Trying to make sense of FRBR: Journal Reflection Activity #2

In choosing my topic for this journal reflection assignment, I knew I could spend numerous hours mulling over possible options. Which work would provide enough but not too many manifestations? Which work would provide ideal fodder for “broad and deep” (Cho) reflections? Instead of agonizing, I decided to “throw my fate to the wind” and see what could be found on my personal bookshelf. It was as though she had been waiting patiently for her opportunity to shine: Anne of Green Gables; how perfect! While I’m not a L.M. Montgomery expert, I know there is an entire Anne novel series, in addition to a T.V. program, and at least one movie representation of the original work. My primary concern was whether my somewhat shaky understanding of FRBR (Function Requirements for Bibliographic Records) would be enough to support this task. In an effort to shore up my FRBR understanding, I reviewed Figures 2 and 3 from our third lesson. I then decided to follow Allan’s advice and read the two blog posts by Coyle and Styles. I’m sorry but Styles’ post most certainly did not bring FRBR “down to earth" (Styles) for me. In fact, his diagrams just about did me in! I will comment further on my queries regarding Styles’ position later in this post. At this point, it’s probably best to move into the “nitty gritty” of my model creation. Challenge #1: Where to find the myriad of manifestations I knew must exist for the work Anne of Green Gables? I opted to check out the Vancouver Island Regional Library. Here I found a whopping total of 41 titles under the Anne of Green Gables keyword search. With this result, it was clear that my FRBR model would not be comprehensive. In the following diagram, you will find a somewhat representative selection of several manifestations of Anne of Green Gables from the VIRL holdings:

FRBR Diagram Key: Work=Pink Expression=Yellow Manifestation=Green Item=Blue Challenge #2: Once I had sketched out my diagram on paper, how was I going to transfer this visual representation into my blog? After doing a bit of research, I decided to try my hand at MS Paint, as it seemed one of the simpler options. What you see above is my first Paint generated model diagram. It's not perfect because space restrictions prohibited me from "lining up" all the manifestations and items, as had been done in Figures 2 and 3. Despite its limitations, I'm quite pleased with the clarity of the result. I must say it took forever! Now that I've addressed the technicalities, I'd like to discuss a number of challenges I faced while building this model. Challenge #3: How could I accurately determine which expression a particular manifestation fell under? For example, when I first created this diagram, I had linked The Anne of Green Gables 2007 Storybook (Firefly Books) to the Printed Book expression. When I had a closer look at the VIRL record description, however, I questioned my decision. The description states: "The Anne of Green Gables Storybook is a special book adaptation of Montgomery's original novel. Based on the Sullivan film production, it is illustrated with 76 delightful full-color photographs from the television series. This briefer version has the complete Anne of Green Gables story line in simple language for younger readers." Yes, it is based upon the Printed Book, so I don't think it would have been an error to place it there. This said, the text is greatly simplified and there are 76 pictures that link it to the T.V. series. From a child's perspective, I'm guessing they would connect this Storybook more to the T.V. series than to the Printed Book. For this reason, I placed this manifestation under T.V. series. Arguably, this is a purely subjective decision and reasons to opt for the Printed Book scenario are equally compelling. Another example of this challenge can be found in the manifestation 101 Things You Didn't Know. Based solely on the VIRL record description, I was unable to accurately determine the nature of 101 Things. After expanding my research to Amazon, I understood that this manifestation is actually "a light-hearted look of on stage, off stage and backstage" of the musical Anne of Green Gables. With this added information, I was able to confidently make 101 Things You Didn't Know a manifestation of the expression Musical. Based upon this one diagramming experience, I can only imagine the complexity and nuance of the RDA cataloguing process. This point brings me face-to-face with the challenges I would anticipate in using FRBR as a model for organizing school library resources. FRBR, and therefore RDA, is not simply an itemization of titles that might be found in a school library, but rather a reflection of the relationships between titles. I understand the RDA model might be helpful to "clarify the cataloging rules and concepts associated with a new group of library resources" (Cho), but wonder if we're not biting off a little more than we can chew here. I know that, as Teacher-Librarians, we won't be asked to create or modify RDA-style records, but as Allan states, T-Ls must certainly be conversant with "RDA concepts and terminologies". It is with FRBR "terminologies" (Cho) that I take issue. Here, I must agree with Rob Styles in his blog post: "Nobody talks about works, expressions and manifestations, so why describe our data that way?" Like Styles, I found FRBR to be "difficult to work with" (Styles). As I created my diagram, I was continually going back to Lesson 3 in an effort to internalize the concepts. This tells me that the terms are not particularly transparent. Styles recommends using "less abstract terms" (Styles) and I would agree. While I don't profess to have understood any of Styles' diagrams, I did appreciate his use of more "real-life" (Styles) terms such as Movie, Novel, and DVD. As American folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger says, “Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.” When it comes to catologuing, I'm wondering if we shouldn't heed Pete's advice.