FRBR an entity-relation model for the Digital LIbraries

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FRBRan entity-relation model for the Digital
LIbraries
Digital Libraries SS 07- Prof. Manfred Thaller
Andrea Sardo
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FRBR Historical pills

• FRBR is the acronym ofFunctional Requirements for
  Bibliographic Record
• It represents the syntex and the final result of
  a project developed by the Federation of Library
  Associations and Institutions (IFLA), consisting
  of an attempt to re-examinate the way to
  cataloguate the records in the context of the
  digital libraries
• This project began with the international
  conference of 1961, that set the Paris
  Principles, and went on in Copenhagen in 1969
  with the adoption of a resolution to establish
  international standards for the form and content
  of bibliographic description. After a long work,
  in 1997 the results of a study group were
  approved and the standard adopted

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The FRBR study group

• The FRBR study group was etablished in 1990 at
  the Stockholm Seminar on bibliographic records ,
  where the IFLA promoted the constitution of a
  research with the aim to define the functions
  held by the bibliographical record in the
  different medias, and according to the users
  needs.
• The innovation of the FRBRs approach consist of
  the attempt to create a model to identify the
  most important features of a text, in order to
  define a standard way to cataloguate, and at the
  same time to make the search easier for the user

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The FRBR study group

• So, lets see what happens, if someone tries to
  give some formal rules to the procedures of
  bibliographical record.
• That is in fact the purpose of the FRBR study to
  improve the effectiveness of retrieval and access
  in online library catalogues and bibliographic
  databases from a users perspective ,through a
  more systematic entity-relation model.
• An entity-relation model provides a clear
  representation of the structure of the data,
  through diagrams or schematic design.

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The entity-relation model

• The entity-relation methodology relate to the
  information science as instrument of analysis, to
  represent some portions of reality in a database.
  Its components are
• 1) the entities, the things that are meant to be
  represented
• 2) the attributes, meant to describe the entities
  and their features
• 3) the relations, or associations among entities

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Users taskswhat must the user be able to do

• According to this model, there are four
  requirements, related to the tasks performed by
  users when searching and making use of national
  bibliographies and library catalogues
• using the data to find materials that correspond
  to the users stated search criteria (e.g., in
  the context of a search for all documents on a
  given subject)
• using the data retrieved to identify an entity
  (e.g., to distinguish between two texts or
  recordings that have the same title)
• using the data to select an entity that is
  appropriate to the users needs (e.g., to select
  a text in a language the user understands, or to
  choose a version of a computer program that is
  compatible with the hardware and operating system
  available to the user)
• using the data in order to acquire or obtain
  access to the entity described (e.g.,to submit a
  request for the loan of a copy of a book in a
  librarys collection, or to access online an
  electronic document stored on a remote computer).
  
• ( A fifth, unofficial, task is to navigate or
  relate ).

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EntitiesDefinition of the key-contents

• The entities that have been defined for this
  study represent the key objects of interest to
  users of bibliographic data. The entities have
  been divided into three groups.
• The first group comprises the products of
  intellectual or artistic endeavour that are named
  or described in bibliographic records work,
  expression, manifestation, and item.
• The second group comprises those entities
  responsible for the intellectual or artistic
  content, the physical production and
  dissemination, or the custodianship of such
  products person and corporate body.
• The third group comprises an additional set of
  entities that serve as the subjects of
  intellectual or artistic endeavour concept,
  object, event, and place.

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Group 1 Entities Work, Expression,
Manifestation, Item
The entities defined as work (a distinct
intellectual or artistic creation) and expression
(the intellectual or artistic realization of a
work) reflect intellectual or artistic content.
The entities defined as manifestation (the
physical embodiment of an expression of a work)
and item (a single exemplar of a manifestation),
on the other hand, reflect physical form.
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Group 2 Entities Person, Corporate Body
The entities in the second group include person
(an individual) and corporate body (an
organization or group of individuals and/or
organizations). The diagram shows the type of
responsibility relationships that exist between
entities in the second group and the entities in
the first group.
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Group 3 Entities Concept, Object, Event, Place
The entities in the third group represent an
additional set of entities that serve as the
subjects of works. The group includes concept (an
abstract notion or idea), object (a material
thing), event (an action), and place (a
location). The diagram indicates that a work may
have as its subject one or more than one concept,
object, event, and/or place. Conversely, a
concept, object, event, and/or place may be the
subject of one or more than one work. The
diagram also shows the subject relationships
between work and the entities in the first and
second groups. The diagram indicates that a work
may have as its subject one or more than one
work, expression, manifestation, item, person,
and/or corporate body.
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Attributes

• Each of the entities defined in the model has
  associated with it a set of characteristics or
  attributes. They are useful for the users,
  because they are means to consider when seeking
  information about a particular entity.
• Attributes are of two categories. There are, on
  the one hand, attributes that are inherent in
  an entity, and on the other, those that are
  externally imputed.
• The first category includes not only physical
  characteristics (e.g., the physical medium and
  dimensions of an object) but also features that
  might be characterized as labeling information
  (e.g., statements appearing on the title page,
  cover, or container).
• The second category includes assigned identifiers
  for an entity (e.g., a thematic catalogue number
  for a musical composition), and contextual
  information (e.g., the political context in which
  a work was conceived).

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Relationships

• In the context of the model, relationships are
  meant as the vehicle for showing the link between
  one entity and another, proposing a sort of
  navigation in the universe that is represented in
  a bibliography, catalogue, or bibliographic
  database.
• Typically the user will formulate a search query
  using one or more attributes of the entity for
  which he is searching, and it is through the
  attribute that the user finds that entity. The
  relationships reflected in the bibliographic
  record provide additional information that
  assists the user in making connections between
  the entity found and other entities that are
  related to that entity. Not so strange to notice,
  this is the basic idea of the semantic web too.
• ()web content can be expressed in a form that
  can be understood, interpreted and used by
  softwares, permitting them to find, share and
  integrate information more easily. This is
  Berners-Lees vision of the Web as a universal
  medium for data, information and knowledge
  exchange. A huge mass of information, completely
  linked in a qualitative way. Just like a
  well-recorded digital library

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Conclusions

• Certainly the biggest result of such a study, is
  the exploration and the definition of a standard
  classification for the materials, that can also
• support the mass digitization
• lighten the always harder management of the
  informatic archives
• help with the data retrieval
• On the other hand, the proposed model needs, for
  its realization, an extremely accurate work on
  the metadata of every single piece, and this
  means much in terms of time and costs.

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The end

• Thank you for your attention