1. 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:

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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)

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 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.)

17. 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.)

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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?

22. 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

23. 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’

24. 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)

25. 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

26. RDA and MARC 21 Mapping RDA and MARC 21
Report issued in Nov 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

27. 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

28. Contact details Ann Chapman a.d.chapman@ukoln.ac.uk