1. RDA for Law Catalogers:
Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
George Prager
New York University Law School Library
July 21, 2012 (revised July 31, 2012)

2. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Overview of presentation:
What is a work, an expression, a new work?
Statutory authority: RDA vs. LCPS
Differentiating works and expressions
Relating works and expressions
We could speak for days on each of these topics. Luckily for you, I just have 30 minutes!

3. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
What is a work? RDA glossary: Work = A distinct intellectual or artistic creation (i.e., the intellectual or artistic content)
What is an expression?: RDA glossary: “the intellectual or artistic realization of a work in the form of alpha-numeric, musical, or choreographic notation, sound, image, object, movement, etc., or any combination of such forms.”
What is a new work?: RDA/LCPS gives guidance, based on mode of issuance (single or multipart monographs, serials, and integrating resources. See also RDA : Adaptations and revisions, and Commentaries: RDA )
Many grey areas; use cataloger’s judgment!
Glossary also defines: “Expression manifested” and “Expression of work”.
What is a new work? See also: RDA Appendix J on relationship designators used between Group 1 FRBR entities.

4. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Brief excursus on statutory authority:
RDA has “instructions” (AACR2 “rules”) + alternatives
Library of Congress policy statements (LCPS):
Successor to LC rule interpretations (LCRIs)
Many labeled “LC practice”: LC policy in following RDA’s different alternatives, or LC practice if different than RDA instructions:
No need to follow unless you work for LC or creating authority records

5. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Brief excursus on statutory authority (cont.):
PCC reviewing LC practice decisions:
Some LCPS now: LC practice/PCC practice
Some just as: PCC practice
Will take several more months to review and record all PCC decisions
LCPS will be retitled: LC-PCC policy statements
will be two separate sets of policy statements
may be available from RDA Toolkit
The Final Report of the PCC/LC PSD RDA Policy Statements Task Group (last revised April 27, 2012) makes recommendations for which LCPS the PCC should follow for RDA Chapters 0-7, parts of Chapter 9, and the RDA Appendices (the Task Group reviewed about ¾ of all the LCPS relating to RDA). The report is available at: The PCC Standing Committee on Standards (SCS) is currently reviewing all the LCPS not reviewed by the Task Group. Decisions made by the Task Group and the SCS are being added to RDA documentation over the next few months. While no exact timetable has been set, decisions on LCPS for Chapters 0-1 are expected to be integrated into the RDA Toolkit sometime in August Other decisions will be made publicly available somewhat later.

6. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Brief excursus on statutory authority (cont.):
Non-PCC records in WorldCat must still adhere to OCLC guidelines
Non-PCC records not required to follow PCC statements (though recommended)
When no LC or PCC statements, all libraries free to follow RDA as written, including any RDA alternatives

7. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works:
Differentiation: data describing resource should differentiate that resource from other resources (RDA )
RDA (0.6.3; ) distinguishes all works with same or similar preferred title
LC practice: limits to all works that have the same authorized access point (AAP)
Results in less conflict situations
RDA: If the preferred title for a work is the same as or similar to a title for a different work, or to the name of a person, family, or corporate body:
RDA does not elaborate on what it considers a “similar” preferred title, leaving this up to cataloger’s judgment.

8. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works (cont):
Three choices:
Add elements to access point for work
Add as separate elements
Can add even when no need to differentiate
Add to both access point and as separate elements
RDA does not specify bibliographic or authority records

9. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works (cont.):
Record as many of the additional identifying elements listed below as necessary in AAP and/or separately
(RDA 0.6.3) :
Form of work (380 bib & authority)
Date of work (046 $k and $l authority)
Place of origin of work (370 $g authority)
Other distinguishing characteristics of work (381 bib and authority)

10. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works (cont.):
LC practice: Always add additions to access point
Identifying elements added to work headings not separately subfielded in MARC 21
a. Form of work (RDA 6.3)= class or genre to which a work belongs. No controlled list
Nutcracker (Choreographic work)

11. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works (cont.):
b. Date of work (RDA 6.4). Usually year alone, except for treaties: Dublin magazine (1762)
c. Place of origin of the work (RDA 6.5): Country or other territorial jurisdiction from which work originated: use form in Chapter 16 & abbreviations in Appendix B.2: Advocate (Nairobi, Kenya)

12. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Differentiating works (cont.):
d. Other distinguishing characteristics of the work (RDA 6.6 & 6.21): another characteristic that differentiates a work from another work with same title or from name of a person, family, or corporate body. Often name of an issuing body or jurisdiction
Bulletin (New York State Museum)

13. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Constructing the authorized access point:
First choose the preferred title by following the general instructions in RDA and (if applicable) legal instructions in
Then apply general instructions for formulating AAPs under and legal rules 6.29

14. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Different expressions of same work: RDA 0.6.3: Add identifying elements to the AAP for the work, or: Add as separate elements in other parts of the record, or both Use any of the choices given in RDA (content type, date of expression, language of expression, and/or other distinguishing characteristics of the expression)
“Content type” is an expression level attribute in RDA: See list at RDA Any of these terms can be added to distinguish expressions (MARC 21 $h)

15. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Different expressions of same work (cont.):
Content type
$h in access point (also 336 bib and auth)
Date of expression
$f in access point (also 046 $k and $l auth)
Language of expression
$l in access point (also 377 auth)

16. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Different expressions of same work (cont.):
LC practice: Identify expressions by adding expression attribute to AAP for the work only in following cases:
1. Music resources (RDA )
2. Sacred scriptures (RDA );
3. Translations (LCPS );
4. Language editions (LCPS )
5. Compilations whose preferred title is a conventional collective title beginning with “Works” (LCPS )
A sixth case when LC differentiates expressions of the same work is given in LCPS Whenever a serial becomes an integrating resource or vice versa and the authorized access point would otherwise be the same, additions are made to the newer title to distinguish them (The LCPS speaks of “resources”, but as written would apply to both expressions of the same work and new works).

17. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
But: two French translations of Hamlet—not differentiated by LC. Other elements in the bibliographic record (e.g., translator, date, medium of performance) help user select specific expression
PCC policy undecided: new PCC Task Group on Access Points for Expressions will come up with recommendations

18. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Relationships (RDA ):
Data should indicate significant relationships between resource described and other resources
RDA has 10 sections; sections 5-10 cover elements corresponding to the relationships defined in FRBR and FRAD (0.5)

19. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording primary relationships between Group 1 (WEMI) entities (RDA and RDA 17):
RDA “When recording primary relationships between work, expression, manifestation, and item, include as a minimum the work manifested. “
More than one expression of the work, record the expression manifested
More than one work or expression embodied in manifestation, only predominant or first-named work or expression manifested is required
“Primary relationships” are defined in RDA :
Primary relationships▼ are the relationships between a work, expression, manifestation, and item that are inherent in the FRBR definitions of those entities: a)
the relationship between a work and an expression through which that work is realized b)
the relationship between an expression of a work and a manifestation that embodies that expression c)
the relationship between a manifestation and an item that exemplifies that manifestation.
The relationship between a work and a manifestation that embodies that work may also be recorded without identifying the expression through which the work is realized (see 17.7 (manifestation of work) and 17.8 (work manifested).

20. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording primary relationships (cont.):
LC practice for Chapter 17: Do not apply in current implementation scenario (not easily done with MARC 21)
Use RDA chapter 6 for identifying works and expressions
Refer also to 25.1 (analytical AAPs for works in a compilation) and 26.1 (analytical AAPs for expressions in a compilation)

21. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording primary relationships (cont.):
If preferred title of work is same as title proper of manifestation, then 1XX (if needed) for preferred title is usually all that is necessary
MARC 245 often does triple duty as title proper of manifestation, and preferred title of work and original expression

22. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording other relationships between FRBR Group 1 entities (RDA 24-28):
Optional, but recommended
If helping to fulfill any FRBR/ FRAD user tasks
Use any of the following (RDA 24.4: general):
Identifier: ISBN, ISSN, URI, etc. (LC does not use the identifier by itself for a related entity)

23. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording other relationships between FRBR Group 1 entities (cont.):
Authorized access point: 1XX if needed + preferred title
Structured description: Contents note, other structured note, or linking entry fields (MARC 21 76X-78X) which also often include identifiers)
Supersedes work: Sacher on spatchcocking / Sigismund Sacher. New York : Culinary Press, 2012.
RDA glossary definition: A full or partial description of a resource using the same structure (i.e., the same order of elements) that is used for the resource being described

24. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording other relationships between FRBR Group 1 entities (cont.):
Unstructured description:
“Supersedes the ten volume work Sacher on spatchcocking.”

25. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Group 1 relationship designators (RDA , Appendix J):
Optional with AAPs or linking entry fields to further indicate nature of relationship
700 1# $i Supersedes (work): $a Sacher, Sigismund. $t Sacher on spatchcocking.

26. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Group 1 relationship designators (cont.):
If relationship is clear through MARC coding, do not also add relationship designation (LCPS 0.12)
If needed, cataloger may devise concise term indicating nature of relationship
Recommended to send request for needed term to chair of PCC’s Standing Committee on Standards (SCS)
There will be a new "PCC practice" for vocabulary enhancement for RDA 0.12 that will be issued in August 2012.
The SCS chair will get them to CC:DA for potential Fast Track action by the JSC ( from LC’s RDA help desk,
July 17, 2012).

27. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording FRBR Group 2 to Group 1 relationships (RDA 0.6.6, RDA 18-22):
Include as a minimum the elements listed below that are applicable and readily ascertainable:  
Creator (if more than one, only the creator having principal responsibility named first in resources embodying the work or in reference sources is required; if principal responsibility is not indicated, only the first-named creator is required)

28. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Recording FRBR Group 2 to Group 1 relationships (cont.):
Other person, family, or corporate body associated with a work
If the AAP for that person, family, or corporate body is used to construct AAP for the work

29. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Group 2 to Group 1 relationship designators (RDA , Appendix I):
General WORK level relationship designators for Group 2 entities: (* = creator):
Abridger, Addressee, Author*, Compiler*, Dedicatee, Honoree, Host Institution, Interviewee*, Interviewer*, Issuing body, Photographer*, Sponsoring body
May also use term from the: MARC Code List for Relators:

30. Identifying and relating resources and entities
Group 2 to Group 1 relationship designators (cont.): Special WORK level legal relationship designators: Appellant, Appellee, Court governed, Defendant, Enacting jurisdiction*, Judge, Jurisdiction governed, Plaintiff May devise term if needed (Let SCS chair know new term needs to be added to list)

31. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Group 2 to Group 1 relationship designators (cont.): General EXPRESSION level relationship designators for Group 2 entities Abridger, Editor, Editor of compilation, Illustrator, Translator, Writer of added commentary Expression level legal relationship designators: Court reporter

32. Identifying and Relating Resources and Entities
Thank you! Further questions?