OCLC Releases Algorithm To Convert Bib Databases To FRBR Model

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 11 August 2003—OCLC, the world's largest library cooperative, is making an algorithm available free of charge to organizations interested in converting their bibliographic databases to the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model. The FRBR model was created to help information providers deliver the most appropriate records for people seeking specific items of interest.

The algorithm was developed by the OCLC Office of Research following a 1998 recommendation by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to restructure catalog databases based on particular works rather than on the various forms in which these works are expressed.

?OCLC is making this open-source algorithm available to the library community as a public service and will provide updates and other communications on its ongoing development,? said Jay Jordan, OCLC president and CEO, who announced the availability of the algorithm August 5 during the IFLA Annual Conference in Berlin.

The FRBR algorithm will make it possible for users to write computer programs to generate sets of records that can be grouped for display as single works, making it easier for information seekers to find what they are looking for. The algorithm is available from the OCLC Research site http://www.oclc.org/research/software/frbr/.

OCLC?s FRBR algorithm describes an automated process that extracts information from MARC21 records, compares it with a standard name authority file, and then brings the records together, based primarily on their author and title.

For example, in OCLC?s WorldCat database there are records for more than 400 different forms of Arthur Conan Doyle?s ?The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.? Using the FRBR algorithm, those records can be brought together as a single work. This makes it easier for librarians and other information seekers to identify the most appropriate items to meet their specific needs.

The algorithm is efficient enough to be run on large databases, such as WorldCat, the OCLC database that contains more than 52 million records. It is also meant to be understandable, so that a librarian creating a record will be able to predict what other records it will be associated with, and understandable for patrons so they are not surprised by the groupings.

In large databases, such as WorldCat, bringing versions of works together is helpful for successful discovery and navigation. OCLC plans to use the FRBR model as it implements WorldCat?s new database technology to enhance the user?s experience.

The FRBR model specifies that intellectual or artistic products include the following types of entities:

• the work, a distinct intellectual or artistic creation
• the expression, the intellectual or artistic realization of a work
• the manifestation, the physical embodiment of an expression of a work
• the item, a single exemplar of a manifestation.

A work is realized through one or more expressions, each of which is embodied in one or more manifestations, each of which is exemplified by one or more items. In traditional cataloging, bibliographic units are described out of context. With the FRBR model, each item must be described in context and related to the other items comprising the work.

Having resources brought together under ?works? will help users sift through the myriad information resources available electronically.

About OCLC

Founded in 1967, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world?s information and reducing information costs. More than 43,000 libraries in 86 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services including cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent and preservation services. OCLC and its worldwide member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, making it the world?s largest and richest database of bibliographic information. OCLC publishes the Dewey Decimal Classification, the most widely used library classification system in the world. OCLC is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, USA and has over 1,200 employees worldwide. For more information visit www.oclc.org.

About IFLA

Founded in Edinburgh in September 1927 during the International Congress of Libraries (the 50th Anniversary Conference of the British Library Association), IFLA www.ifla.org was established as a small association of mainly national library associations and academic libraries. Today, IFLA?s purpose is to promote international understanding, cooperation, discussion, research and development in all fields of library activity, including bibliography, information services and the education of personnel, and provide a body through which librarianship can be represented in matters of international interest.

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