Aggregate and types in the IFLA Library Reference Model

Abstract

In the history of cataloguing theory, aggregate is a relatively new terminology. The term was first used in the context of bibliography in the FRBR, published in 1998, although at that time no precise and effective definition of aggregate had been developed. Since then, however, aggregate has been defined, and the three most common types of aggregate have been defined. This was published in the Final Report of the IFLA Working Group on Aggregates. These definitions have been taken over by the IFLA LRM with the addition of the LRM-R25 (was aggregated by) link and the modelling of periodical publications, which have been defined as aggregate. Since aggregates are an essential and relatively common type of catalogue record, my aim in this paper is to look at what an aggregate is, how it has changed since the advent of FRBR, and how it has been modelled in the IFLA Library Reference Model. Finally, I will illustrate the types of aggregates with examples.