3. What is RDA?
Resource Description and Access
New cataloging standard for the digital age
Successor to the Anglo-American Cataloguing
Rules (AACR)
Inspired by:
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Records (FRBR)
Functional Requirements for Authority Data
(FRAD)
4. What is RDA?
A content standard designed to
record and describe resources
It is NOT a display standard
Designed to be compatible with
MARC and other encoding and
metadata standards
5. Goals of RDA
Flexibility
Adaptability
Compatibility
Enable users to find, identify, select
and obtain resources
7. Why was RDA created?
RDA was created to replace AACR
AACR is outdated!
Createdin the 1970s for a print-based
environment
By 2005 the Joint Steering Committee for
the Revision of AACR (JSC) declared
AACR no longer viable for the digital age
RDA arose out of this need for a new
standard to accommodate past, present
and future formats and materials
11. Structure of RDA
Foundations in FRBR and FRAD
FRBR and FRAD are conceptual models
Entity-relationship model
FRBR demonstrates the structure and
relationships of bibliographic records
FRAD provides foundation for access points and
authority control
RDA guidelines incorporate FRBR
entities, attributes and user tasks
12. FRBR and FRAD Terminology
User tasks are defined as the need to
find, identify, select, and obtain
Entities are structured into 3 groups:
Group 1: Work
, Expression, Manifestation, Item
Group 2: Person, family, corporate body
(those responsible for Group 1 entities)
Group 3: concept, object, event, place (the
subject of Group 1 entity)
13. FRBR and FRAD Terminology
Each entity has a series of attributes
Characteristics of the entity
RDA incorporates the basic set of
attributes as its “core elements”
Examples:
work: title or genre
manifestation: publisher, date of publication
item: identifier such as a barcode or RFID tag
person: dates, gender, title
15. How is RDA Different?
Built with FRBR/FRAD user tasks rather than
focus on materials
Different organizational structure
Inspired by FRBR user tasks
Divided into two parts:
Sections 1-4: Recording attributes of entities
Sections 6-10: Recording relationships between
entities
Core elements and alternatives
16. How is RDA Different?
Online Access!
RDA Toolkit is 100% online
Includes full text of AACR2
Designed to be used in automated
processing
New terminology:
works, resources, manifestations
17. How is RDA Different?
No more “Main Entry”
It is now “Access Point”
No more abbreviations
No more GMD
Replaced by three RDA core elements:
336 Content type (text, sounds)
337 Media type (audio, video, computer)
338 Carrier type (filmstrip, videodisc, card)
18. How is RDA Different?
Controlled Vocabularies
Includes both closed and open sets
Allows catalogers to add terms
Registered online in the Open Metadata
Registry
RegisteredRDA Element Sets and Value
Vocabularies
Both copyright AND publication dates
New MARC fields
19. New MARC fields in RDA
Authority: Bibliographic:
046 - Special Coded Dates 336 - Content Type
336 - Content Type 337 - Media Type
370 - Associated Place 338 - Carrier Type
371 – Address New Codes in 007 and 008
372 - Field of Activity 380 - Form of Work (R)
373 – Affiliation 381 - Other Distinguishing Characteristics
374 – Occupation of Work or Expression (R)
375 - Gender 382 - Medium of Performance (R) -
additional subfields (under discussion)
376 - Family Information
383 - Numeric Designation of a Musical
377 - Associated Language Work (R) - additional subfields (proposed)
Holdings: 384 - Key (NR)
337 - Media Type
338 - Carrier Type
New Codes in 007
20. Mapping AACR to RDA
AACR RDA
Main Entry Preferred Access
Author Point
Physical Description Creator
General material Carrier Description
designator 3xx fields:
Content type
Media type
Carrier type
27. RDA Cons
Disappearance of GMD
Confusion for users and catalogers
Cost Concerns
Stafftime in training, implementation
Financial cost for user licensing
Reliance on MARC
29. Where is RDA now?
RDA is here!
Went “live” in June 2010 with testing period
completed in June 2011
Many libraries already using RDA
More than 30,000 RDA records in OCLC
More than 6,000 in Library of Congress
OCLC policy: Allow original RDA catalog records
Decision to implement made by US National
Libraries:
Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine,
National Agriculture Library
30. Decision of US National
Libraries:
Implement RDA after January 2013, contingent
on meeting certain requirements:
Rewrite RDA instructions in clear, unambiguous, plain
English
Define process for updating RDA in the online
environment
Develop full RDA record examples in MARC and other
encoding schema
Demonstrate credible progress towards replacement
for MARC
Lead and coordinate RDA training
33. In the Meantime…
Start conversations with
staff, ILS, vendors, other libraries
Allow RDA records in the catalog?
Display fields in OPAC?
Launch an RDA cataloging pilot project?
Stay current with developments
34. Further Information
RDA Frequently Asked Questions by JSC:
http://www.rda-jsc.org/rdafaq.html#1
RDA Toolkit:
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/
RDA in MARC:
http://www.loc.gov/marc/RDAinMARC29.html
OCLC Policy:
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/rda/policy.htm
Library of Congress Final Report and
Recommendations:
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/
An overview of RDA: the basics of RDA including what it is, why it came about, and the current status.
RDA stands for Resource Description and Access. It is a new cataloging standard for the digital age. It is the successor to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), and has its foundations in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD).
RDA is a content standard, designed to record and describe information about resources. It is NOT a display standard and as such is not concerned with how data is viewed or presented. It is meant to be compatible with MARC and other encoding and metadata standards.
RDA was devised to exist in the digital environment. The goals of RDA are to have flexibility to accommodate any format, - analog and digitaladaptability to new and future materials, and compatibility with other encoding schema. The goals of RDA are to enable users to find, identify, select and obtain resources. Data that is readily adaptable to new and emerging database structuresData that is compatible with existing records in online library catalogues
Why did the need for RDA arise?
RDA is the successor to AACR2,which was was created in the 1970s, the pre-digital era, a time when access was gained by using the card catalog. AACR was never meant to accommodate electronic or digital formats. It was revised several times to accommodate, but its inherent print-based structure prevented in from being viable for unforeseen formats. RDA aims to accommodate past, present and future formats and materials. AACR was updated and revised through the years, but by 2005 the Joint Steering Committee for the Revision of AACR (JSC) determined that AACR was no longer viable for the digital age. It became clear that a new standard was needed to accommodate new formats in a rapidly changing technological landscape. So books and videos became resources, and AACR3 became RDA.
RDA aims to update resource description and access in catalogs from the print era….
And bring catalogs into the digital era.
RDA has its foundations in FRBR and FRAD,which are conceptual models, based on an entity-relationship model, so they aren’t grounded in data or encoding, but rather focus on relationships among and attributes of resources or data. FRBR demonstrates the structure and relationships of bibliographic records. FRAD provides foundation for access points and authority control. RDA guidelines are structured along FRBR entities, attributes and user tasks, and RDA embraces some new terminology introduced by FRBR and FRAD.
RDA embraces FRBR terminology, and incorporates the user tasks to find, identify, select, and obtain.including entity, work, manifestation, etc. FRBR is structured around 3 groups of entities:Group 1 includes Work , Expression, Manifestation and Item Group 2 is responsible for group 1 entities and includes Person, family, corporate bodyGroup 3 is subjects and includes group 1 & 2. Group 3 entities are: concept, object, event, place
Each entity has a series of attributes, which are characteristics of the entity, or data that can be recorded and used to describe the entity. RDA incorporates the basic set of attributes as its “core elements”. Some examples of attributes or elements for entities are:work: title or genremanifestation: publisher, date of publicationitem: and identifier such as a barcode or RFID tagperson: dates, gender, a title
RDA is based on AACR, but differs significantly in its purpose and design. RDA is structured with user tasks in mind: find, identify, select and obtain. This is a shift from AACR2’s focus on formats (books, maps, music, etc.)RDA guidelines are structured along FRBR entities, attributes and user tasks and are divided roughly into two parts. The first four sections address recording attributes and the next six sections focus on recording relationships between these entities.RDA also has a set of “core elements” built on FRBR/FRAD. Some elements are designated as “core” elements, such as content types. Libraries can also identify their own core elements. RDA also offers options and choices by giving alternatives.
First and foremost RDA is conceived for the digital era, so it is completely accessible online via the RDA Toolkit (there is of course a massive print version available). Giving full credit to its predecessor, RDA Toolkit does also include the full text of AACR2. This functional change is huge: as it not only allows ease of access, but also ease of updating. AACR was not designed to be used in automated processing; RDA is.A shift in terminology is also introduced. We’ve already talked about entities and attributes and elements. RDA moves away from print-based terms like book, to more encompassing terms like resource.
In RDA we no longer have a “main entry” but rather we have “access points”.Abbreviations are spelled out, no more latin “et al” or slThe GMD has been replaced by 3xx fields
RDA has controlled vocabularies that are being registered online in the Open Metadata Registry. RDA vocabularies include, both closed (content types) and open sets so cataloguers have the ability to add to them if terms are missing.The RDA vocabularies are now registered on the Web. The existence of those machine-readable controlled vocabularies will allow more machine manipulation of data than is now possible.RDA includes both publication and copyright dates and also introduces new MARC fields.
RDA introduces a number of new MARC fields for bibliographic, authority and holdings record types. In addition to new codes for 007 and 008 fields.
To summarize some of the changes discussed just now, this chart shows you a mapping of terms from AACR to RDA. This is just an example, there are more as well. There are resources to aid in mapping in the RDA Toolkit.
Lets look at a sample record from the Millennium ILS and the OPAC.
Here is an example of what an RDA record looks like in Millennium. You can see the |e RDA notation in the 040 field, the copyright symbol in the imprint, and the new 3xx fields are in red, which means they are not being validated by MARC format files, but for our purposes this helps in identifying them easily.
This is the same record in the OPAC, with the new 3xx fields under the physical description.
RDA certainly has many advantages that make it viable for digital environments such as online access, metadata compatibility format flexibility and international scope.It is also backwards-compatible, to ward off fears of obsolescence.
So don’t throw away that typewriter just yet…
However it has garnered some criticism for cost concerns, being problematic when using with metadata schema, too much reliance on MARC encoding and the GMD going away. A strong concern for catalogers is the replacement of the GMD with the 3xx fields. This could be confusing for users when the are records that have it and records that don’t co-existing in the catalog. This is a hard time for libraries on the whole. Budgets and staffing are constrained, so the effort to implement a new standard could impact institutions both financially and time-wise. though created in the spirit of openness, it is still closed to those who aren’t paying for it.RDAis said to be too heavily reliant on MARC. MARC was created 1960s, and was not designed for the digital age. There are many limitations and doubts about its sustainability in the digital age. MARC was not built to be web-readable. LC just released its initial plan for its Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative for moving on from MARC encoding.
RDA is here! It was finally released in June 2010 with a testing period undertaken by both US and international institutions. Many libraries are already using RDA, or at least allowing RDA records into their systems. OCLC’s policy is to allow original RDA catalog records, but not to change core records. At present OCLC has more than 30,000 RDA records right now and LC has more than 6,000. So its growing, and fast.This past June 2011, following a testing period, the US National libraries (LC, NLM, National Agriculture Library) published their decision that RDA should be implemented after January 2013. This is contingent on meeting certain requirements including:
The decision is to implement RDA after January 2013, with a number of contingencies. A few notable contingencies are listed here. The overarching message here is to fulfill RDA’s promise of being compatible with metadata schema.
Despite its criticisms, RDA is here to stay. The problems and criticisms are being addressed by the JSC and RDA/MARC Working Group and other agencies. It is an evolving standard. The testing period just ended and now the real work begins in determining its real-world use. Meanwhile it is undergoing constant scrutiny and analysis.
RDA is here to stay, so we need to prepare for RDA records in our catalogs. National Libraries are leading the way and will be in full implementation after January 2013. Vendors may start supplying RDA records.At the very least, we need to accommodate RDA records.Start the conversation with staff. Get a pilot project going. Create some records, download some records. Decide whether to display the new fields in the OPAC. Adjust load tables to allow RDA fields and update MARC format and special codes files. Keep abreast of changes. STAY RELEVANT!
There is no shortage of information about RDA on the web. These are just a few suggestions to get started.