Resource Description and Access:
An Implementation Game Plan
Christee Pascale
Associate Head, Metadata & Cataloging
North Carolina State University Libraries
christee_pascale@ncsu.edu
North Carolina Library Association
Resource & Technical Services Section
October 5, 2011
Hickory, NC
Presentation Overview
1. About the NCSU Metadata & Cataloging
Department
2. U.S. RDA Test and NCSU’s experience as an
Institutional Test Participant
3. How NCSU prepared to implement RDA
4. Where RDA is now and what you need to be
thinking about
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
CATALOGING AT NCSU
LIBRARIES
Metadata & Cataloging @ NCSU
• 18 Metadata & Cataloging staff:
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5 in Monographs
6 in Serials & Continuing Resources
3 in Metadata & Data Quality
1 Technology Support for Technical Services
• Highly centralized
• 2009-2010 cataloging output
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60,568 physical & electronic titles (MARC)
50,504 physical volumes (MARC)
12,909 digital image assets (non-MARC)
779 digital text assets (non-MARC)
669.75 linear feet of manuscript materials (non-MARC)
2,943 faculty citations (non-MARC)
Metadata & Cataloging @ NCSU
• ~5% of NCSU MARC cataloging is original
• Much of that is new editions and/or electronic
derived from print
• NCSU is not a participant in the PCC
• MLS holding librarians are doing (next to) no
cataloging
• Support staff are doing all copy AND original
cataloging and both MARC and non-MARC
cataloging
About cataloging activities @ NCSU
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MARC … OCLC & SirsiDynix Symphony
EAD … Archivist’s Toolkit
VRA Core … VCat
MODS … local “Digital Assets” database
Dublin Core … Dspace
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
U.S. RDA TEST
Why did NCSU choose to participate in
the U.S. RDA Test?
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To force ourselves to learn
Copy-heavy institution
Support staff-heavy institution
Trying to re-invigorate our training program
To answer question: how do records of various
types co-exist happily?
• Assessment/usability & cost/value
U.S. RDA Test
Timeline
• U.S. RDA Test
Participant
Preparation
• U.S. RDA Test
Jul-Sep
2010
Oct-Dec
2010
• Data analysis
Jan-Mar
2011
• Final report to LC,
NAL, NLM senior
management
• US National Library
RDA decision
May –
Jun 2011
Requirements
• Common Original & Copy
Set
• Extra Set
• Surveys:
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Record by Record
Record Creator Profile
Record Use
Institutional
NCSU U.S. RDA Test Statistics
• Common set original: 25
• Common set copy:
– met NCSU criteria for upgrade: 4
– did not meet NCSU criteria for upgrade: 1
• Extra set with surveys: 462
– MARC Original: 390 (includes 201 ETDs)
– MARC Copy: 62
– MODS: 10
• NCSU was the 5th highest record creator
U.S. RDA Test Record Creation Findings
Report & Recommendations of the U.S. RDA Test Coordinating
Committee
26 minutes
Average original record creation time for professionals
and paraprofessionals
53 minutes
Average time to create an original RDA records for
records 1-10
26 minutes
Average time to create an original RDA record for records
20+
28 minutes
Average copy cataloging record time for professionals and
paraprofessionals
NCSU RDA Test Record Creation Findings
Record creation times at the end of the test period:
15-40 minutes for original book cataloging
5-20 minutes for copy book cataloging
These times match NCSU’s existing local data for
AACR2 book record creation time.
Average time per record
decreased 40% by the
end of the test.
75% of NCSU catalogers
showed increased rapidity in
record creation over the
course of the test.
For books, ebooks and ejournals
we noted a steady decrease in
record creation time
The majority of print serials were
cataloged by 3 individuals and
despite repeat cataloging, time to
catalog did not decrease much
over time. We have no idea why.
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
NCSU’S RDA IMPLEMENTATION
AND TRAINING
RDA Implementation
NCSU’s Action Plan
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Brainstorm master task list
Categorized tasks into functional areas
Assigned tasks and deadlines
Completed to-do items
NCSU Master List Functional Categories
Coordination
• Tasks related to overall implementation
Data Management
• Tasks related to policy, procedure, documentation and RDA Toolkit setup
Workflow Management
• Tasks related to how materials flow through Technical Services
Staff Management
• Tasks related to coordinating staffing resources, training
System Management
• ILS and OPAC system-related tasks
NCSU’s RDA Training Program
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Involved all Metadata & Cataloging staff
Established an RDA Training Team
Was not a debate about the merits of RDA
Did not cover everything
Focused on what staff needed to know for the
test
• Had to succeed!
The Training Team
– Christee Pascale, Associate Department Head
– Jacquie Samples, Continuing & Electronic
Resources Librarian
– Patrice Daniels, Monographs
– Anne Navarro, Monographs
– Lisa Madden, Continuing & Electronic Resources
Training the Trainers
1. Library of Congress Train the Tester session (for
testing participants) at ALA Midwinter, January 2010
2. Cataloging Management Team watched LC’s RDA
Training Modules and other webinars as a group
3. The RDA Training Team assembled other available
resources, then learned and muddled through as a
group, developing content while simultaneously
learning the material
4. Developed local policies, procedures and
documentation
NCSU’s RDA Training Curriculum
1. LC webinar: RDA Changes from AACR2 for
Texts (B. Tillett)
2. FRBR training
3. RDA core training
4. Breakout groups
5. ALCTS webinars & ongoing discussion
FRBR Training
• Hour-long session before the official start of
RDA training
• Deliberately tailored the content to focus on the
concepts needed to carry over into RDA training
and then attempted to make those concepts
more concrete
FRBR Training
• What worked well?
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Tailoring the content to need-to-know for RDA
Concrete examples & props
Focus on user tasks
Group discussion
FRBR Training
• What worked less well?
– FRBR is hard and needs to be reinforced throughout:
• FRBR terminology/language
• Connection between FRBR and RDA organization
• Connection between RDA organization and descriptive
record elements
• Relationships
NCSU’s RDA Core Training Curriculum
Day One
Day Three
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Introducing RDA
Access Points
Relationship Designators
Preferred Title for the Work
Day Two
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Dates for Multipart Monographs,
Serials and Integrating Resources
Series Statement
Numbering of Serials & Series
Notes
MARC Encoding for the US RDA Test
Wrap-Up
Sources of Information
Identifier for the Manifestation
Title Proper and Statement of Responsibility
Content, Media and Carrier Types
Designation of the Edition
Publication Statement and Copyright Date
Extent, Illustrative Content (etc.) and Dimensions
RDA Core Training
• Differed from LC’s training in two ways:
– More intentionally taught RDA in terms of
MARC21 and AACR2
– Softened the presentation of RDA in its
FRBR/FRAD-based conceptual framework
• 12 hours of training over a 3 day period
NCSU Did NOT Cover
• Changes to types of materials we do not often collect:
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Parts of the Bible
Rare books
Treaties
Music
• We also did not train in-depth on the new MARC
Authority Record fields … just enough to be able to read
an RDA authority record
RDA Core Training
• What worked well?
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Half-day sessions
Involving support staff in the content creation
Having more than one presenter
Starting with the harder stuff and leaving on a “high”
Having professional-looking Powerpoints & handouts
Having and sticking to an agenda
Investing in the planning
Discussion that ended in decision-making & follow-up
Snacks!
RDA Core Training
• What worked less well?
– Easy to get derailed by the edge cases
– Discussion that did not end in decision-making
– Staff want examples, examples, examples
• We did not have enough examples
• We did not show full records
• They were not all contextual to our environment
Breakout Groups
• Split our staff of 15 into small groups
• Created practice records together for resources we were
likely to catalog during the US Test:
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Single part monograph (print and electronic)
Multipart monograph (print and electronic)
Upgraded monographic copy (from AACR2 to RDA)
DVD
Children's resources
Streaming media
Theses & dissertations
Serials (print and electronic)
Integrating resources (print and electronic)
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
LESSONS LEARNED
We learned …
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FRBR matters
It is kind of cool to reset the training baseline
It is easy to get bogged down by edge cases
Unlearning and changing focus are hard
Balance emphasis on cataloger’s judgment v.
emphasis on efficiency is challenging
• Energy is a good thing in and of itself
We were reminded that …
People like examples.
Catalogers like rules.
Catalogers like when expectations are clear
and documentation is up to date.
Support staff like when their bosses know
the answers to their questions.
Managers like when LC figures things out
first.
Copy catalogers may never
have engaged in these
issues before.
Cataloger’s judgment
needs to be grounded
in FRBR user tasks.
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
RDA: WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Report and Recommendations of the U.S.
RDA Test Coordinating Committee
• Final report issued to public on May 9, 2011
• US National Libraries RDA implementation no
sooner than January 2013
• Contingent on satisfactory process/completion of
report tasks & action items
Final Report Task and Action Item Highlights
• Reword RDA instructions in clear, unambiguous,
plain English
• Define process for updating RDA in the online
environment
• Improve functionality of the RDA Toolkit
• Develop full RDA record examples in MARC and
other encoding schema
• Demonstrate credible progress towards a
replacement for MARC
• Lead and coordinate RDA Training
RDA Rewording
• RDA should be reworded as necessary to
improve clarity and ease of reading, without
altering the intent of the instructions
• The Coordinating Committee will accept an
improvement “approaching the scores for 12th
grade/1st year of college” according to the
Flesch-Kincaid test
• The Coordinating Committee will also call on a
subset of the original testers to be involved in
the review of the reworded chapters
Which Chapters?
• Coordinating Committee recommendation:
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6, Identifying Works and Expressions
9, Identifying Persons
10, Identifying Families
11, Identifying Corporate Bodies
17, General Guidelines on Recording Primary
Relationships
• JSC recommendation:
– 2, Recording Attributes of Manifestation and Item
Rewording Time Frame
• ALA will select and contract with a copy editor as
soon as possible
• A minimum of 5 chapters (those recommended
by Coordinating Committee) will be completed
and accepted no later than June 2012
RDA Toolkit Update Recommendations
• Anticipated updates to RDA:
– Major: not more than twice annually
– Minor: not more than monthly
• JSC and ALA Co-Publishing are working on a
process for updating RDA in the online
environment
• Time frame: within 3 months
RDA Toolkit Enhancement
Recommendations
• Integration of full examples into Toolkit
– Time frame: within 6 months
• Develop “Core” and “Core if” only searches
• Highlight Element set view
– Allows viewing of all instructions for an RDA element
• Provide mapping of RDA elements to other
metadata schema
Bibliographic Framework Transition
Initiative
• May 23, 2011: Announcement by Deanna
Marcum: “Transforming our Bibliographic
Framework”
• Fall 2011: Stakeholders being identified
• Tasks and timeframe to follow
– Report timeframe: 18-24 months
National RDA Training Efforts
• LC to lead training efforts
• PCC, ALCTS and other bodies to be engaged
• Status:
– LC updating test training and documentation
– Coordinating with PCC
– Creating a training/implementation timetable
Other National Library Adoption Plans
RDA Committee of Principals (14 August 2011):
“The British Library, Library and Archives Canada,
the Library of Congress and the National Library of
Australia confirmed their agreement (22 October
2007) to coordinate implementation of RDA, not
sooner than early 2013.”
http://www.rda-jsc.org/rdacop.html
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
THE IMPLEMENTATION GAME
PLAN
Getting Your RDA House in Order
• Determine who is responsible for coordinating
overall RDA implementation at your institution
• Determine who the stakeholders are in your
RDA implementation
• Brainstorm a master list of tasks
– Set an implementation date
– Set and hold staff to task deadlines
Policy and Procedure
• Review your current policy and procedure with
LC’s RDA documentation:
– RDA Alternatives and Options: LC’s Policy Decisions
– LCPS
• Decide how you plan to communicate local
policy and procedure to staff
– Staff manual, internal website/wiki, RDA Toolkit
• Create a plan for updating existing AACR2
documentation and writing RDA documentation
Workflow Considerations
• Ask yourself how RDA cataloging might impact
all your existing cataloging processes:
– Will RDA cataloged materials be able to flow through
your system the same as AACR2?
– Do you have non-cataloging staff performing copy
cataloging?
– Do you outsource copy cataloging (e.g. shelf ready)?
Determine System Impact
• Does the absence of GMDs effect your library?
• Will library staff update ILS to include new RDA
MARC fields?
– Waiting for your vendor may impact implementation
date
• Are you going to make use of 33X fields in your
OPAC?
– If so, determine stakeholders and define labels/use
• Stay tuned for RDA authority control decisions
RDA Toolkit
• Are you going to subscribe?
• Recommendation:
– Earliest: when you begin planning for your
implementation
– Latest: when you begin planning for training
Training
• In-house or outsource?
• Provide all staff with basic training or train only
the trainers
• Scale
– Do all staff need the same amount of training?
– Do you want to begin cataloging all formats in RDA
on implementation date or do a phased format
implementation?
Additional thoughts on training …
• FRBR
• Define a group to begin learning and working
with RDA as soon as possible
• Build in time for practice
• Examples, examples, examples
• Determine how staff will get answers to policy,
procedure and RDA instruction questions
Resource Description and Access (RDA):
An Implementation Game Plan
QUESTION AND ANSWER
SESSION
Documentation & Resources
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NCSU:
– http://go.ncsu.edu/rda
– particularly: NCSU RDA Training FAQ
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Library of Congress
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Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA
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http://www.rda-jsc.org/news.html
particularly: Summary of Progress on US RDA Test Recommendations to JSC
OCLC Technical Bulletin 258 (OCLC-MARC Format Update 2010
including RDA Changes)
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http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/
particularly: Training and Documentation
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/
Note: Page defunct with close of US RDA Test
particularly: Full Report and Executive Summary
http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/worldcat/tb/258/default.htm
University of Chicago:
– http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/staffweb/depts/cat/rda.html
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RDA-L
– http://www.rda-jsc.org/rdadiscuss.html