft and FRANSAR was only beginning; RDA (Resource Description and Access), the successor to AACR2 based on FRBR principles, was also just beginning to be worked on, and his few comments about it are in the way of guesses what it might be like. Today, of course, RDA is about to be implemented. The second problem, is that Maxwell is not quite sure of his audience: is he writing a simple guide to FRBR for librarians like me who are anxiously trying to figure out what it is all about and what it means for my library, or a critique for the FRBR committee? Each chart he presents about how FRBR works is accompanied by another chart showing how he thinks it ought to have been set up.

The book did give me a basic understanding of the FRBR model, but I also know a little about databases; some of the other catalogers at my library were totally confused by it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart!!