Bibliographic Families in OPACs: User's views towards the Epic of Kings from a FRBRized perspective

This study aimed at implementing FRBR in library catalogs through a user-oriented approach. The literary work "Epic of Kings" (Shanama) by Ferdowsi was selected as the test-bed and catalog user's views towards this bibliographic family were analyzed. A set of 40 bibliographic cards was given to 30 highly specialized potential OPAC users who were knowledgeable in the field of Epic of Kings. During each session the required data was gathered through card sorting, semi-structured interviews and answering a questionnaire. Eleven clusters were identified for the Epic of Kings bibliographic family through a top-down approach. On the other hand, the results show that, regarding a certain information need, user's approach towards different entities is a bottom-up one. In other words, if a user wants a particular copy of a work and if that copy was unavailable, he/she tends to go for a second copy of the same work. Other manifestations, expressions and works come afterward.