Barbara Tillett


Barbara Ann Barnett Tillett is a librarian and library scholar known for her work on authority control and bibliographic data modeling.

Library of Congress

Tillett has worked at the Library of Congress since 1994. As director of the Library's Integrated Library System Program from August 1997 through July 2001, Tillett undertook the massive task of leading the selection and implementation of the Library of Congress' first Integrated Library System. A library press release referred to the project as the "largest single information technology project in the Library's history."
Tillett served as chief of the Library's Cataloging Policy & Support Office, which sometimes put her into conflict with Sanford Berman's subject heading activism.

Cataloging theory

Tillett has been particularly well known for her development and explanation of the FRBR model.
Tillett served as a consultant to the IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, which developed the model. She has also been highly involved in the development of RDA, a cataloging code based on the FRBR model. Tillett served on the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA between 1994 and 2012, and served as the committee's chair between 2011 and 2013.

Recognition

Tillett has received numerous awards for her scholarship and work with the Library of Congress, including the ALCTS Margaret Mann Citation, the Library of Congress' Distinguished Service Award and Flemming Award, and the Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award. In both 2005 and 2007, she was awarded the best paper of the year by the journal Cataloging & Classification Quarterly.

Publications