Models of our World

This is to announce the publication of my book, FRBR, Before and After, by ALA Editions, available in November, 2015. As is often the case, the title doesn't tell the story, so I want to give a bit of an introduction before everyone goes: "Oh, another book on FRBR, yeeech." To be honest, the book does have quite a bit about FRBR, but it's also a think piece about bibliographic models, and a book entitled "Bibliographic Models" would look even more boring than one called "FRBR, Before and After."

The before part is a look at the evolution of the concept of Work, and, yes, Panizzi and Cutter are included, as are Lubetzky, Wilson, and others. Then I look at modeling and how goals and models are connected, and the effect that technology has (and has not) had on library data. The second part of the book focuses on the change that FRBR has wrought both in our thinking and in how we model the bibliographic description. I'll post more about that in the near future, but let me just say that you might be surprised at what you read there.


The text will also be available as open access in early 2016. This is thanks to the generosity of ALA Editions, who agreed to this model. I do hope that enough libraries and individuals do decide to purchase the hard copy that ALA Publishing puts out so that this model of print plus OA is economically viable. I can attest to the fact that the editorial work and application of design to the book has produced a final version that I could not have even approximated on my own