Marissa Guzman

LIS703
Discussion 3
Discussion 3
Reflect upon the FRBR articles assigned for Week Four and answer the following questions:
Do you feel like you have a good understanding of the FRBR conceptual model?
William Denton, in his chapter “FRBR and the History of Cataloging” (one of your required
readings), identifies a common thread of "four ideas through modern Anglo-American library
history." What are they and how does FRBR fit into the evolution of these ideas? Please cite
your sources (definitely cite Denton!) and make sure you respond to a classmate’s post.
MY ANSWER
I feel like I have a general understanding of the FRBR conceptual model. There are a few items
that I seem to notice that I have a little bit of a harder time with but for the most part I think I
have a good understanding of it. I think I definitely will feel more comfortable with it with more
practice. When I first looked at the graphs for FRBR, I honestly thought "oh, this is going to be
rough!" However, I feel like my mindset has changed from that. I do feel like I get majority of it,
there are just some concepts that I get stuck on!
 
The four ideas through modern Anglo-American library history are: the use of axioms to explain
the purpose of catalogs, the importance of user needs, the idea of the "work," and standardization
and internationalization (Denton, 2007). As we read FRBR and the History of Cataloging we
learned how a few famous librarians came up with new ideas on how to catalog. We also find out
that many of these people had ideas of FRBR but there was some tweaking that needed to be
done in order to finalize the process as what we today know as FRBR. "The four ideas- axioms,
user needs, the "work," and internationalization--really start to gain force in early Victorian
England with an Italian refugees who began the era of modern cataloging" (Denton, 2007). The
beginning of these four ideas started because The British Museum was described as "a
disorganized and random collection of books" (Denton, 2007). Sir Anthony Panizzi wanted to
make sure that the needs of readers were met in more than one way and this is where the
beginning of cataloging really takes places and traces of FRBR can be seen. Panizzi ends of
creating 91 rules, Rules for the Compilation of the Catalogue. This is where we see some
organization of names and titles, what to do about anonymous work, and so on (Denton, 2007).
Charles Cutter was another important figure in the scene of the library world. "Cutter gave
us Rules for a Dictionary Catalog, this drew on earlier codes, including the work from Panizzi"
(Denton, 2007). Next, we meet S. R. Ranganathan and he creates Five Laws and combines them
with Cutter's rules. Then we learn that "the reemergence of cataloging axioms and the idea of the
'work' both involve Seymour Lubetzky, the greatest cataloger of the twentieth century, who also
created the Paris Principles" (Denton, 2007). All of these concepts and ways of cataloging over
the years have helped create what we know today as FRBR. Every good thing is not perfect the
first time around. In fact, most things need a lot of things added or tweaked in order to keep up
with the new and changing world. "FRBR, which build son so much previous work, is now a
basis for other work. FRBR's entities are the basis of cataloging records, it says, and catalogs
exist so that users can perform five basic tasks: find, identify, select, obtain and navigate"
(Denton, 2007). 
References:
Denton, W. (2007). "FRBR and the history of cataloging." In Taylor, A. (ed.) Understanding
FRBR: What it is and how it will affect our retrieval tools. Chapter 4 (pp. 35-57). Westport, CT:
Libraries Unlimited. Access the chapter
here: https://bsf.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DENTON-FRBR-AND-THE-HISTORY-
OF-CATALOGING.pdf
Response to Classmate
from Discussion 3
Jun 6, 2021 2:50PM
Marissa Guzman
Susan, I completely agree with you about being confused at first! I feel like some examples are
still a little tricky but for the most part it has gotten better. I really liked how you explained the
examples and kind of the history along with FRBR and the evolution of the ideas. I agree with
you that I was shocked about how 'new' FRBR is! As fast as the times change, I am sure that
something new will come out in the next 50 years or so with how to catalog!
Professor’s Response
Well done! I am glad you feel like you now have a better understanding of FRBR - it is not an
easy model to wrap your head around.