Book Review: FRBR, Before and After: A Look at Our Bibliographic Models

Abstract

While many in the metadata creation community are familiar with the Group 1–3 entities described in the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), the historical context for FRBR as a bibliographic model is less familiar. In 1990, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) sponsored the Stockholm Seminar on Cataloguing. One of the outcomes of this Seminar was the creation of the FRBR Study Group whose purpose was to identify a minimum set of data elements necessary to satisfy the needs of users. Using this element set in the creation of records would both further facilitate the sharing of bibliographic records and reduce the cost of cataloging for participating institutions. The FRBR Study Group’s final report has far reaching influence, including serving as the conceptual model upon which RDA: Resource Description and Access—the successor to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules as the content standard used by many libraries across the world.