Living legend Smiraglia has written the first book devoted exclusively to exploring the concept that is commonly referred to as a bibliographic "Work." In bringing together material from both inside and outside the discipline of information studies, he traces the continuing development of catalogs, search engines, and other kinds of information retrieval tools, the better to understand the maze of editions and revisions and translations that make up the evolution of a Work. Two appendixes contain charts demonstrating the evolution of concepts and definitions of a Work; a third contains a summary of the sampling technique employed to generate the data in chapter 5 "Defining the Work in Quantatative Terms" and chapter 6 "The Constitution of Bibliographic Families."

Table of Contents:
Part 1 What Is the Nature of a Work? Chapter 2 The Bibliographic Universe Chapter 3 Works and the Design of Bibliographic Retrieval Systems Chapter 4 Works and Texts Chapter 5 The Digital Imperative: What Is an Electronic Work? Chapter 6 How Do We Answer the Question: What Is the Nature of a Work? Part 7 The Concept of the Work in Anglo-American Cataloging: An Historical Narrative Chapter 8 A Multiplicity of Editions Chapter 9 The "Literary Unit" Chapter 10 The International Conference on Cataloguing Principles (1961) Chapter 11 Defining "The Work" Chapter 12 From Multiplicity to Bibliographic Relationships Part 13 Bibliographic Relationships Give Parameters to the Concept of a Work Chapter 14 The Humphrey Clinker Effect Chapter 15 A Taxonomy of Bibliographic Relationships Chapter 16 A Taxonomy of Derivation Chapter 17 Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records Chapter 18 Toward Consensus on the Concept of the Work Part 19 Reflections on the Creative Task: Linguistics, Philosophy, Semiotics, and Bibliography Chapter 20 Works as Vehicles for Communication Chapter 21 Volatility of Works—Varieties of Perception in Reception of Works Chapter 22 Volatility of Texts—Changes in Representation of Works Chapter 23 Evolution in the Creatorship of Works Chapter 24 A Work Is a Cultural Phenomenon Part 25 Defining the Work in Quantitative Terms Chapter 26 Early Research Indicating the Presence of Derivative Bibliographic Relationships Chapter 27 Research Describing Derivative Bibliographic Relationships Chapter 28 Works in Libraries Chapter 29 The Incidence of Derivative Bibliographic Relationships Chapter 30 Characteristics of Works with Bibliographic Families Chapter 31 Summarizing the Data Part 32 The Constitution of Bibliographic Families Chapter 33 Qualitative Analysis of Bibliographic Families Chapter 34 Evolution of Works Part 35 Toward a Theory of the Work Chapter 36 The Paradigm of the Work Chapter 37 The Social Role of Works Chapter 38 The Quantitative Evidence Chapter 39 Methodological Implications Chapter 40 The Parameters of a Theory of the Work Chapter 41 Implications for Knowledge Organization Chapter 42 Conclusion