Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Emporia State University, LI804, Dr. Lynne Chase, Fall 2009Holly Caro, Paula Ciberay, Jennifer Dibbern, Andrea McCullough, Amy Nelson, Alfredo Pinto, Kate Skarbek, Elisa Wood

What is Resource Description and Access (RDA)?

Cataloguing code

Primarily used by libraries

Designed to replace Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd Ed (AACR2)

Information Transfer Cycle

Differences between RDA and AACR2

Provides digital resource cataloguing guidelines

Designed with the user in mind

More detail in record about editions, translations, alternative format and creator

AACR2 RDA

General Material Designators

(GMDs) of AACR2 will not be

used in RDA. Instead…

Heading will now be…

“See” references will now

be…

“Uniform title” will be …

When preferred title is linked with the creator…

Data elements for media

type, carrier type, and

content type will be

used

“access point”

“Variant access points”

“Preferred title” for a work

We have a “preferred

access point” for the

work

Expanding Bibliographic Universe

“This bibliographic universe is not just books, but rather, many galaxies and worlds of content….”

(Tillet, 2008, p. 4)

Why RDA?

A need for a cataloguing code to adequately describe digital technology

A means to reach Internet users

Offers more specific controlled vocabularies allowing machines to manipulate data more than before

Focuses on identifying elements needed to describe interrelationships

Who is Involved in the Development of RDA?

Joint Steering Committee (JSA) for Development of RDA

Canadian Committee on Cataloguing

Close Up on Key Players

LOC Working group on the Future of Bibliographic Control

Presents findings on bibliographic control and other

descriptive practices

Presents findings on supporting management of and

access to library materials in the evolving information

technology environment

Recommends ways library community can implement

these practices

Advises Library of Congress on its roles and priorities – In

2008, recommended suspending work on RDA

Close Up on Key Players, cont.

Committee of Principles

RDA Test Coordinating Committee Members

RDA Test Partners- Partners represent institutions that use a wide range of cataloging systems, OPACS, communication formats and types of materials.

Museums

Archives

Publishers

Educators

ILS Vendors

Dublin Core

Other semantic web

communities

Who Uses RDA?

Few so far

Who Will Use RDA?

Possibly:

Although right now, the real answer is no one.

Potential Users of RDA

Library communities who do not currently use an online catalogs, databases or bibliographies

Other communities with a need for access to online catalogs, databases or bibs

Corporations and businesses

How is RDA Constructed?

10 Sections broken into 2 main categories

Attributes = first 4 sections

Relationships = sections 5 – 10 deal with

recording relationships either to or

between entities

Attributes

Manifestation and item

Work and expression

Person, family, and corporate body

Concept, object, event, and place

Relationships

Primary relationships

Relationships of persons, families, and corporate bodies associated with a resource

Subject relationships

Relationships between works, expressions, manifestations, and items

Relationships between persons, families and corporate bodies

Relationships between concepts, objects, events, and places

What is RDA Based On?

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Resources (FRBR)

Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD)

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Resources (FRBR)

An entity-relationship model

Designed to give holistic approach to user retrieval and access

Reflects an associative, relational organization of information where the user can expand their search in multiple directions if they wish

FRBR, cont.

Model identifies and facilitates 4 user tasks:

Find- specific resources

Indentify- confirm resource as meeting user

needs

Select- find resources that are singular to the

user’s need

Obtain- gain access or acquire the resource

5th Unofficial (enhancement) user task: Navigate- to discover relations of the universe represented in the catalog, database or bibliography being used

FRBR Group 1 Entities like Plato’s Forms?

Work

Expression

Manifestation

Item

FRBR consists of 3 entity groups:

Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item

Person, Corporate Body

Concepts, Objects, Events, Place

A book, stage play, CD, film, etc.

The group or organization responsible for stewardship of product

The subject of the product

Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item

Person, Corporate Body

Figure 3.2: Group 2 Entities and “Responsibility” Relationships

Concepts, Objects, Event, Place

Figure 3.3: Group 3 Entities and “Subject” Relationships

How FRBR is Used

FictionFinder is an OCLC, FRBR-based online catalog for over 2.9 fiction records in WorldCat

Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD)

An entity-relationship model

User-centered

Model identifies 4 user tasks

Find- same as FRBR

Identify- same as FRBR

Contextualize- to place in context, to clarify

relationships

Justify- document why the name was chosen as an

access point

FRAD Functions

Every access point to a work is unique and allows access to the specific work

Searching under one heading will find associated records or collections

RDA History

British and N. American texts of Anglo-American cataloging code

published

AACR2 issued by English-speaking

countries

Revisions to AACR2

IFLA developed FRBR to reinforce objectives of

catalogs and the importance of relationships

Revisions to AACR2

International Conference on the Principles

and Future Development of

AACR held in Toronto

Draft revision of AACR2 begun

(AACR3)

Concern about need to move

towards FRBR's model

Draft of RDA part 1 made available

for review

More drafts of RDA chapters

issued

Concerns raised by NLM & National

Agricultural Library

Full draft of RDA issued

Test period for RDA

Anticipated release of RDA

20021978

1988 Late 1990’s

19981997

1967

20042005

2006-072007

2008201

0Nov 2009

Thoughts on RDA

Much debate caused by so many unknowns.

The test period will help clear up some of the these.

The evaluative test factors set to determine feasibility are:

Operational

Technical

Economic

RDA Pros

A cataloging standard for the digital environment

A framework that describes all resources

Focuses on the needs of usersSupports metadata sharing among metadata communities

Supports new uses of library records in online services

RDA Cons

Some claim RDA goes too far

Others claim that RDA doesn’t go far enough

Concerns about cost/benefit

Concerns about how RDA will impact work flows

Concerns about learning and training

Switching from AACRs vocabulary to RDA will be difficult for catalogers

Further RDA Questions

Will switching from format as top priority to function as top priority work efficiently in the arrangement of cataloging rules?

Will the additional information provided by RDA prove useful to users, will the results be information overload?

Will ILS systems be compatible with all access points?

Will transitioning to RDA be difficult for the customer; will it be easily understood?

References

FictionFinder: A FRBR-based prototype for fiction in WorldCat (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/fictionfinder.htm

Hillman, D. (2009, February 2). Denver Midwinter: All RDA, all the time… [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://managemetadata.org/blog/2009/02/02/denver-midwinter-all-rda-all-the-time

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (2009, February). Functional requirements for bibliographic records (Final Report). Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/functional-requirements-for-bibliographic-records

Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (2009). Report on RDA. Retrieved from http://www.rda-jsc.org/index.html

Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (2006). Resource description and access. Retrieved from http://www.rdaonline.org/

Library of Congress (2008). Joint Statement of the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Agricultural Library on Resource Description and Access. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/

Library of Congress (2008). On the Record: Report of The Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/

References, cont.

Library of Congress (2009). Testing Resource Description and Access. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/

Lovins, D. (2008). Cataloging news. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 45(4), 101-113.

Patton, G.E. (2009, August). From FRBR to FRAD: Extending the model. Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 75TH IFLA General Conference and Council, Milan, Italy. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla75/215-patton-en.pdf  

Taylor, A.G., Joudrey, D.N. (2009) The organization of information. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

Tillett, B. (2008). Cataloging principles and RDA: Resource description and access. Retrieved from http://www.frbr.org/2008/07/16/barbara-tillett-rda-webcasts

Tillett, B. (2008). Resource description and access: Background/overview. Retrieved from http://www.frbr.org/2008/07/16/barbara-tillett-rda-webcasts

Tillett, B. (2004). What is FRBR? A conceptual model for the bibliographic universe, The Australian Library Journal, 54 (1). Retrieved October 4, 2009, from www.worldcat.org/oclc/54962277?tab=details

Vizine-Goetz, D. (2007). Fiction Finder: Imagining a Next Generation Catalog. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/fictionfinder.htm