On the discrimination of
Huck Finns:
a short
presentation
on FRBR
Lorcan Dempsey
This is a derivative work: see
closing slide for credits!
Reading 2.0
San Francisco
16 March 2006
Overview
What is a ‘book’ anyway?
A ‘book’ exists at different levels of
interest.
FRBR – Functional Requirements of
Bibliographic Records – models these
levels of interest.
Group 1 entities
Work
Is realized
through
Expression
A distinct intellectual or
artistic creation
The intellectual or
artistic realization
of a work
Is embodied in
Manifestation
Is
exemplified by
Item
Huck Finn
Un-abridged French
spoken book
English language
book
A critical edition.
The physical
embodiment of an The 1954
Penguin edtn!
expression
A single
exemplar of a
manifestation
This thing
in my
hand!
FRBR is fuzzy
OCLC FRBR work set algorithm
used to cluster related records
Illustrated
edition
e¹
Spanish
edition
e²
Abridged
edition
e³
Spoken
word
e4
Adaptation
e¹
Expressions
Work¹
Work²
Some numbers based on WorldCat, the
world’s most complete bibliographic
database
Worldcat
Print books
Total
47,423,810
Works
28,542,021
59,879,322
Manifestations
35,372,459
1,531,400,969
Items
1,194,751,352
(est: holdings*1.5)
Works with
between 2 and 5 manifestations:
12%
Works with > 5 manifestations:
1%
Works
In
WorldCat
Works with > 5 manifestations:
17% of total holdings
Works with 1 manifestation:
87%
Works with
between 2 and 5 manifestations:
40% of total holdings
Works with 1 manifestation:
43% of total holdings
Works with
between 2 and 5 manifestations:
13%
Works with > 5 manifestations:
1%
“Print Book Works”*
In
WorldCat
•Works that contain at least
1 print book manifestation
Works with > 5 manifestations:
17% of total holdings
Works with 1 manifestation:
86%
Works with
between 2 and 5 manifestations:
39% of total holdings
Works with 1 manifestation:
44% of total holdings
Top 10 fiction works based on
number of editions (manifestations)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Don Quixote / Cervantes
Robinson Crusoe / Daniel Defoe
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Lewis Carroll
Treasure Island / Robert Louis Stevenson
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain
Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Mark Twain
Christmas Carol / Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist / Charles Dickens
Uncle Tom’s Cabin / Harriet Beecher Stowe
David Copperfield / Charles Dickens
Classics?
Top 10 fiction works based on
number of library holdings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain (5)
Don Quixote / Cervantes (1)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Lewis Carroll (3)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Mark Twain (6)
Robinson Crusoe / Daniel Defoe (2)
Moby Dick / Herman Melville
Little Women / Louisa May Alcott
Christmas Carol / Charles Dickens (7)
Wuthering Heights / Emily Bronte
Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen
Popularity?
Top works in WC by holdings
1
10
What did we do?
Focus on
books
and
music so
far
Minimize
manual
intervention
Mobilize existing catalog data
FRBR work-set algorithm
FictionFinder: fiction in worldcat
xISBN: a web service, given an ISBN
gives you all ISBNs in a work set
 Rolling out in production services




Find out more …
Some other implementation
examples
Music Australia
 http://www.musicaustralia.org/
LC FRBR Display Tool
 http://www.loc.gov/marc/marc-functionalanalysis/tool.html
VisualCat (Denmark)
 http://www.portia.dk/pubs/VisualCat/Present/VisualCatOve
rview20050607.pdf
VTLS
 http://www.vtls.com/Corporate/FRBR.shtml
Check out …
Diane Vizine-Goetz
FictionFinder: Don Quixote to Graphic Novels (PPT:1.4MB/24slides)
WebWise 2006, 17 February 2006, Los Angeles,California (USA)
Eric Childress
What's FRBR? (PowerPoint:1.1MB/43 slides)
Central Ohio Chapter, American Society of Information Science &
Technology, 21 July 2005, Columbus, Ohio (USA)
Brian Lavoie and Roger C. Schonfeld (Ithaka)
A Systemwide View of Library Collections (PowerPoint:300K/35slides)
CNI Spring 2005 Task Force Meeting, 4-5 April 2005, Washington, DC
(USA)
Thom Hickey
FRBR: Algorithms and Applications (PowerPoint:1.17MB/40slides)
California Library Association pre-conference Institute, 12 November 2004,
San Jose, California (USA)
Edward T. O'Neill
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records: OCLC's Experience
Identifying and Using Works (PowerPoint:26MB/35 slides)
FRBR Workshop, 8–9 July 2004, Frankfurt (Germany)
Links active in slide show mode
OCLC Research and FRBR
OCLC FRBR Projects page
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr
FRBR work-set algorithm
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/algorithm.htm
Top 1000 titles
http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000
xISBN
http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/xisbn/
Fiction Finder
http://fictionfinder.oclc.org/
Curiouser
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/curiouser
Some FRBR resources
IFLA FRBR Review Group
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/wgfrbr/wgfrbr.htm
Functional requirements for bibliographic records : final report /
IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records. Münich : K.G. Saur, 1998. ISBN 3-
598-11382-X
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm
FRBR Bibliography:
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/wgfrbr/bibliography.htm
FRBR in 21st century catalogues (Workshop held at OCLC)
http://www.oclc.org/research/events/frbr-workshop
Statement of International Cataloguing Principles
http://www.ddb.de/news/pdf/statement_draft.pdf
FRBR Blog
http://www.frbr.org/
Credits





Brian Lavoie ran the WorldCat numbers for me.
Diane Vizine-Goetz and her colleagues developed FictionFinder
and she pulled the titles for slide 13. Slides 18 and 19 are based
on FictionFinder counts.
I have drawn on the presentations by my colleagues Diane VizineGoetz, Thom Hickey, Eric Childress, Ed O’Neill listed above which
collectively provide a very nice overview of FRBR from both
theoretical and implementation perspectives.
Thom and Jenny Toves developed the OCLC work-set algorithm.
William Denton (www.frbr.org) kindly let me use the figure on
slide 9.