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Cataloguing Section

FRBR Review Group

Invitation to participate: World-wide review of revisions to FRBR section 3.2.2, definition of the entity expression.

You are invited to comment on the attached document as part of a world-wide review.

Comments are due by December 31, 2006.

FRBR Chapter 3: Entities: Clean copy of changed text

FRBR Chapter 3: Entities: Additions, deletions and changes marked

The Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records final report was published by IFLA in 1998. As the FRBR conceptual model is intended to be enhanced and revised when needed, the Cataloguing Section established the FRBR Review Group in 2003 with a formal mandate which includes responsibility for revisions to FRBR. This world-wide review is for the first revision to FRBR to be prepared.

One area that has led to much discussion is the meaning of the group 1 entity expression . As a result of the issues raised, the FRBR Review Group at its meeting in Berlin in 2003 created the Working Group on the Expression Entity, chaired by Anders Cato, Royal Library, Stockholm, Sweden which was charged with the task of clarifying the application of the entity expression . The Working Group held formal meetings at IFLA conferences from 2004 to 2006 and prepared revisions to the 1998 text of FRBR section 3.2.2 (pp. 18-20) which defines the entity expression . Examples have been edited for consistency on pages 21 and 59 as well. Formal world-wide review of the resulting proposed revision is invited as the definition of an entity is significant to the model.

The main differences are:
  • Removal of the stipulation that very slight modifications necessarily signal that a manifestation represents a new expression,
  • Treatment of augmentations as expressions of their own separate works,
  • More careful phrasing relating to musical performances as expressions,
  • Explicitly acknowledging that cataloguing agencies will make operational decisions on expression boundaries.

The Working Group and the Review Group will consider all comments received. A final version will be presented to the Review Group for a vote, and if approved, will be presented to the IFLA Cataloguing Section Standing Committee for a vote of approval.

Please send all comments, on or before December 31, 2006, to:

Pat Riva
(Chair, FRBR Review Group)
Library Technical Services
McGill University
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1Y1
Tel: +(1)-514-3984790
Fax: +(1)-514-3988919
E-mail: pat.riva@mcgill.ca

and

Anders Cato
(Chair, Working Group on the Expression Entity)
Kungl. Biblioteket
Department for Collection Development & Documentation
Head, The National Bibliography, monographs
Box 5039
S-102 41 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +(46)-8-4634429
Fax: +(46)-8-4634004
E-mail: anders.cato@kb.se