Functional requirements for authority records. A conceptual model

Abstract

Five years after the publication of FRBR, the IFLA UBCIM Working Group on Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records (FRANAR) has produced a draft of the conceptual model on the functional requirements for authority records with the title Functional requirements for authority records: a conceptual model. The draft, which is open for comment from international experts, is not the final version but it is unlikely that its structure will undergo radical changes. It was presented by Glenn Patton at last August's IFLA conference in Buenos Aires.
Like the FRBR, it is an entity-relations model.
The working group's objectives are:
1) define the functional requirements of the authority records, so continuing the work begun by FRBR for bibliographic registrations;
2) study the feasibility and uses of the ISADN (International Standard Authority Data Number) identify its users, determine for which type of authority record it is necessary and examine the structure of this identity code and the type of control necessary;
3) cooperate with other working groups that deal with authority files, such as the INDECS (Interoperability of Data in E-Commerce Systems) project, ICA/CDS (International Council on Archives/Committee on Descriptive Standards) ISO/TC46 as regards the creation of systems of international numeration and descriptive standards and CERL (Consortium of European Research Libraries).
The main aim of the model is to offer an analytical framework for analysing the functional requirements of authority records and examining the problems linked to using standard numbers in authority recordsand international sharing of authority data.