This document provides an overview of FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records), including: 1. FRBR defines user tasks like finding and identifying bibliographic entities and provides a conceptual model of works, expressions, manifestations and items. 2. It describes attributes and relationships between these entities using the example of Newton's Principia. 3. FRBR is influential in cataloguing standards like RDA and the design of library discovery systems but has limitations around implementation and fitting non-text works.

1. FRBR
13 March 2013
Thomas Meehan
Head of Current Cataloguing
t.meehan@ucl.ac.uk

2. FRBR
Functional
Requirements for
Bibliographic
Records

3. Why Learn About FRBR?
1. Theoretical foundation of RDA, the new
cataloguing rules
2. Need to understand the terminology at
the very least to use RDA
3. Increasingly used as basis of thinking
and talking about catalogues and
discovery systems, e.g. Explore.

4. Paris Principles (1961)
2. Functions of the Catalogue
The catalogue should be an efficient instrument for
ascertaining
2.1. whether the library contains a particular book
specified by
(a) its author and title, or
(b) if the author is not named in the book, its title alone, or
(c) if author and title are inappropriate or insufficient for
identification, a suitable substitute for the title; and
2.2. (a) which works by a particular author and
(b) which editions of a particular work are in the library

5. FRBR (1997)
Defined user tasks (from section 6.1):
• Find entities that correspond to the user’s search
criteria
• Identify the entity (confirm that the entity found is
the entity the user sought)
• Select an entity from the resulting group appropriate
to the user’s needs
• Obtain the selected entity

6. FRBR Entities
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

7. Work
A distinct intellectual
or artistic creation.

8. Expression
The intellectual
realization of a work
in notation, sound,
image, movement,
etc., or any
combination of such
forms.

9. Manifestation
The physical
embodiment of an
expression of a work.

10. Item
A single exemplar of
a manifestation.

11. Attributes: Work

12. Attributes: Expression

13. Attributes: Manifestation

14. Attributes: Item

15. Attributes: Person

16. Relationships: Groups 1 and 2

17. Relationships: Groups 1 and 2

18. Relationships: Group 1

19. FRBR Example
Example of FRBR, based on Michael
Ondaatje’s The English patient:
• http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucyltpm/cat/frbrtraini
ng/frbr_example.html

20. Work: Newton’s Principia
[Newton’s Principia (Work)]
– (title) “Principia”
– (form) “treatise”
– (date) “1687”
– <is created by> [Isaac Newton, 1642-1727 (Person)]
– <is realized through>
• [Newton’s Principia in Latin, 1726 (Expression)]
• [Newton’s Principia in English, 1729 (Expression)]
• [Newton’s Principia in English, 1999 (Expression)]

21. Expression: Newton’s
Principia in Latin, 1726
[Newton’s Principia in Latin, 1726 (Expression)]
–(title) “Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica”
–(form) “text”
–(date) “1726”
–(language) “Latin”
–<is embodied in> [Newton’s Principia in Latin, 1871
(Manifestation)]

22. Manifestation: Newton’s
Principia in Latin, 1871
[Newton’s Principia in Latin, 1871 (Manifestation)]
– (title) “Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia”
– (place of publication) “Glasgow”
– (publisher) “James Maclehose”
– (date) “1871”
– <is exemplified by> [30217010236531 (Item)]

23. Item: 30217010236531
[30217010236531(Item)]
– (identifier) “30217010236531”

24. Expression: Newton’s
Principia in English, 1729
[Newton’s Principia in English, 1729 (Expression)]
– (title) “The mathematical principles of natural philosophy”
– (form) “text”
– (date) “1729”
– (language) “English”
– <is translated by> [Andrew Motte, d. 1734]
– <is embodied in> [Newton’s Principia in English, 1934
(Manifestation)]

25. Manifestation: Newton’s
Principia in English, 1934
Newton’s Principia in Latin, 1934 (Manifestation)
– (title) “Sir Isaac Newton’s Mathematical principles of natural
philosophy and his system of the world”
– (statement of responsibility) “translated into English by
Andrew Motte in 1729”
– (place of publication) “Cambridge”
– (publisher) “Cambridge University Press”
– (date) “1934”
– <is exemplified by> [30217009902085 (Item)]

26. Item: 3021700902085
[3021700902085 (Item)]
•(identifier) “3021700902085”

27. Expression: Newton’s
Principia in English, 1999
[Newton’s Principia in English, 1999 (Expression)]
– (title) “The principia : mathematical principles of natural
philosophy”
– (form) “text”
– (date) “1999”
– (language) “English”
– <is translated by> [I. Bernard Cohen, 1914-2003]
– <is translated by> [Anne Miller Whitman, 1937-1984]
– <is embodied in> [Newton’s Principia in English, 1999
(Manifestation)]

28. Manifestation: Newton’s
Principia in English, 1999
[Newton’s Principia in English, 1999 (Manifestation)]
– (title) “The principia : mathematical principles of natural
philosophy”
– (statement of responsibility) “a new translation by I.
Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman”
– (place of publication) “Berkeley”
– (publisher) “University of California Press”
– (date) “1999”
– <is exemplified by> [2809033542 (Item)]

29. Item: 2809033542
[2809033542 (Item)]
•(identifier) “2809033542”

30. Combined details: Newton’s Principia in
English, 1934 (Manifestation)
Newton’s Principia (Work)
– title: Principia
– form: treatise
– date: 1687
– is created by Isaac Newton, 1642-1727.
Newton’s Principia in English, 1729 (Expression)
– title: The mathematical principles of natural philosophy
– form: text
– date: 1729
– language: English
– is translated by: Andrew Motte, d. 1734
Newton’s Principia in English, 1934 (Manifestation)
– title: Sir Isaac Newton’s Mathematical principles of natural philosophy and his system
of the world
– statement of responsibility: translated into English by Andrew Motte in 1729
– place of publication: Cambridge
– publisher: Cambridge University Press
– date: 1934
– is exemplified by: 30217009902085 (Item)

31. Combined details in MARC fields: Newton’s
Principia in Latin, 1934 (Manifestation)
(Work)
– 100$a Isaac Newton, 1642-1727.
– 240$a Principia
(Expression)
– 240$l English
– 240$f 1729
– 700$a Andrew Motte, d. 1734
(Manifestation)
– 245$a Sir Isaac Newton’s Mathematical principles of natural philosophy and
his system of the world
– 245$c translated into English by Andrew Motte in 1729
– 260$a Cambridge
– 260$b Cambridge University Press
– 260$c 1934
– is exemplified by 30217009902085 (Item)

32. FRBR Example 2
Example of FRBR, based on three editions
of Newton’s Principia:
• http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucyltpm/cat/frbrtraini
ng/frbr_example_newton.html

33. Related standards
• FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records)
• FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data, formerly
FRAR)
• FRANAR (Functional Requirements And Numbering of Authority
Records, the title of a Working Group that authored FRAD and
ISADN)
• FRAR (see FRAD)
• FRSAD (Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data,
formerly FRSAR)
• FRSAR (see FRSAD)
• FRBRoo (FRBR object-oriented)

34. FRAD (Person) details for Isaac Newton
[Isaac Newton, 1642-1727 (Person)]
– (date of birth) “1642”
– (date of death) “1727”
– (title of person) “Sir”
– (gender) “male”
– (place of birth): “Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire”
– (place of death) “London”
– (country) “England”
– (place of residence) “England”
– (affiliation): “University of Cambridge”
– (language of person) “English”, “Latin”
– (field of activity) “science”, “mathematics”
– (profession/occupation) “scholar”, “Master of the Mint”
– <has appellation> [Sir Isaac Newton (Name)]

35. FRAD (Name) details for Sir Isaac Newton
[Sir Isaac Newton (Name)]
– (type of name) “personal”
– (name string) “Sir Isaac Newton”
– (language of name) “English”
– (script of name): “Latin”
– <earlier name relationship> [Isaac Newton (Name)]
– <is basis for> [LC Name Authority Record 79007443]

36. Is it any good?
• A theoretical underpinning to cataloguing practice
• Clarifies the role of things like uniform titles
• Focuses on user needs
• Influential in the design of catalogues and discovery systems: should make search more intuitive
• Entity-relationship model fits well with linked data, even if WEMI doesn’t
• Not widely tested (although see Scherzo: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/scherzo/)
• Not implemented on a big scale
• Very rigid model
• Uses attributes instead of entities
• Only ever a draft
• Describes abstract things
• Hard to grasp
• Much overlap/confusion between WEMI entities
• What does an electronic Item look like?
• How do ebooks, ejournals, websites, etc, fit into FRBR model?
• Aggregates

37. FRBR and Explore
• Groups records into Works based on author/title (100/245) and
author/uniform title (100/240) matches
• Shows Manifestations within Works groups, skipping Expressions,
although some Expression information is available using the facets
(e.g. language)
• Details for Works are taken from one Manifestation (although not
publisher any more): misleading
• Does not show relationships
• Only Manifestations are treated as entities, not Works or Persons
Data needs to be FRBRised for Explore or any other system to do
it properly.

38. More Information
Standards
•[FRBR] Functional requirements for bibliographic records : final report / IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records. München : K.G. Saur, 1998. http://www.ifla.org/publications/functional-requirements-for-bibliographic-records
•[FRAD] Functional requirements for authority data : a conceptual model / edited by Glenn E. Patton. München: K.G. Saur, 2009.
http://www.ifla.org/publications/functional-requirements-for-authority-data
•[FRSAD] Functional requirements for subject authority data (FRSAD) : a conceptual model / edited by Marcia Lei Zeng, Maja Žumer &
Athena Salaba. http://www.ifla.org/node/5849
Other Works
•FRBR : a guide for the perplexed / Robert L. Maxwell. Chicago : American Library Association, 2008. A good thorough run through of FRBR,
including some criticism, and the different approaches taken by FRBR and FRAD.
•Understanding FRBR : what it is and how it will affect our retrieval tools / edited by Arlene G. Taylor. Westport, Conn. : Libraries
Unlimited, 2007. A collection of articles including several introductory ones. Not always as accessible as it could be.
•Introducing RDA : a guide to the basics / Chris Oliver. London : Facet, 2010. Includes a good brief introduction to FRBR and FRAD. Chris
Oliver was appointed copy editor of RDA in 2011 with the task of rewriting the text for readability.
•Practical cataloguing : AACR, RDA and MARC 21 / Anne Welsh and Sue Batley. London : Facet, 2012. Includes good brief introduction to
FRBR (chapter 2) and FRBR as the foundation of RDA (chapter 5).
•Library of Congress (LC) RDA Training Materials. http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials/LC%20RDA
%20Training/LC%20RDA%20course%20table.html Includes various slides, manuals, webinars, quizzes, etc. on FRBR.
Training
•FRBR for the Terrified. Run by CILIP CIG in various places in the UK. Look out for new courses on their blog:
http://communities.cilip.org.uk/blogs/catalogueandindex/

39. FRBR
[FRBR presentation]
(title) “FRBR”
(date) “13 March 2013”
<created by> [Thomas Meehan]
[Thomas Meehan]
(address) t.meehan@ucl.ac.uk
(profession/occupation) “Head of Current Cataloguing”
<has appellation> “Thomas Meehan”