Building RDA using the FRBR Library Reference Model

Abstract

RDA was innovative in adopting a very close alignment with the IFLA conceptual models FRBR and FRAD throughout. The IFLA FRBR Library Reference Model is being developed as a consolidation of the three previous FR models. As the models are intended as high-level conceptual models, not full data models, some adaptation is inherent in developing a cataloguing code around the LRM, as with its predecessors. Two opposite mechanisms can be used in adapting a cataloguing code around a conceptual model: omission of specific attributes, relationships, or even entities, or expansion of any of these elements in the model. Mechanisms for expanding a conceptual model into cataloguing rules are shown, illustrated using the IFLA LRM and RDA.