The study has two primary objectives. The first is to provide a clearly defined, structured framework for relating the data that are recorded in bibliographic records to the needs of the users of those records. The second objective is to recommend a basic level of functionality for records created by national bibliographic agencies.
For the purposes of this study a bibliographic record is defined as the aggregate of data that are associated with entities described in library catalogues and national bibliographies. Included in that aggregate of data are descriptive data elements such as those defined in the International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions (ISBDs); data elements used in headings for persons, corporate bodies, titles, and subjects that function as filing devices or index entries; other data elements used to organize a file of records, such as classification numbers; annotations such as abstracts or summaries; and data specific to the copies in library collections, such as accession numbers and call numbers.
Data associated with persons, corporate bodies, titles, and subjects are analysed only to the extent that they function as headings or index entries for the records describing bibliographic entities. The present study does not analyse those additional data associated with persons, corporate bodies, works, and subjects that are typically recorded only in authority records.
The study endeavours to be comprehensive in terms of the variety of materials that are covered. The data included in the study pertain to textual, music, cartographic, audio-visual, graphic and three-dimensional materials; they cover the full range of physical media described in bibliographic records (paper, film, magnetic tape, optical storage media, etc.); they cover all formats (books, sheets, discs, cassettes, cartridges, etc.); and they reflect all modes of recording information (analogue, acoustic, electric, digital, optical, etc.).
The study assumes that the data included in bibliographic records produced for national bibliographies and library catalogues are used by a wide range of users: readers, students, researchers, library staff, publishers, distribution agents, retailers, information brokers, administrators of intellectual property rights, etc. The study takes into account the wide variety of applications, both within and outside a library setting, in which the data in bibliographic records are used: collections development, acquisitions, cataloguing, the production of finding aids and bibliographies, inventory management, preservation, circulation, interlibrary loan, reference, and information retrieval.
Within the context of such applications users may make use of bibliographic records for a variety of purposes, for example: to determine what information resources exist, perhaps on a particular subject or by a particular person, within a given "universe" (e.g., within the totality of available information resources, within the published output of a particular country, within the holdings of a particular library or group of libraries, etc.); to verify the existence and/or availability of a particular document for purposes of acquiring, borrowing or lending; to identify a source or sources from which a document can be obtained and the terms under which it is available; to determine whether a record already exists for an item being added to a collection or whether a new record needs to be created; to track an item as it moves through a process such as binding or conservation treatment; to determine whether an item can be circulated or sent out on interlibrary loan; to select a document or group of documents that will serve the information needs of the user; or to determine the physical requirements for use of an item as they relate either to the abilities of the user or to special requirements for playback equipment, computing capabilities, etc.
For the purposes of this study the functional requirements for bibliographic records are defined in relation to the following generic tasks that are performed by users when searching and making use of national bibliographies and library catalogues:
The methodology used in this study is based on an entity analysis technique that is used in the development of conceptual models for relational database systems. Although the study is not intended to serve directly as a basis for the design of bibliographic databases, the technique was chosen as the basis for the methodology because it provides a structured approach to the analysis of data requirements that facilitates the processes of definition and delineation that were set out in the terms of reference for the study.
The first step in the entity analysis technique is to isolate the key objects that are of interest to users of information in a particular domain. These objects of interest or entities are defined at as high a level as possible. That is to say that the analysis first focuses attention not on individual data but on the "things" the data describe. Each of the entities defined for the model, therefore, serves as the focal point for a cluster of data. An entity diagram for a personnel information system, for example, would likely identify "employee" as one entity that would be of interest to the users of such a system.
At a high level an entity diagram also depicts the relationships that normally hold between one type of entity and another type of entity. The model for a personnel information system, for example, would likely indicate a reciprocal relationship between the entity "employee" and the entity "position": an employee "occupies" a position; a position "is occupied by" an employee.
Once the high-level structure for the model has been charted by identifying the principal entities and the relationships between those entities, the next step in the methodology is to identify the important characteristics or attributes of each entity. For example, in the context of a personnel information system, the attributes associated with an employee might include the employee name, address, birth date, social insurance number, etc.
As an extension of the technique that is used to depict the relationships between entity types, the entity analysis methodology can also be applied at a more detailed level to depict the specific relationships that operate between instances of entities. For example, the model for a personnel information system might show that relationships may exist between an individual employee and another employee (e.g., a spousal relationship). If such relationships are significant for the users of information in the domain being modeled, they will be defined as part of the model.
The entity-relationship structure derived from the analysis of entities, attributes, and relationships has been used in this study as the framework for assessing the relevance of each attribute and relationship to the tasks performed by users of bibliographic data. Each attribute and relationship is mapped to the four generic user tasks defined for the study, and relative values are assigned to each attribute and relationship with specific reference to the task performed and the entity that is the object of the user's interest.
The entity-relationship structure and the mapping of attributes and relationships to user tasks are used as the basis for the study group's recommendations on a basic level of functionality for records created by national bibliographic agencies. The recommendations are focused on the user tasks that are judged to be the most important for the national bibliographic record to support. Based on the relative values assigned to the attributes and relationships that support those tasks, the recommendations identify specific data requirements for the basic record.
The entity-relationship analysis technique and the conventions for graphic presentation that are used in this study are based in large part on the methodology developed by James Martin and outlined in his book Strategic Data-Planning Methodologies (Prentice-Hall, 1982). Graeme Simsion's Data Modeling Essentials (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1994), Richard Perkinson's Data Analysis: the Key to Data Base Design (QED Information Sciences, 1984), and Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navanthe's Fundamentals of Database Systems (Benjamin/Cummings, 1989) were also used in shaping the methodology for the study. All four books are recommended to those who are interested in additional background and more detail on entity-relationship analysis.
The entity analysis technique and the mapping of attributes and relationships to user tasks form the framework for this study's assessment of data requirements for records intended to serve the needs of users of bibliographic information, and for the study group's recommendations on basic data to be included in a national bibliographic record. The remainder of the report is divided into two major segments. The first sets out the entity-relationship model; the second presents the study group's recommendations for a basic level national bibliographic record.
The first segment of the study contains four chapters:
The second segment of the study contains a single chapter:
The report also contains an appendix that correlates the logical attributes defined in Chapter 4 with the data elements defined in the ISBDs, the Guidelines for Authority and Reference Entries, and the UNIMARC Manual.
