Zhang and Salaba explain the benefits and practical implementation of user-friendly cataloging model

New York, NY (August 25, 2009) – Current cataloging standards and practices must evolve quickly in order to avoid obsolescence in an increasingly electronic age. Implementing FRBR in Libraries: Key Issues and Future Directions, to be published by Neal-Schuman on October 10, 2009, documents the framework and practical implementation of Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), a crucial new user-focused model of the bibliographic universe designed to better support today’s information seeking users.

Authors Yin Zhang and Athena Salaba, winners of the 2009 ALISE/Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Competition Award, give readers a comprehensive FRBR resource that is divided into seven easy-to-follow chapters. They begin with an introduction to the FRBR model’s purpose and background, and explain the reasons for its introduction, its potential benefits, and most critical issues to date. Zhang and Salaba then provide a detailed description of the model’s fundamental structure and essential components, and discuss the ways in which FRBR influences and transforms description standards, cataloging and metadata practices, and current standard development.

The next two chapters showcase real-life examples of successful FRBR application and implementation across different types of media and in various disciplines and settings, including traditional libraries, digital libraries, and consortia. The authors detail the FRBR model’s role in creating more effective library catalogs, and provide examples of various implementation approaches and projects that have involved the development of FRBR-based systems, algorithms, and software. The following chapter covers both current FRBR developmental research efforts along with some of the critical gaps in user research that need to be addressed. Zhang and Salaba conclude with a unified overview of FRBR and its most prominent future development directions.

Detailed illustrations and a comprehensive appendix of key terms and acronyms guide readers through the model’s key elements, and a list of FRBR projects and software is included for easy reference.

Implementing FRBR in Libraries: Key Issues and Future Directions is a clear and straightforward guide to help the LIS professional and academic communities better understand and practically apply the FRBR model to improve cataloging efforts and meet 21st century user needs.

Implementing FRBR in Libraries: Key Issues and Future Directions
ISBN: 978-1-5570-661-6.
2009. 6×9. 230pp. $75.00.

About the Authors
Yin Zhang is an Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Information Science from Wuhan University, P.R. China and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her articles have appeared in a variety of journals, including Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and Library Quarterly.
Athena Salaba is an Assistant Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University. She received her M.L.S. from Kent State University and her Ph.D. from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is serving as the Co-chair and Secretary of the IFLA Working Group on the Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Records (FRSAR).

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Neal-Schuman Publishers is a leading publisher of professional books for librarians, archivists and knowledge managers. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City, with offices in London, UK.

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