To begin, I started to develop a rough mind map of the selected work and its expressions. To properly display my research in a highly organized manner, I decided to use the web tool Popplet. I have used this tool in the past with my students and thought it would be beneficial here. Each section is colour coordinated (Work = Blue, Expression = Red, Manifestations = Green, Item = Orange). To obtain a suitable amount of information for this assignment, I used a variety of websites (e.g. Titlewave, Chapters, Amazon, Netflix, TNRD Public Library, and the Vancouver Public Library).
For each entry, I wanted to include how each manifestation could be connected to the needs of individual students. Questions include: Will the purchase of e-books be utilized? Should I purchase audiobooks for the yearly Battle of the Books competition to ensure a wide range of students are able to participate?
I must admit, I did have difficulties deciding what information to present. Do I include all manifestations of the selected work? Or, thinking about a teacher-librarian within a school, do I just include the manifestations that are available within the district? How about a movie soundtrack? Would this be included as well? Also, I struggled with linking the film with the original work. Though the film is a manifestation, shouldn't it be a separate entity? I included the film in the map because it represents the needs of a patron and is a variation of the selected work. Patrons will not be able to understand the relevance of the bibliographic terms.
Teacher-librarians should use FRBR as a model for organizing school resources. By creating a mind map, it allows a t-l to see which manifestations will be useful within a school setting; whether it be a paperback, e-book, audio book or DVD. For example, an audiobook can be useful to help struggling readers. However, as seen on the mind map, the expression information have numerous publishing dates. It would be difficult and not cost effective to consistently update and edit existing records every time a new manifestation is published.
Some challenges teacher-librarians could face if they decide to integrate the FRBR model is lack of time and the library budget. Because teacher-librarians in my district do not have full-time positions, the time needed to research and merge the manifestations of each work could be difficult. A t-l would be able to use their OPAC to view how many times a particular work has been borrowed. Having a variety of manifestations (paperback, e-book, audiobook) would develop or increase an interest in reading. Patrons would be able to decide which format best suit their own needs.
Library funding is always a hot-topic. This year, the library budget has significantly decreased throughout the district for a variety of reasons. Thus, having too many manifestations for one certain work could be detrimental for the overall growth of the library resources. Audiobooks, e-books and film tend to be more expensive than paperback editions.
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Additional Reading on FRBR:
What is FRBR? A Conceptual Model for the Bibliographic Universe. By Barbara Tillett (from The Library of Congress)
What is a (FRBR) Work?
Bringing FRBR Down to Earth…