Sorry, I got my former/latter reversed in the last line of the
previous message. It's corrected below.
Stephen
At 12:48 PM 4/10/2007, you wrote:
Maybe the hair that needs splitting here is what is meant by
"language." The FRBR report puts the "language" attribute at the
expression level, defined there as "the language in which the work is
expressed." It does not define such a "language" attribute at the
work level; but I'd agree that language might well be part of the
"Context" attribute for the work level, and of course that including
such information about the original version of a work is appropriate
for catalog records. But there's still a difference between
"originally composed in Greek" and "in Greek." The former could be
used at the work level, but the latter only at the expression level.
Stephen
At 07:32 AM 4/10/2007, you wrote:
I do think that Martha is right that a more generous reading of the FRBR
work attributes is possible than what is explicitly listed in FRBR. The
report itself says, "The scope of the attributes included in the model
is intended to be comprehensive but not exhaustive." (p. 32)
Interestingly, they also note that "the attributes defined for the study
were derived from a logical analysis of the data that are typically
reflected in bibliographic records." (p. 31) This second statement makes
sense as a pragmatic approach, but also suggests to me that they might
not have picked up on attributes that are not adequately reflected in
our current bibliographic records.
If you look at date in the FRBR model, it is defined for the work,
expression, and manifestation level. In the same way that a work has a
date of creation that is independent of the date of creation a given
expression (although presumably the same as that of the first
expression?), I think it could be argued that language or color could be
attributes BOTH of a work and of various expressions of a work. These
two levels of attributes do not mean the same thing, just as the date of
the Iliad as a work is not the same as the date of Dryden's translation
as an expression.
On the topic of original language, I also find it interesting that
LibraryThing tries to use MARC 041$h if it's there to infer the original
language of a work. It also allows users to add this information when
it's not supplied. LibraryThing then uses this data to produce things
like this page of works originally in Russian
(http://www.librarything.com/language.php?l=rus). Obviously there are
problematic cases, but I think we could do interesting things if we,
too, had this kind of data in an explicit form. And, at least for film
and video, there definitely are complaints about not being able to
search by original language in library catalogs.
So I do think the possibility of expanding the FRBR work attributes to
cover more characteristics of the original expression would be a useful
area to explore.
-------------------------------------
Kelley McGrath
Cataloging & Metadata Services Librarian (Audiovisual)
Bracken Library
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306-0161
Phone: (765) 285-3350
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
****************************************************
Stephen Hearn
Authority Control Coord./Database Mgmt. Section Head
Technical Services Dept.
University of Minnesota
160 Wilson Library Voice: 612-625-2328
309 19th Avenue South Fax: 612-625-3428
Minneapolis, MN 55455 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
****************************************************
Stephen Hearn
Authority Control Coord./Database Mgmt. Section Head
Technical Services Dept.
University of Minnesota
160 Wilson Library Voice: 612-625-2328
309 19th Avenue South Fax: 612-625-3428
Minneapolis, MN 55455 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
