Presentation given by Dr Shawne Miksa at 2019 Texas Library Association (TLA) Annual Conference for the Cataloging and Metadata Roundtable (CMR) panel presentation "An RDA Status Report and Update on New Toolkit", April 18, 2019 in Austin, TX.

1. IFLA LIBRARY
REFERENCE MODEL
Shawne D Miksa
An RDA Status Report and Update on NewToolkit
TLA Annual 2019
April 18, 2019
Austin,TX

2. Conceptual Models
Bibliographic enterprises
and practicesISBD
International Standard
for Bibliographic
Description (ISBD)
1969
Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records
FRBR
1998
CIDOC-CRM
CIDOC Conceptual
Reference Model
(CRM)
2000
FRAD
Functional Requirements for
Authority Data
2009/2010
FRSAD
Functional Requirements for
Subject Authority Data
FRBRoo
Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records
Object-Oriented
LRM
Library Reference Model
2010
2017
PRESSoo
Extension of
FRBRoo
2013
2

3. Conceptual Models
• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Records (FRBR), first created in 1998,
amended and corrected in 2009.
• CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CIDOC
CRM), started in 1996, finalized around
2000, revised 2014
• Functional Requirements for Authority Data
(FRAD), first created 2009, finalized 2013
• Functional Requirements for Subject
Authority Data (FRSAD), first created 2009,
finalized around 2011
• FRBR for Object-Oriented Formalism
(FRBROO ), created around 2010, endorsed
in 2016. FRBROO is the result of dialogue
between the conceptual modelling
communities of IFLA and the International
Council of Museums (ICOM).
• PRESSoo, an extension of FRBRoo, 2016,
endorsed 2017
• FRBR Library Reference Model
(LRM)
• Now known as IFLA-LRM (2017)
• IFLA’s Consolidation Editorial
Group (CEG) tasked with
“combining the three models into
a consistent whole and thus
preparing a unified view of the
bibliographic universe” (Zumer &
Riva, 2017).
3

4. SOME BACKGROUND
4

5. CIDOC CRM
“…provides definitions and a
formal structure for describing the
implicit and explicit concepts and
relationships used in cultural
heritage documentation.”
http://www.cidoc-crm.org/
“…intended to promote a shared
understanding of cultural heritage
information by providing a common
and extensible semantic framework
that any cultural heritage information
can be mapped to…”
5

6. FRBR00
This model represents FRBR, FRAD and
FRSAD through modelling the
conceptualization of the reality behind library
practice, as it is apparent from or implicit in
the FRBR family of models. It is important to
keep in mind that the aim is not to transform
the IFLA models into something conceptually
different, but to express the conceptualization
of the FRBR family within the object-oriented
methodology instead of the entity-
relationship methodology. Furthermore, the
intention is to identify the common ground
that memory institutions share and to exploit
it by pursuing the following objectives.
(FRBRoo, 2015, p. 13)
6

7. PRESS00
“…a formal ontology intended to capture and represent the underlying
semantics of bibliographic information about continuing resources, and
more specifically about serials (journals, newspapers, magazines, etc.).
PRESSOO is an extension of FRBROO, which in turn is an extension of
CIDOC CRM. FRBROO is an ontology of the underlying semantics of
bibliographic information in general; it already deals with continuing
resources, but at a very general level, and does not go into all the specific
details required by the description of such resources.” (PRESSoo, 2016,
p.7)
7

8. RECAPPING FR MODELS
8

9. FRBR+ Entity Groups
• Group 1:
• Work
• Expression
• Manifestation
• Item
• Group 2:
• Person
• Family
• Corporate Body
• Group 3:
• Concept
• Object
• Event
• Place 9

10. FRAD in relation
to FRBR entity
groups
Fundamental basis of the model
FRSAD, 2011, p. 15
10

11. FRSAD in
relation to
FRBR entity
groups
FRSAD, 2010, p. 15
11

12. User tasks in FRBR family of models
FRBR
(1998):
• Find
• Identify
• Select
• Obtain
FRAD
(2009):
 Find
 Identify
 Contextualize
 Justify
FRSAD
(2010):
 Find
 Identify
 Select
 Explore [relations]
Information
objects
Authority data
Subject
authority data
12

13. IFLA LIBRARY
REFERENCE MODEL
13

14. Combining FRBR Family of Models (FRBR, FRAD,
FRSAD):
Library Reference Model (LRM)
Consolidation of FRBR, FRAD, and FRSAD into a
single integrated entity-relationship model
Under development since 2010
Draft in worldwide review Feb-May 2016 as
FRBR-LRM
Revised/finalized after worldwide review as
IFLA-LRM: March 2017, August 2017
(approved December 2017)
Three documents: LRM;Transition mapping
overview; Explanations of recurring issues
14

15. https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11412
15

16. Find
Obtain Explore
Identify
Select
To bring together
information about
one or more
resources of
interest by
searching on any
relevant criteria
To determine the
suitability of the
resources found,
and to be enabled
to either accept or
reject specific
resources
To clearly
understand the
nature of the
resources found
and to distinguish
between similar
resources
To access the
content of the
resource
To discover
resources using
the relationships
between them and
thus place the
resources in a
context
TasksUser
16

17. User tasks
Entities
Attributes Relationships
LRM Structure
Aggregates
17

18. Taken from Riva &
Žumer (2015)
18

19. 19

20. LRM-E1: RES
• Super-entity of any entity (internal or external to LRM)
• Its attributes apply to all entities in the model
• Category: Structured description [controlled term], identifier,
or URI
• Note: Structured or unstructured description
• RDA will refine Res by creating element sub-types and
relationship designators
• No need to model Res specifically in RDA –it’s inherent
Glennan, 2017 20

21. LRM E-10: PLACE
• Includes
• Extraterrestrial places (planets, etc.)
• Contemporary and historic places
• Distinct from any governing bodies that exercise jurisdiction over the area
• Excludes
• imaginary and fictional places
• Recognition that such places are important to users –but instances of Res, not Place
• May be subject of works
• Often have a Nomen
• RDA will need to deal with these in a similar fashion to fictitious persons
• Will be able to transcribe a fictitious place of publication as part of a manifestation statement
Glennan, 2017 21

22. LRM E-11:TIME-SPAN
• Has attributes for beginning and ending
• But not mandatory
• Can be precise or general –but can’t be fictitious
• 2019-04-18
• 12th century
• Jurassic Age
• RDA will need to provide guidance about what “year”, “month”, etc. means
• Provides the linked data path for dates and events
• Birth & death dates associated with a person
• The range of dates associated with an event
Glennan, 2017 22

23. LRM E-9: NOMEN
• An appellation used to refer to an
entity
• Mandatory attribute: Nomen string
• Any label of symbols and signs
• Each string is the attribute of a
separate Nomen
• Eight (8) other Nomen attributes
• Distinction between the entity itself
and the Nomen string
• The name ≠ The thing
• Identical Nomen strings can refer to
different entities
• Corpus Christi [musical group]
• Corpus Christi [Texas]
• Corpus Christi [monastery]
• A single entity can have
multiple Nomen strings
• Mark Twain
• Samuel Longhorn Clemens
• Quintus Curtius Snodgrass
• Louis de Conte
• 0000 0001 2132 4854
[ISNI]
• May consist of components or
parts, which can be governed
by rules
• Name/title AAPs for works
• Personal name AAPs with
dates
• Subdivisions in a subject
heading
• Provides the linked data
path for access points,
identifiers, etc.
• RDA will continue to
provide instructions for
creating AAPs (Nomen
strings)
• Enables identification of
• Preferred names (and
when this form was
preferred)
• Agency that created the
Nomen string
• What standard
determined the format of
the string (RDA, ISBD,
etc.)
Glennan, 2017
23

24. LRM-E8: COLLECTIVEAGENT
• Must have a name and be capable of acting like a unit
• Cannot just be a group of people, like Railfans, Southerners, Expats
• Includes conferences, expeditions, exhibitions, etc.
• Includes joint or collective pseudonyms
• Even if the pseudonym looks like a personal name
• No declared attributes
• Use attributes for Agent
• RDA can still retain Family and Corporate Body as sub-classes
Glennan, 2017 24

25. LRM-E7: PERSON
• Restricted to real persons who have lived or are assumed to have lived
• Excludes fictional characters, personas, spirits
• Fictitious entities are not instances of this entity, but are instances of Res
• Model recognizes the need to distinguish between
• Fictional character used as subject
• Each use of a “known” fictional character as a pseudonym
• In RDA, plan is to relate the Nomen directly to the WEMI entity that it is
associated with
• Gender attribute not declared in LRM
• Not seen as essential for most applications
Glennan, 2017 25

26. Agent
Superclass
Glennan, 201726

27. Agents and
Creations
Glennan, 2017 27

28. LRM-E2:WORK
• Representative expression attribute –New
• Any attribute deemed essential in characterizing the Work
• Language
• Cartographic scale
• Values taken from a representative or canonical Expression of the Work
• Notionally “transferred” to the Work
• Do not have to identify the particular expression which served as the
source for the values
• One of only two attributes declared for Work
• The other is Category
• Includes Form of work, Intended termination
Glennan, 2017 28

29. LRM-E3: EXPRESSION
• Some attributes moved from Work to Expression
• Medium of performance
• Key
• Intended audience [also a Manifestation attribute]
• Boundaries still flexible
• Minor changes (corrections, etc.) may be considered as variations within
the same expression –or not
• Depends on nature of the Work and anticipated needs of users
• Category attribute includes
• FRBR’s Form of expression, Extensibility of expression, Revisability of
expression
Glennan, 2017 29

30. LRM-E4: MANIFESTATION
• Manifestation statement attribute –New
• A statement normally transcribed from a manifestation
• Replaces many of the FRBR attributes for manifestations
• Transcribed; helps users understand how the resource represents itself
• Statement of responsibility
• Can be aggregated from other elements
• Publication statement
• Category of carrier incorporates the FRBR
• Form of carrier, Physical medium, Capture mode
• Extent now includes dimensions
• Joining multiple Items from different Manifestations (bound with) results
in a new Manifestation
• Downloaded files are instances of the same Manifestation as the “source”
online file
Glennan, 2017 30

31. AGGREGATES
• With LRM finalized, RDA can incorporate specific guidelines for aggregates
• But there are questions to resolve:
• What is a work?
• A title page??
• What is a collaborative work vs. an aggregate work?
• Where do motion pictures fit?
• How do aggregate works differ from whole/part works?
• How can we define the difference?
• How can RDA accommodate different communities’ approaches to describing the
same resource?
• Cataloging for rare/special collections vs. general collections
(Glennan, 2017)
An aggregate is defined as a manifestation
embodying multiple expressions
(LRM, 2017, p. 93)
31

32. Takeaways
• Understand the role of the IFLA Library Reference Model
(LRM) in terms of it use within RDA
• Gives a more cohesive and overarching conceptual model of a
bibliographic system
• Allows catalogers to understand at a conceptual level what
future catalog systems should look like and what kind
enhancements to ask ILS providers to make
• Provides context for non-MARC based systems, including
those that use Resources Description Framework, Linked
Data, and Bibliographic Framework (BIBFRAME)
32

33. References
• Glennan, K. (2017). RDA developments of note. [Powerpoint slides]. Presented to
CC:DA, American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference.
• International Federation of Library Associations (2018). IFLA’s Bibliographic
Conceptual Models [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/node/2016
• ICOM/CIDOC. (2011). Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model.
Retrieved from http://www.cidoc-crm.org/sites/default/files/cidoc_crm_version_5.0.4.pdf
• Riva, P. & Zumer, M. (2015). Introducing the FRBR Library Reference Model. Paper
presented at IFLA WLIC 2015, CapeTown, South Africa.
• International Federation of Library Associations. (2011). Functional requirements
for subject authority data (FRSAD) : a conceptual model / edited by Marcia Lei
Zeng, Maja Žumer and Athena Salaba. München : De Gruyter Saur, 2011. (IFLA
series on bibliographic control ; vol. 43)
• International Federation of Library Associations. (201y). IFLA Library Reference
Model (LRM) . Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11412
33

34. THANKYOU!
Shawne.Miksa@unt.edu
Associate Professor
Dept. of Information Science
College of Information
University of NorthTexas
34