Question: What's WEMI? What does it have to do with FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records)?
Answer: WEMI is an acronym for Work, Expression, Manifestation, and Item. These are called "Group 1 entities" in the FRBR model.
FRBR offers us a fresh perspective on the
structure and relationships of bibliographic
and authority records, and also a more
precise vocabulary to help future cataloging
rule makers and system designers in
meeting user needs. Before FRBR our
cataloging rules tended to be very unclear
about using the words "work," "edition,"
or "item." Even in everyday language,
we tend to say a "book" when we may
actually mean several things.
For example, when we say "book" to
describe a physical object that has paper
pages and a binding and can sometimes be
used to prop open a door or hold up a table
leg, FRBR calls this an "item."
When we say "book" we also may mean a
"publication" as when we go to a bookstore
to purchase a book. We may know its
ISBN but the particular copy does not
matter as long as it's in good condition
and not missing pages. FRBR calls this
a "manifestation."
When we say "book" as in 'who translated
that book,' we may have a particular text in
mind and a specific language. FRBR calls
this an "expression."
When we say "book" as in 'who wrote
that book,' we could mean a higher level
of abstraction, the conceptual content that
underlies all of the linguistic versions, the story
being told in the book, the ideas in a person's
head for the book. FRBR calls this a "work."
From Barbara Tillett's What is FRBR? http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF
For more information about FRBR, visit the CUL RDA wiki: https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/metaserv/FRBR+links