RDA (Resource Description and Access) Workshop

Cataloguers Letitia Nicolescu, Julie Beganovic, Yueqian Dobbs and Alison Davis attended a presentation by Chris Todd, Charlotte Stretton and Dan Dorner on 1 April 2009 at the AUT City Campus Conference Centre.

Introducing RDA: the new kid on the block
RDA replaces AACR2. Built on foundations established by the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR), RDA will provide a comprehensive set of guidelines and instructions on resource description and access covering all types of content and media. The new standard is being developed for use primarily in libraries, but consultations are being undertaken with other communities (archives, museums, publishers, etc.) in an effort to attain an effective level of alignment between RDA and the metadata standards used in those communities.
We now have the final draft (as of November 2008) and the final version is due to be published late 2009.

Why do we need RDA?

• The current rules are outdated
• The resources themselves are far more varied than in the past
• Technology has improved considerably since 1978
• Our users have different expectations of what a library catalogue is and can do
• There are multiple metadata standards that are attempting to define the various new formats and resources (MARC, Dublin Core, ISBD, EAD, MARCXML, etc)
  AACR was perceived to have a strong Anglo-American bias (despite being translated into many other languages)
• There are some basic problems with the current rules – as can be seen by the regular revisions, existence of the Library of Congress Rule Interpretations.
  Desire for a principle-based set of guidelines.

The influences on RDA

• AACR and the traditions behind it
• International cataloguing principles IME ICC (IFLA Meeting of Experts on the International Cataloguing Code) – replacing the Paris Principles of 1961
• FRBR (the functional requirements of bibliographic records)
• FRAD (the functional requirements for authority data)

FRBR and FRAD
This is the major change underpinning RDA, and indeed, one of the major conceptual changes in the way we think about the bibliographic universe. This means, it deals with the way we think about publications that end up in our collections.

Coming to grips with FRBR
So, what exactly does this conceptual model say and what does it cover? It focuses on three aspects: entities, attributes and relationships, and apply them to the bibliographic universe.

• An entity is a “being”, or a “thing with a distinct existence
• An attribute is a quality, something that describes an entity
• A relationship is the link between different entities.
  

So, how will RDA affect us?
We need to learn how to use the new rules.
We need to learn to think using the new terminology, and try not to mentally convert to the old each time.
We need to understand FRBR – at least the basics.
Vendors need to buy-in to the new rules – or at least manage their approach.
There will be costs, both financial and personal. We need to purchase access to the RDA tool – and as yet, pricing has not been determined.

• Training of both cataloguers and other staff
• Systems may need to be updated, altered, rejigged
• Bibliographic networks will have changes to make, both behind the scenes, and in terms of public interfaces

There will be some changes to MARC, although there are unlikely to be very many.

A bit more about RDA itself
RDA provides a flexible and extensible framework for the description of resources produced and disseminated using state of the art digital technologies, while also serving the needs of agencies organizing resources produced in non-digital formats’.

RDA is not tied to one communication standard (e.g. MARC), but is explicitly designed to work with any standard, including XML, MODS (Metadata Object Description Schema) and DCMI (the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative), etc.

RDA is an online tool, created for dealing with (in particular) digital resources, and in a digital, online environment. It is not designed to be read or used in print, and its structure and the way it will be used means that a printed copy of it will be notable for its repetition.
RDA still provides us with cataloguing rules, but these are now based on concepts (FRBR etc), and thus centred on principles, not on practices.

This is the first release of RDA. It is incomplete, and will be updated, just as AACR has been updated.

FrrrrBrrrr: A Scottish Play
Shakespeare created the play Macbeth which is the work. The Expression is the text in English. The Manifestation is the Firstfolios of 1623 and the Item is one of those Firstfolios. Volunteers from the audience became works, expressions, manifestations and items to demonstrate how they relate to each other.

Some differences between AACR2/MARC and RDA/MARC records.

• No GMD (General Material Designation) appearing after the title proper, e.g. Titanic [DVD videorecording]. Replaced by new MARC Tags 336-338
• Fewer abbreviations, e.g. Department, January and illustrations instead of Dept., Jan. and ill. Abbreviations were used to fit the information onto a catalogue card
• [S.l.] and [s.n.] replaced by [Place of publication not identified] and [publisher not identified]
• Statements of responsibility may include more than 3 authors or may give the first author plus e.g. [and six others]
• Relationship designators such as author, editor and translator appear after the author’s name. This will enhance search limiting.

Implementation factors

• Publication of RDA
• International evaluation
• Changes in MARC
• Implementation in library systems