In Cicero, it is possible to catalogue based on an Entity-based DataModel (EDM), which is based on IFLA's Library Reference Model (LRM). For a conceptual understanding of cataloguing with EDM, we refer to IFLA LRM.
When using EDM, bibliographic records in Cicero are constructed from a number of authority records and relations between these. Broadly speaking, EDM consists of 3 different elements:
- Authority records
- Attributes
- Relations
Authority records
Authority records are overarching primary objects. There are a number of different types of authority records, and the content of these is further enriched by a number of attributes and relations.
Examples of authority record types:
- Agent: Can be persons (e.g. an author), organizations (e.g. a publisher) or similar.
- Place: Can for example be a country, a city or a specific location.
Read more under Authority records.
Attributes
Attributes are specific data that describe an authority record. Data can for example be specified as free text, numeric values or value sets.
Examples of attributes for the authority record "Agent":
- Name: Free-text field where you can specify the name of a person or organization
- Year of birth: Numeric value where the year of a person's birth can be specified
- Origin: Value set where, for example, a person's nationality can be specified from a predefined set of values.
Read more about value sets under Value set.
Relations
Relations are an essential part of EDM, as they connect authority records with each other and give them context. The type of relation that can exist between different authority types varies.
Examples of relations for the authority record "Agent":
- Contributor: Relation that describes which agent has contributed to, for example, a work. It is also possible to select which role the agent has contributed in, e.g. author, illustrator or similar.
- Member of: Relation that describes that an agent is a member of another agent. This could for example be the person "John Lennon", who is a member of the band "The Beatles".
Read more about relations under Relations between authority records.
Cataloguing with EDM
One of the advantages of cataloguing with EDM is that data is reused. If, for example, some information about an agent or a work is updated, all related records are also updated automatically.
It is possible to set up import of bibliographic records from external sources, which Cicero automatically adapts to the EDM structure. Read more under Import of bibliographic records.
It is also possible to catalogue manually, for example based on a newly purchased material. Cicero guides the catalogue through a series of choices, where it is possible to create new authority records, enrich them with attributes and create relations to other authority records. The process can be fully or partially automated by cataloguing based on references to Marc21 records in external sources.
Read more about the cataloguing process under Cataloguing new materials.