FRBR, Twenty Years On Karen Coyle Presented at FSR2014, Rome, February 2014 Published in Cataloging and Classiication Quarterly, January 2014, pp. 1-22 DOI:10.1080/01639374.2014.943446 ABSTRACT: he article analyzes the conceptual model of the Functional Requirements for Biblio- graphic Records (FRBR) as a general model of bibliographic data and description that can be inter- preted, as needed, to serve the needs of various communities. his is illustrated with descriptions of ive diferent implementations based on the concepts in FRBR: FRBRER (entity-relation), FRBROO (object oriented), FRBRCore (FRBR entities as linked data), indecs (FRBR entities within the com- merce model), and FaBiO (FRBR as a basis for academic document types). he author argues that variant models show the strength of the FRBR concepts, and should be encouraged. Introduction “By far, the substance of the IFLA FRBR concep- tual model speciication is textual description (with tables), and only a few diagrams. While these dia- grams play a very small role in model documentation and presentation, they are what is used—naturally— to describe the model to the Cultural Heritage Com- munity and to the general public. It is diicult to appreciate the overall, emergent, characteristics of the FRBR conceptual data model—especially the more obvious interactions between model elements—from a reading of the text and then attempt to project that wealth of description into the few available diagrams.” 1 Few of us have done a close reading of the FRBR docu- ment, although undoubtedly many have glanced at the diagrams, either within the context of the document or as illustrations used in talks that they have attended. he FRBR document is 142 pages in length, including appen- dices, which makes it a formidable read. In the document there are three diagrams that represent the entity-relation analysis of bibliographic data. Even if each is these diagrams is worth one thousand words, they are hardly expressive of the depth of analysis of the document. Yet the struc- tures illustrated in the diagrams dominate the discussion of FRBR. Most members of the profession can list the primary bibliographic entities: work, expression, manifes- tation, item (hereafter known as WEMI), and many can describe the three groups of entities that make up FRBR. Most descriptions of FRBR begin with a list of the enti- ties in the three groups, and then illustrate these entities with one or more of the diagrams from the document. he FRBR document clearly states that it represents a con- ceptual model of bibliographic data. his article analyzes the conceptual nature of the FRBR “entity-relation” (E-R) model, and shows that the conceptual model presented there has inspired a range of logical models which illustrate variable and valid interpretation of the FRBR concepts. How the FRBR Study Group Came to Be he FRBR study arose out of an IFLA-sponsored “Stock- holm Seminar on Cataloguing” in 1990. he IFLA cata- loging section had been working on international catalog- ing standards for decades, most prominently the creation of the vInternational Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). Barbara Tillett’s 1994 report on the meeting and its outcomes 2 describes the factors that led to the assignment of the FRBR Study Group. In that report she refers to “the mounting costs of cataloging,” the prolif- eration of new media, “exploding bibliographic universe,”