1. Module 6: Preparing for RDA ...
Our next topic today is preparing for RDA.
LC RDA for NASIG - June 1, 2011

2. Implementing RDA? If “yes” to that question, need to get ready
If “no” to that question, still need to get ready
RDA bibliographic and authority records in shared databases & local catalogs
RDA access points in non-RDA records
If you don’t know the answer, still need to get ready
The answer to the question of implementation really doesn’t matter when you consider if you need to get ready for RDA. RDA bibliographic and authority records are already in our shared databases and our local catalogs; some are records from the US RDA Test and some are from libraries using RDA now for their cataloging. RDA access points are and will be used in AACR2 bibliographic records because some entities are represented in the LC/NACO Authority File by RDA records.
So, for one reason or another, you do need to get ready for RDA.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

3. Who needs to get ready? You Your library colleagues Your library’s ILS
Your library’s users
Preparations involve many different groups.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

4. How to prepare yourself
1. Become familiar with FRBR and FRAD: entities, terminology, user tasks
2. Review available training materials and documentation
3. Explore RDA Toolkit or printed version of RDA if have access; if not, review last full draft (caveat: some aspects changed):
Many of these recommendations are represented by links on the separate one-page handout you’ve received.
We’ve mentioned several times today the Functional Requirements models; you don’t need a detailed knowledge but you need to be aware of the entities, the terminology, and the user tasks.
Although the training materials and documentation on LC’s web site was written for the Test and will need to be revised if LC implements RDA, that documentation will be helpful in giving you more detail than we could cover today. Other catalogers have made presentations as part of webinars sponsored by ALA; those webinars will be free 6-9 months after each was broadcast.
If you’ve not read any part of RDA, do so now to begin orienting yourself to the style of the instructions and examples. The full draft is available at the URL shown here (some instructions were changed after the review period); ALA Publishing has also offered just offered anothr 30-day free trial.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

5. How to prepare yourself
4. View webcasts/webinars and attend briefings, workshops, etc.
5. Read books and articles about RDA
6. Talk with cataloging colleagues in your library: share what you know with each other
Take advantage of different presentations on RDA; repetition helps and different people will explain different aspects or the same aspects in different ways.
Just a reminder about #5: Be careful about articles written before June 2010 when the RDA Toolkit was released; there are changes in the RDA content from the full draft to the June 2010 content.
Talk with catalogers in your library. .
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

6. How to prepare yourself
7. Talk with cataloging colleagues in other
libraries
8. Create RDA practice records
9. Create more RDA practice records !!
Contact your cataloging colleagues in other libraries; find out what they’re planning to do, what they understand, what they don’t understand
Last, but definitely not least, create as many practice records as possible: find out where the information is in RDA because the structure is different, find out what RDA says to do -- and find out what you don’t know.
Now that you are “ready,” you are “set” to “go” and talk to others in your library.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

7. How to prepare your colleagues
Staff in all parts of your library
Tell them what you’ve learned about FRBR, FRAD, RDA, MARC
In appropriate levels of detail
Telling someone else ensures you really do understand
Involve staff or representatives of staff from all parts of your library -- library staff are users, too.
Give them what they need to know that’s different about RDA so that they can do their jobs.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

8. Prepare your library: If implementing RDA
Make policy decisions with colleagues from various areas:
Elements beyond RDA core elements you will include in own records and accept in copy records (consult with vendor and consortium as needed)
Application of PCC guidelines that are specific implementations of RDA: CONSER Standard Record, provider-neutral, etc.
If your library or consortium is implementing RDA, there are various policy decisions you’ll need to make with staff members (again, not just with other catalogers), with your vendor, with other consortium members.
-- elements to give/accept in RDA records
-- use of any of the specific PCC implementations of RDA that vary from RDA as written
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

9. If implementing RDA: more policy decisions
Make policy decisions with colleagues from various areas:
Decisions on options and alternatives or always apply cataloger judgment
Changes in existing records (e.g., form of access points, GMD vs fields)
Other policy decisions you’ll need to make:
-- options and alternatives
-- changes to non-RDA records already in your catalog.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

10. Prepare your library: If not implementing RDA
Make policy decisions with colleagues from various areas:
Add RDA records from vendors or other libraries to your catalog for resources in your collection?
If adding RDA records, accept with no changes? If make some changes, what changes?
Even if you’re not implementing RDA, you’ll need to make decisions about RDA records you might receive for resources being added to your collection.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

11. Library system impact if RDA records in your catalog
Talk with IT staff and/or vendor to ensure MARC 21 RDA changes were implemented (have been issued as regular MARC updates)
Make decisions on display and indexing of new fields in your OPAC
The MARC changes we discussed have been distributed as regular MARC updates. You need to ensure that your IT staff and/or vendor have implemented those changes.
Then you can discuss with colleagues in all parts of the library how you want to index and display these fields.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

12. Training and implementation
If implementing RDA:
Develop training materials
Give demonstrations of the RDA Toolkit
Review mappings
Create templates, macros, workflows
Practice, practice, practice !!!
Discuss practice/real records
Foster cataloger judgment (includes “stamping out tweaking” of others’ records)
If you are implementing RDA, there are many steps to schedule. Take advantage of the free training materials available on the Web. All materials on LC’s RDA Test documentation site are free for your use and modification. Files of presentations are posted on the JSC site. Contact presenters to ask if you can use individual slides with proper credit.
Figure out what you can provide to staff in your library creating RDA records to simplify repetitive steps.
And do all you can to develop cataloger judgment.!
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

13. Training and implementation
If not implementing RDA:
Explain changes from AACR2 so staff can understand records in Worldcat, etc. (and especially if RDA records will be added to your catalog)
Explain changes in MARC 21 formats
If you’re not implementing RDA, you’ll still need to give orientation sessions to explain what staff members will be seeing in RDA records your library receives.
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

14. Inform your library’s users
Explain changes in display and indexing
If your policy is not to change authorized access points to the same form in all records, give guidance where forms are different
And last, but not least, tell your users (both library staff and others) what has changed!
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6

15. Down the road ... Stay informed/investigate:
Controlled vocabularies on the Web
Linked data
Encoding schema successor to MARC 21
Talk with colleagues in other information communities (e.g., archives, museums)
Enjoy exciting challenges and opportunities -- that’s what serials people do well: “deal with change”
Implementing RDA is not the end of the process. It is the first step in the transition to a different bibliographic universe.
The road to that future may not always be straight and smooth. Change is not always easy but change can bring exciting challenges and opportunities! And who better than serials people to “deal with change”!
LC RDA: NASIG Module 6