Book Review: Demystifying FRAD: Functional Requirements for Authority Data

Abstract

Demystifying FRAD: Functional Requirements for Authority Data. By Qiang Jin. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2012. 134 p. $45.00 softcover (ISBN: 978-1-59884496-2). The back cover of Demystifying FRAD: Functional Requirements for Authority Data describes the volume as the first book of its kind, a phrase that proves to be a very apt descriptor. Besides Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) published by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) in 2009, (1) only a few articles have been published on this topic. Now that RDA: Resource Description and Access is being adopted, (2) understanding the underlying conceptual model behind authority data in conjunction with the new cataloging code is crucial for librarians who handle authority work. Jin, a librarian who specializes in and publishes about authority work, achieves her objective of offering a basic [and accessible] explanation (1) of the FRAD model. The book tackles the topic in a logical manner, building the reader's knowledge from the ground up. As the vocabulary of FRAD is similar to that of Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR),' Jin rightly situates the discussion in this book within the larger concept of entity-relationship models, entities and attributes, and user tasks shared by both FRBR and FRAD. Jin lays foundational groundwork in the introduction to put readers on the same page with regard to identifying acronyms, the purpose of FRAD, and the context in which FRAD was created. She offers a precise yet succinct history of the development of FRBR and FRAD, and how RDA relates to these conceptual models. This background may not be new information for all readers, but the concise timeline approach and contextualization are helpful for understanding how and why the creation of FRAD was necessary. The meat of the book consists of describing the entities, attributes, and relationships in FRAD. For each entity, Jin provides a thorough definition adapted from the aforementioned 2009 IFLA Study Group report on FRAD, and expanded for further clarity. Attributes are comprehensively explained, enhanced by examples and rationales for the importance of each attribute. For example, the entity person has gender as one of its attributes. Jin points out that assigning the value for the attribute gender is especially important when two people have the same name in romanized form (18). Rationales such as these not only establish a universal understanding for each attribute, but also take the guesswork out of determining why a librarian should take the time to assign a value for an attribute. While the brief lesson on entity-relationship models and diagrams is informative, the diagrams included for practically every possible entity and attribute relationship are the most helpful. As Jin works through the eleven entities and their possible combinations to each other as well as various attributes, each combination is clearly displayed and explicated for the reader. These entity-relationship diagrams for each relationship and the coordinating descriptive paragraph provide practical, applicable scenarios for various entity and attribute combinations. In the final section of the book, Jin maps the FRAD entities and attributes to RDA. …