The problem with finding a genuine FRBR catalog is that it exists only in theory: for a true FRBR catalog to exist, you need another structure underlying the edifice, one based on the FRBR entity/attribute model, and nothing like that exists yet (that I know of anyway). For that to happen, we need a complete change in MARC format (which was created to exchange information on separate cards, i.e. complete information for each manifestation or edition), plus we would need changes in rules, to ensure that the information required in each entity is there, e.g. that the work record has the required information for all the relevant authors and subjects, that the expression record has the information for editors and versions, etc. etc. To create such a structure will require quite literally a sea change in how every cataloger works, and more importantly, how they think. Naturally, there would be tremendous concerns over retrospective conversion; otherwise we risk making everything we have now more or less obsolete.
In the meantime there are some projects that attempt to replicate the experience of an FRBR catalog, and the others have suggested several excellent ones. I personally like the example at http://zoeken.bibliotheek.be. Such projects are incredibly useful since they demonstrate that there is a lot we can do with the records we have right now, and these projects by no means exhaust the possibilities. I think it would be wise to take a step back and, using these projects which simulate a genuine FRBR tool, to ask seriously: would building a genuine FRBR sort of tool really provide our patrons with what they want or need? Does an FRBR tool answer the real-life questions our public brings to the catalog? Is it best, in these exceedingly trying financial conditions, to redo everything to build a tool that people *may not* find particularly useful? I am as yet unaware of any user studies along these lines in relation to FRBR/RDA, but there are many studies of users, how they search for information and what they expect from it, from other viewpoints. Two of the latest are at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/communityacademiclibraries/887740-419/discovery_face-off_draws_a_crowd.html.csp (the Charleston Conference. I only read the LJ account, but I just discovered that some of the presentations are up at http://www.slideshare.net/event/2010-charleston-conference) and Project Information Literacy's report at: http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf There are many other highly useful studies however, some of the most interesting coming from "library anthropologists"(!). James Weinheimer j.weinhei...@aur.edu<mailto:j.weinhei...@aur.edu> Director of Library and Information Services The American University of Rome via Pietro Roselli, 4 00153 Rome, Italy voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258 fax-011 39 06 58330992 First Thus: http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/ Cooperative Cataloging Rules: http://sites.google.com/site/opencatalogingrules/ ________________________________ From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:rd...@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] On Behalf Of Rosa Matthys Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010 10:04 PM To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Seeking a Web-based FRBR Catalog (catalogue) Another example is http://zoeken.bibliotheek.be Some queries with a good grouping result are: http://zoeken.bibliotheek.be/?q=jane austen http://zoeken.bibliotheek.be/?q=bach cello suites Regards Rosa Matthys Coördinatie centraal catalogiseren Coordination Central Cataloguing rosa.matt...@bibnet.be<mailto:rosa.matt...@bibnet.be> +32 (0)9 223 42 11 +32 (0)486 85 79 27 Bibnet vzw www.bibnet.be<http://www.bibnet.be/> Priemstraat 51 B-1000 Brussel Van: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:rd...@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] Namens Mike McReynolds Verzonden: maandag 29 november 2010 21:39 Aan: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Onderwerp: Re: [RDA-L] Seeking a Web-based FRBR Catalog (catalogue) Thank you very much! On 11/29/2010 2:22 PM, Andrew Hankinson wrote: Here are a couple: Australian Music Centre catalogue: http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/about/websitedevelopment Scherzo, Variations/FRBR test catalogue: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/scherzo/ There are a number of projects at OCLC on FRBR, although their main one, FictionFinder, seems to be down for maintenance: http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/orprojects/frbr/default.htm And then there's the FRBR blog, which has a ton of links to other FRBR projects: http://www.frbr.org/ Cheers, -Andrew On 2010-11-29, at 3:00 PM, Mike McReynolds wrote: Good Day: I've been seeking examples of FRBR catalogs on the Web to point to as examples. Despite searching the RDA-L archives, library literature, the IFLA Web site and Google, I've not been able to locate a single example of a FRBR catalog. This would be helpful to justify the amount of time I've already devoted to modifying our cataloging software to simply accept RDA records imported from OCLC and then the amount of time I will spend re-learning cataloging. So far, RDA records do nothing to improve access to our catalog, so it is important that I locate at least one good example of a FRBR catalog. Can anyone point me to a catalog currently using FRBR? Preferably, it would be in a Western language, but I'm willing to work with other languages as well. Thank you for your advice. Mike McReynolds Cataloging Librarian Shook, Hardy & Bacon Law Library Kansas City mmcreyno...@falconflight.com<mailto:mmcreyno...@falconflight.com>
