RDA: Cataloguing in the 21st century Guest lecture at University College London 2nd March 2009 Ann Chapman Community and Outreach Team UKOLN is supported by:

What is RDA? Resource Description and Access A content standard for: Describing resources Enabling access to resource descriptions Based on AACR2 but not AACR3 Defines what goes into a catalogue record but not how it is encoded or displayed

Some Related Standards FRBR = a entity-relational model of the data required to find, identify, select and obtain resources ISBD = rules that organise the display of a bibliographic description of an item in a catalogue MARC = communication and exchange format providing a structure for encoding the content of bibliographic and authority data Dublin Core = metadata schema

FRBR Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records IFLA study; report published 1998 Entity-relationship model that defines: Tasks: find, identify, select, obtain Resource relationships: work, expression, manifestation, item Entities: people, corporate bodies Entities: concepts, objects, events, places

ISBDs International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions Developed 1969 onwards by IFLA Defined seven areas of description and their order Title Statement of Responsibility Edition Resource specific information Publication details Physical description Series information Notes and standard identifiers

AACR Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Key principles A content standard for bibliographic description and access Bibliographic – not just books Built on other, earlier sets of rules Key principles One principle entry per resource Catalogue from item in hand Chief source of information

AACR / RDA timeline 1967 UK and US editions 1978 Second unified edition - consistent with ISBDs. Several later revisions issued. 1997 Toronto conference on AACR2 1998 FRBR study 2004 Start work on AACR3 2005 Develop RDA not AACR3 2009 RDA launch (provisional)

AACR 2 Part 1: Description Chapter 1: General rules Chapters 2 -12: Resource-type-specific rules Chapter 13: Analytic entries Part 2: Headings, Uniform Titles, References Chapter 21: Choice of access points Chapters 22 – 26: Construction of access points Appendices A: Capitalisation, B: Abbreviations, C: Numerals, D: Glossary, E: Initial articles

What’s wrong with AACR? Increasingly complex Lack of logical structure Mixing content and carrier data Hierarchical relationships missing Anglo-American centric viewpoint Written before FRBR Not enough support for collocation Unclear relationship with MARC Format

RDA – The Aims Rules should be easy to use and interpret Be applicable to an online, networked environment Provide effective bibliographic control for all types of media Encourage use beyond the library community Be compatible with other similar standards Have a logical structure based on internationally agreed principles Separate content and carrier data Examples – more of them, more appropriate

Who is working on RDA? Joint Steering Committee (JSC) 1 representative each from: ACOC, ALA, BL, CCC, CILIP, LC JSC reps consult with their ‘constituency’ In UK, CILIP/BL Committee on RDA plus specialist groups (e.g. Rare Books Group, IAML(UK & Ireland) ) RDA Editor: Tom Delsey RDA Project Manager: Marjorie Bloss

And also Task focused working groups RDA GMD/SMD Working Group RDA and ONIX Initiative RDA Examples Working Groups and DCMI RDA Task Group

How is RDA being developed? Draft – (responses – revised drafts – further responses, etc.) – acceptance Latest draft released 17 Nov. 2008; responses to date from: ACOC, ALA, BL, CCC, CILIP, LC France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden ISSN International Centre Final product – the publishers (ALA, CILIP, CLA)

RDA Timelime 2005 2006 and 2007 2008 2009 Prospectus issued Draft of chapters relating to description Content and carrier studies 2006 and 2007 Further drafts of chapters on description and access Work on appendices and glossary 2008 Draft issued in PDF format in November 2009 First public view of online product - late February 2009?

RDA Outline Structure Introduction Attributes Relationships Sections 1 to 4 (chapters 1 to 16) Relationships Sections 5 to 10 (chapters 17 to 37) Appendices A to M Glossary

What will RDA look like? - 1 Section 1: Recording manifestation and item attributes Ch. 1 General guidelines Ch. 2 Identifying manifestations and items Ch. 3 Describing carriers (technical description) Ch. 4 Providing acquisition and access information (terms of availability, etc.)

What will RDA look like? - 2 Section 2: Recording attributes of work and expression Ch. 5 General guidelines (incl. construction of access points for works and expressions) Ch. 6 Identifying works and expressions (e.g. uniform and collective titles, etc.) Ch. 7 Describing additional attributes of works and expressions (incl. nature and coverage of content, intended audience, etc.)

What will RDA look like? - 3 Section 3: Ch. 8, 9, 10, 11 Recording attributes of person, family and corporate body (= name headings) Section 4: Ch. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Recording attributes of concept, object, event and place (= subject headings) Section 5: Ch. 17 Recording primary relationships between work, expression, manifestation and item Section 6: Ch. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Recording relationships to persons, families and corporate bodies associated with a resource

What will RDA look like? – 4 Section 7: Ch. 23 Recording subject relationships Section 8: Ch. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Recording relationships between works, expressions, manifestations and items Section 9: Ch. 29, 30, 31, 32 Recording relationships between persons, families and corporate bodies Section 10: Ch. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 Recording relationships between concepts, objects, events and places

What will RDA look like? - 5 Appendices A: Capitalisation B: Abbreviations C: Initial articles D: Record syntaxes for descriptive data (ISBD, M21, DC) E: Record syntaxes for access point control data F: Additional instructions on names of persons G: Titles of nobility, rank, etc. H: Conversion of dates to Gregorian calendar J, K, L, M: Relationship designators Glossary Index

Using RDA First analyse the resource being described What is the content type? Held in what carrier form? Which audience is it intended for or primarily used by? To what other resources is it related? To which persons, families or corporate bodies is it related? To what concepts, events and places is it related?

One rule for all … Mostly: Rules apply to all content types Rules apply to all media types With Examples of application to specific content and media Occasionally: Rules apply to specific materials or contexts

Words, words, words … Can look opaque or ‘going round in circles’ Trying to avoid reference to specific content and carriers Hope to improve wording over time “Use as the preferred source of information a source forming part of the resource itself that is appropriate to (a) the type of description and (b) the presentation format of the resource” Means: Comprehensive or analytical description Multiple pieces, early print, moving images, or ‘all other materials’

RDA – What will it be? Initially an online resource Potentially: Complete text Pricing, subscription, etc. - still not decided Potentially: Concise text Tailored texts (law, music, serials, etc.) Training resource Incorporated into LMS cataloguing modules Loose-leaf print version(s)

Beyond RDA RDA aims to be: Independent of communication formats UNIMARC, MARC, MARCXML, MODS/MADS DC, EAD, ISBD, VRA, MPEG7 Compatible / better aligned with other similar standards, for example: Archives: ISAD(G) Museums: Cataloguing Cultural Objects

RDA and MARC 21 Mapping RDA and MARC 21 Report issued in Nov. 2006 and discussed at MARBI Midwinter 2007 How will RDA impact on MARC 21? New fields / subfields now being added How will MARC 21 impact on RDA? Identification of data provisions in MARC 21 that were not in early draft of RDA This fed into RDA development process

Looking into the crystal ball FRBR Potential influence on development of cataloguing systems Authority records, uniform titles, work records OPACs Multiple interfaces for different audiences Enhance for accessibility - supports all users Links (actual resources, restrictions, supporting or associated resources) RDA Use outside the library domain

Contact details Ann Chapman a.d.chapman@ukoln.ac.uk http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/bib-man/