Develop an awareness of and a familiarity with RDA and the four FRBR user tasks through online and Library-based resources. Explain what I have learnt and how they will make a difference to my cataloguing and indexing via the Professional Development Wiki/Blog.
BOK 2 - Generation, Communication & Use of Information.
BOK 2 - Generation, Communication & Use of Information.
This element of my Professional Training Plan (PTP) has been waiting for the right time to come along to start. As RDA is being talked about more and more within the National Library amongst people besides those who are involved with its planning and implementation, it seems that now is that time - especially as implementation dates are now being scheduled.
I must state now that when I proposed this particular task for my PTP I was still cataloguing. As this is not now the case I will therefore relate my learning comments primarily to my current indexing work.
FRBR
This is a slide show video using the various versions of Dracula to show what the different components of FRBR are and how they can be used, using a well known, historical title. It uses a combination of description with images alongside of the Group 1 Entities. At 2m 48secs long it is a short introduction to the concepts involved.
"What I learned"
I found this resource difficult to understand what the terms involved mean, even after explanation through different versions of Dracula. Almost a resource that needs to be looked at after some, more basic, introductions to FRBR.
A PDF explaining the background, terminology, entities, bibliographic relationships, user tasks, impact on cataloguing rules, impact on bibliographic structures, systems design and applications of FRBR.
"What I learned"
Within the first paragraph of this resource there are entry-level explanations with a background that fills in the reader on why we need FRBR. The explanation of the need for a more precise terminology, backed up by the many different uses of the term 'book', which needed specific words to differentiate, is easy to understand.
A description of the entities shows how it is related to AACR2. I found the diagrams more helpful than the text in working out the different entities for each of the three groups.
Group 1: work, expression, manifestation, item
Group 2: person and corporate body
Group 3: concepts, objects, events, places (and any of the Group 1 or 2 entities)
Introduces the 'relator' terms - combinations of which enable the user easier navigation through the bibliographic universe.
In terms of bibliographic relationships there are easy to follow 'Family of Works' and 'Whole - Part Relationships' diagrams (as well as the text explanation of content and whole/part and part to part relationships). There is a lot of information to separate out and diagrams succeed better than text.
The User Tasks are easy enough to understand if one relates them to the needs of the users of the library (which of course has recently redirected its Quality Review focus towards these same needs).
The section regarding the impact on cataloguing rules explained how FRBR is related to AACR rules e.g., AACR "using FRBR to update terminology". It provides an opportunity to relate your understanding of AACR2 and see links between the two.
The section explaining the impact on bibliographic structures sets out the different possible ways FRBR could be used within existing bibliographic structures, giving examples of where in the authority record it could add subject headings.
This is a slide show explaining FRBR and its relationship to RDA.
''What I learned''
It gives a good explanation as to why we need to understand FRBR - as RDA is based on it. And how, if you are in a library that is preparing to use it, it is a good idea to try and come to grips with it.
A valuable resource to fill in more of the gaps in understanding of the need for FRBR and its relationship to the bigger cataloguing picture, including RDA, MARC and descriptive cataloguing.
Gives everyday examples of the meaning behind the new vocabulary used i.e., item, expression, manifestation, work, entities.
Explains each concept then backs them up with a useful series of quick quizzes (with answers) to test one's knowledge and understanding of the different concepts and terms. It is here that a return to 'Bram Stoker's Dracula in FRBR terms' would be warranted as it presents a pictorial form of what is explained in script here thus complementing each other in the reader's understanding (the ~FrrBrr link below is also useful for the same reason). It takes time to work your way through the quiz but it is worth it (printing it out may make it easier to go back and forth between the explanations and the quiz examples). The use of the 'Harry Potter' series as a concrete example of the different entities is a good idea - using something familiar to help understand something new.
Gives plenty of examples of Group 1 entities. Introduces Group 2 (FRAD) and Group 3 (FRSAD) entities which may need to be approached in a further session so as to let the new learning of the Group 1 entities sink in.
A quick summary of why libraries need FRBR serves as a good reminder as to why all this new learning is necessary.
Like the 'Dracula' resource this resource is useful for putting concrete image examples next to the concepts in the form of mind maps in order to understand the ideas involved. It uses Macbeth by Shakespeare as its example to explain the ideas of 'work', 'expression', 'manifestation' and 'item' in a variety of situations.
''What I learned''
While short like the Dracula resource this is useful to view after the 'FRBR Overview and Application' above.
4b/ FrrrBrrr: a Scottish Play presentation / Chris Todd
This was a presentation run by Sarah K, Anna and Anoushka over at the Poutama meeting room at Archives. Members of the audience were asked to volunteer to help "stand up" the ~FrrrBrrr slide show, turning it from a two-dimensional set of images to a three-dimensional model.
''What I learned''
I found this very useful in helping me realise the relationships between the different Group 1 Entities of works, expressions, manifestations and items. I could walk around the model and physically see how each work, expression, manifestation and item were linked.
By listening to the conversation that occurred during this presentation I also picked up the following ideas, in terms of thinking about what the user will see, that helped further my understanding.
*think of the 'work' as a new experience for the user
*the expression is the way the work is viewed or perceived by the user
*the manifestation is the format or way the user wants to view the work
*the item is what the user holds in their hand
And as Chris Todd emailed afterwards:
*The idea of Dundee Cake is a Work
*The particular recipe Sarah followed could be considered the Expression
*The whole cake is the Manifestation
*And the slice that I ate is an Item
As Chris said "We might be straining the analogy here, but it works for me!"
It works for me too!
This resource comes in the form of a downloadable PDF, ten pages in length, and with a bit of reading involved. It focuses on the idea of FRBR as a conceptual model as it looks to make some of the more difficult aspects of FRBR (in particular the Group 1 entities) easier to understand.
''What I learned''
This is essentially a history of models used in the history of cataloguing, which does not come across as an inviting read. Where it gets interesting is how it presents, in diagram form, FRBR Group 1 entities viewed as a set of items using 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens.
Because it was published in 2006, some of the information in it is now out of date (e.g., its implementation challenges which have now been worked through) but it's conclusion does offer another insight into the progress that the implementation of FRBR through RDA will bring to library catalogues.
A series of slides explaining the history of the 'FRBR Family' and it's relationship to RDA.
''What I learned''
I learned how RDA is tuned to the library user, focusing on the process of Find, Identify, Select and Obtain. It provided another angle of understanding on WEMI (Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item) and attributes of them. Beyond this I felt the information beyond my immediate needs but now I know it is there I can refer back to it when necessary. However, the 'Family of Works' diagram is a valuable tool to discern whether an item is the same expression, a new expression or a new work.
''What I learned''
I learned how RDA is tuned to the library user, focusing on the process of Find, Identify, Select and Obtain. It provided another angle of understanding on WEMI (Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item) and attributes of them. Beyond this I felt the information beyond my immediate needs but now I know it is there I can refer back to it when necessary. However, the 'Family of Works' diagram is a valuable tool to discern whether an item is the same expression, a new expression or a new work.
7/ Pride and prejudice meets FRBR sessions
''What I learned''
I came out of this session feeling as though a few more of the jigsaw pieces of understanding had been made to fit but that there were still a few pieces left sitting in the discard pile to come back to later.
The session focused on the WEMI (Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item) and I found it most useful to be able to manipulate physical objects for the first time (by sorting them to the appropriate piles). The other useful knowledge I gleamed is that none of this is a precise science as 'discussions' about exceptions to the rules abounded even before we got going.
For me it was the Expression aspect that caused the most confusion as, to me, it is the most abstract of the elements. The amount of difference from the original work seems to be significant here - with the type of expression (same or new) selected dependant on the context the item is likely to be used in or the amount and kind of illustrations.
The other new learning I acquired was in relation to the Item. Here I was thinking in terms of edition, pagination, hard/soft cover (which, it turns out, comes under Manifestation) when I should have been thinking in terms of inscriptions, barcode, RFID, provenance (e.g., famous owners), pages missing and book plates - all things added after publication.
8/ 'Understanding Support of FRBR's Four User Tasks in MARC-Encoded Bibliographic Records'
A short paper that looks at the four user tasks from a cataloguer's point of view.
''What I learned''According to Shawne D. Miksa in her 2007 paper the four user tasks are:
Search: Search for a resource corresponding to stated criteria (i.e., to search either a single entity or a set of entities using an attribute or relationship of the entity as the search criteria).
Identify: Identify a resource (i.e., to confirm that the entity described or located corresponds to the entity sought or to distinguish between two or more entities with similar characteristics).
Select: Select a resource that is appropriate to the user’s needs (i.e., to choose an entity that meets the user’s requirements with respect to content, physical format, etc., or to reject an entity as being inappropriate to the user’s needs).
Obtain: Access a resource either physically or electronically through an online connection to a remote computer and/or acquire a resource through purchase, license, loan, etc.
Select: Select a resource that is appropriate to the user’s needs (i.e., to choose an entity that meets the user’s requirements with respect to content, physical format, etc., or to reject an entity as being inappropriate to the user’s needs).
Obtain: Access a resource either physically or electronically through an online connection to a remote computer and/or acquire a resource through purchase, license, loan, etc.
RDA
1/ Describe NZ
"A wiki for all New Zealand cataloguers and metadata professionals".
Including
- the Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative
- RDA Presentations
- RDA Updates from the National Library of New Zealand
- Training, including NLNZ RDA training material
''What I learned''
This is the place to go if you are a New Zealand cataloguer or indexer and you wish to find out, not only the latest information, presentations and training, but also everything that has gone before.
This is the place to go if you are a New Zealand cataloguer or indexer and you wish to find out, not only the latest information, presentations and training, but also everything that has gone before.
2/ RDA Relationships
This is a printed handout we received a while ago which briefly sets of the RDA relationships both as a list and as a flow diagram. It also includes examples of how a cataloguing record looks pre and post RDA.
''What I learned''
While the diagram is yet another way to lay out the relationships between the Group One, Two and Three entities, what I found useful was the examples of pre and post-RDA/MARC records as they gave me a solid idea of what it is we will actually be doing to our records - for the first time in everything I've read.
3/ 'RDA: Resource Description and Access Full Draft' (Nov 2008, 0.0)
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/constituencydraft
The RDA provides a set of guidelines and instructions on formulating data to support resource discovery. This data created using RDA to describe a resource is designed to assist users in performing the following tasks (based on the FRBR user tasks concerning the bibliographic data):
"What I learned"
Find - to find resources that correspond to the user's stated search criteria
Identify - to confirm that the resource described corresponds to the resource sought, or to distnguish between two or more resources with similar characteristics
Select - to select a resource that is appropriate to the user's needs
Obtain - to acquire or access the resource described
The data created using RDA to describe an entity associated with a resource (a person, family, corporate body, concept etc.) are designed to assist users performing the following tasks (based on the FRAD* user tasks concerning authority data):
Find - to find information on that entity and on resources associated with the entity
Identify - to confirm that the entiry described corresponds to the entity sought, or to distinguish between two of more entities with similar names etc.
Clarify - to clarify the relationship between two or more such entities, or to clarify the relationship between the entity described and a name by which that entity is known
Understand - to understand why a particular name or title, or form of name or title, has been chosen as the preferred name or title for the entity.
*Where FRAD stands for Functional Requirements for Authority Data and contains attributes for a person, a family or a corporate body.
Alignment with FRBR - the attributes and relationships described by the RDA data
Again, according to the 'RDA: Resource Description and Access Full Draft' (0.3.2), the data elements describing a resource that are covered in RDA generally reflect the attributes and relationships associated with the entities work, expression, manifestation, and item, that are defined in FRBR (the foundation of the FRBR model):
Work - a distinct intellectual or artistic creation (i.e., the intellectual or artistic content)
Macbeth created by Shakespeare (example courtesy 'FrrrBrrr : A Scottish Play' by Chris Todd)
Macbeth : the graphic novel by Shakespeare
Expression - the intellectual or artistic realisation of a work in the form of alpha-numeric, musical or choreographic notation, sound, image, object, movement, etc., or any combination of such forms
E1 Realised in alpha-numeric English text
E2 Translated into French
E3 Sound recording of text
E4 Realised in alpha-numeric and image form
Manifestation - the physical embodiment of an expression of a work (the most common entity)
M1 Physically embodied in the 1623 first folio
M2 Manifestation embodied in 1843 French edition
M3 Spoken word recording
M4 Graphic novel
Item - a single exemplar or instance of a manifestation
I1 Exemplified by the actual English folio
I2 Exemplified by the actual French folio
I3 Sound recording onTape or CD
I4 Two copies of book in NL
In order to understand I need to relate the concepts to concrete examples.
That the inherent relationships within these Group 1 Entities are important to understand:
Demonstrates with examples
- How to identify RDA records
- The extended versions of previously abbreviated terms which Index NZ changed to doing a little while ago making it easier for the user to understand our notes and record information
- More information available in name authority records (e.g., address, occupation, gender)
- More relationship terms (e.g., photographer, interviewee, performer)
Gives an outline of what RDA is going to offer.
"What I learned"
AACR2 - based on practice, designed for card catalogues, rules for content and display
RDA - based on a theory (FRBR), designed for a digital world, rules for content
More direct transcription, fewer abbreviations
Clearer indication of format to users
Easier to see the way people, organisation and works are connected (through relationship designators)
Data is not tied to MARC - more flexibility in access and display
How these user tasks will make a difference to my indexing
- I will be able to identify RDA records which will be useful when uploading authorised name headings to our FAST database as it will impact on the process we follow to upload them
- I will understand the reasoning behind why we as indexers
- Will be using the extended versions of previously abbreviated terms
- Will have more information available in name authority records (e.g., address, occupation, gender)
- Will see more relationship terms (e.g., photographer, interviewee, performer)
- I will be able to apply the Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item rules when we are indexing print and online versions of articles.
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