/research/projects/frbr/clinker/default.htm

originally: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/clinker/default.htm

The FRBRization of Humphry Clinker

A case study in the application of IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)

FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) is a 1998 recommendation of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to restructure catalog databases to reflect the conceptual structure of information resources. This project is one of four FRBR-related OCLC Research projects.

More information about FRBR and related OCLC Research projects is available on the main FRBR Project page.

Goals

The goal of OCLC's FRBR projects is to examine issues associated with the conversion of a set of bibliographic records to conform to FRBR requirements (a process referred to as "FRBRization"). The goals of this FRBR project were to:

Using an exemplary work as a case study, lead scientist Ed O'Neill sought to:

Method

Dr. O'Neill began with a single work and attempted to identify all of its manifestations, expressions, and items.

The work chosen as a case study was Tobias Smollett's The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (first published in 1771). The eighteenth-century Clinker is an epistolary novel, presenting a series of letters from members of a particular family as they travel about Britain.

This work was chosen because:

The objective of the Humphry Clinker analysis was to organize the bibliographic objects represented by bibliographic records, not to simply organize the records. To determine if two records were for the same expression, the question was whether the objects represented by the records had the identical content; not about the similarity of the records.

In order to collect the bibliographic records, WorldCat was searched for all possible Humphrey Clinker records.

Researchers identified a number of types of revisions to the original text, including:

A set of elements of the bibliographic record were identified as crucial for the determination of different expressions:

Another set was identified as key for the determination of different manifestations:

Findings

At the completion of this project

Conclusions

References

Project report

O'Neill, Edward T. 2002. "FRBR: Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records; Application of the entity-relationship model to Humphry Clinker." Library Resources & Technical Services 46,4 (October). E-print available at http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/archive/2002/oneill_frbr22.pdf. (PDF:411K/35pp.)

For more on Works/Clinker

O'Neill, Edward T. and Diane Vizine-Goetz. 1989. "Bibliographic Relationships: implications for the function of the catalog." In E. Svenonius (Ed.), The Conceptual Foundations of Descriptive Cataloging, pp. 167-179. San Diego: Academic Press.

Smiraglia, Richard P. 2001. The Nature of "a Work": implications for the organization of knowledge. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.

Svenonius, Elaine. 2000. The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Research team