21:3 (2006:09) 21st Conference: The Shape of Things to Come: Resource Description and Access (RDA)

August 31, 2006 at 6:20 pm | Posted in Conference Reports, Tactics Sessions | Leave a comment

TACTICS SESSIONS

The Shape of Things to Come: Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Ed Jones, National University
Reported by Mavis Molto 

Ed Jones began the session with an overview of the history of recent catalog codes and events that have laid the groundwork for current code development.  Key events have been the development of AACR2 in 1978 and FRBR, Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, in 1997, along with the meeting of the International Conference on the Future of AACR2 in Toronto in 1997, and more recently, the International Meetings of Experts for an International Cataloguing Code.  As work began on AACR3, the cataloging community said it did not go far enough in incorporating FRBR principles, providing for digital materials, and solving GMD problems.  Work has thus begun on a totally new code, Resource Description and Access (RDA). 

RDA has a structure more aligned with FRBR and a more “user friendly” layout and formatting of instructions.  The code will incorporate the FRBR objectives of allowing users to find, identify, select, and obtain resources.  The relationship to access is perhaps one of the biggest changes from AACR2.  RDA deals only with elements; ISBD punctuation guidelines have been moved to an appendix.  Other features are: AACR2 compatibility, consistency, compatibility with international principles, and usability outside the library community.   

The structure of RDA will differ from AACR2, with the rules presented in three parts (as of May 5, 2006).  Part I, on resource description, will be organized by user tasks; Part II will cover relationships, and Part III will cover access point control, including a chapter on names of families taken from the archives community.  For the first time, drafts of the new code are being posted to the web for comment.  The goal is to publish RDA in 2008.  The code will be optimized for online use, using English-language conventions. 

A description of RDA’s relationship with other standards, including FRBR, ISBD and MARC21, was provided.  FRBR, an entity-relationship model, is part of RDA’s “conceptual foundation,” with relationships in the code based on the FRBR Group 1 entities: work, expression, manifestation, and item.  RDA and MARC will be compatible, but not tied specifically to one another.  RDA will also be compatible with the draft “Statement of International Cataloguing Principles” (SICP), which states that bibliographic records should typically reflect manifestations and that the description should be based on international standards, currently the International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions. 

Some of the new features of RDA include: 

1. No ISBD punctuation in the examples.
2. Different meanings for some terms (e.g., mode of issuance, and intended termination).
3. Minimal level of detail, equating with Level 1 in AACR2 plus series title/numbering. 
4. Statement of responsibility as a transcription or, optionally, a controlled access point. 
5. The “rule of 3” made optional for the statement of responsibility. 
6. Inaccuracies transcribed as is, with corrections given in notes. 
7. Additional publishers displayed as a second 260 field and/or a note. 
9. Use of the English phrases “place of publication unknown” and “publisher unknown,” instead of the Latin abbreviations “S.l.” and “s.n.” 

Topics that came up for discussion included:  sources for serials description in RDA; implementation schedule for RDA; the concepts of “integrating resources” and “continuing resources” in RDA; and provisions for RDA use in non-English languages.