Teosryhmittäin

Teosryhmittäin is a method used in bibliographic organization to group records by the underlying literary work rather than by author, edition, or format. In this approach, all expressions of a given work—translations, revisions, adaptations, and different formats—are linked to a single Work entity. This allows users to see the full breadth of a work’s manifestations in one place, regardless of language or publisher.

The concept is rooted in modern bibliographic theory, notably the FRBR model, which distinguishes Work, Expression, Manifestation, and Item. In teosryhmittäin catalogs, records are connected through Work identifiers, and search results can be presented as a consolidated view of all related expressions. This stands in contrast to author-centered or edition-centered organization and is particularly useful for discovering all versions of a text or tracing its scholarly lineage.

Practically, teosryhmittäin supports navigating libraries’ holdings more holistically. It helps patrons find different translations and editions of the same work and aids researchers by showing relationships between manifestations. It also benefits collection development and rights management by highlighting the scope of a work across formats and languages.

Example: for a Finnish edition of the novel Sinuhe egyptiläinen, teosryhmittäin would group the Finnish edition, the English translation, any abridgments, and a digital edition under the same work, with separate records for each expression and their respective manifestations.

See also FRBR, bibliographic relationships, library cataloging, work and expression concepts.