Intellectual Works and their Manifestations Representation of Information Objects IR Systems & Information objects Spring January, 2006 Bharat Mehra IS 520 Organization and Representation of Information School of Information Sciences University of Tennessee

My Critical Reflections Over Last Week Establish confidence in yourself Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should do it! If material is already covered, find a way to get access to it Explore multiple avenues to answer your question Be reflective and self-critical Find a class buddy to brainstorm

The Concept of Information Information includes all ideas, facts, and imaginative works of the mind that have been communicated, recorded, published and/or distributed formally or informally in any format. Information is the data that have been processed, stored, and presented in a form suitable for human interpretation.

Examples of Info Objects  Information environments/settings  library  archive  Web  For each environment list the types of information objects/packages.

Access to Info Objects Intellectual access find, identify, select a work through IR systems based on needs (known item search vs. subject search) Physical access select, obtain a copy of the information- bearing items/objects

Rules of Bibliographic Control 1. Identifying the existence of all types of info objects as they are made available 2. Identifying the works contained within those info objects or as parts of them 3. Systematically pulling together these info objects into collections in libraries, archives, museums, Internet communication files, and other such depositories 4. Producing lists of these info objects prepared according to standard rules of citation 5. Providing name, title, subject, and other useful access to these info objects 6. Providing the means of locating each info object or a copy of it (Hagler: The Bibliographic record and Information Technology)

Representing Info Objects FRBR framework aims at a logical model to guide better practice (Provides a generalized view of the bibliographic universe to help catalogers meet user needs) Entities, attributes, relationships  Metadata An information object is described by three groups of entities Each entity can be represented by a set of attributes Each information object can be represented by a bibliographic record in IRs

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Information objects (FRBR) One Many Entities are key objects of interest to users Group 1 Entities:

Information objects (FRBR) Group 2 Entities: Person or Corporate body related to Group I entities by specific relationships

Information objects (FRBR) Group 3 Entities: Subjects of works that are concepts, objects, events, or places

Attributes/Characteristics of Entities Inherent (physical and labeling); Externally input Attributes of Work: title, form, date, distinguishing aspect, intended termination, intended audience, context Attributes of Expression: language, extensibility, revisability, extent, summarization, critical response Attributes of Manifestation: statement of responsibility, edition/issue designation, place of publication, publisher/distributor Attributes of Item: identifier, fingerprint, provenance, marks

Bibliographic Relationships Inherent relationship: Work is realized through Expression is embodied in Manifestation is exemplified by Item Content relationships: equivalent, derivative, descriptive Whole/part and part to part (sequential, accompanying)

User Tasks Find: involves meeting a user’s search criteria through an attribute or relationship of an entity Identify: enables a user to confirm what they looked for, distinguishing among similar resources Select: involves meeting user’s requirements with respect to content, physical format, etc. Obtain: enables a user to acquire an entity through purchase, loan, etc. or electronic remote access Other tasks involved in the process???

IR Systems Print indexes and abstracts Library catalog cards Databases (CD Rom or online) OPACs -- online public access catalogs (free access to library materials) Bibliographic network / utility (OCLC) Finding aids Digital libraries

Meta-model of IR based on Ingwersen, P. & Järvelin, K. (forthcoming) The Turn: Integration of Information Seeking & Information Retrieval in Context Informationobjects IT: metadata algorithms Interface User Org. Cultural Social Social Context

Interfaces The layer between a user and the system through which the user can interact with the system, e.g.: OPAC, WebPAC Portals -- Web based system for community users to support individuals information needs The display of the bibliographic records can be manipulated by the interfaces

Next Time: Class Activity for “Critical Reflection” Provide values for all the attributes of one particular item that you select to represent a work and its expression and manifestation (see IFLA FRBR final report: 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5). Also provide values for attributes of a person (4.6), corporate body (4.7), concept (4.8), object (4.9), event (4.10), and place (4.11) for that item you selected. Putting yourself in the ‘shoes’ of a user, identify one attribute for each entity that was most useful to you for finding that item and explain how those attributes were useful (or can be useful) to locate that item.