RDA Implementation at the
Library of Congress (LC)
Dr. Barbara B. Tillett
Chief, Policy & Standards Division, Library of Congress
& Chair, Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA
For LIANZA (Library and Information Association of New
Zealand Aotearoa)
September 2012
US RDA Test - 2010
• 2008 report – Working Group on the
Future of Bibliographic Control
• US National Libraries response to test
RDA
US RDA Test – LC Support
• LChelp4rda@loc.gov
• Library of Congress Policy Statements
(LCPS)
• http://loc.gov/aba/rda/ for LC’s
implementation news, training materials,
Webcasts, etc.
US RDA Test
• 26 participating institutions
– Many types of libraries, archives, museums,
book dealers, library schools, system
vendors, bibliographic consortia, PCC funnel
projects
– 10,570 Bibliographic records
– 12,800 Authority records
– >8,000 surveys on findings
• Results: improvements needed to RDA
Toolkit, to readability of instructions, move
beyond MARC, etc.
US RDA Test Recommendations
• Implementation no sooner than January 2013,
provided conditions met
• Conditions = recommendations to the
– Joint Steering Committee (RDA)
– American Library Association Publishers
– System vendors
– Program for Cooperative Cataloging
– Library of Congress, National Agricultural Library,
National Library of Medicine
RDA Implementation
• 9 institutions continued with RDA after the
US RDA Test
– RDA “Copy” available for cataloging in
OCLC, SkyRiver, etc.
• LC’s RDA Implementation Planning site:
http://loc.gov.aba/rda/
RDA Training Schedule
• Oct.-Dec. 2010 – LC testers
• Oct.-Nov. 2011 – refresher
• June-July 2012 – LC trainers and reviewers;
Cataloging Supervisors
• Aug. 2012 reworked modules
• Sept. 2012-March 2013 – LC cataloging staff
(approximately 420 people; 60/month)
RDA training
• 36 hours in classroom
– FRBR Fundamental Concepts and Practicum
– RDA Toolkit
– Modules 1-6 on RDA Content
– FRBR/RDA/MARC
– Guided practice with workplace resources
• 1 month cataloging with RDA (full review of
all work) – extended as needed
Original Cataloging
• LC’s training materials on LC’s Web site:
http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/
Cataloger’s Learning Workshop
Copy Cataloging
• Document R-4 (LC procedures for copy
cataloging with RDA)
• Available at LC’s Web site:
http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials
/index.html
Under Library of Congress RDA Training
Materials, then “R-documents”
LC-PCC PS
• LCPS – document policy decisions regarding
use of options and alternatives in RDA
– In coordination with the other national libraries on the
JSC
• Adjusted through decisions in the Program for
Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)
• Some submitted as proposals to change RDA
– (if accepted will remove as LC-PCC PS)
Changes to Voyager (7.2.0)
• LC’s Integrated Library System
– Tomcat OPAC and Voyager ‘classic’
– “Web authorities” at authorities.loc.gov
• LC/NACO file
• LCSH subject authorities
– Voyager tag tables through MARC update 13
– RDA-based templates
• Authority: ‘slim’ and ‘verbose’
• Bibliographic: AACR2 in process to RDA
– Displays (especially authority displays)
RDA Authority Display
RDA Authority Display
RDA Bibliographic Display
Voyager Indexing
• New MARC 264 (production, publication,
distribution, manufacture, and copyright
notice statements) – Ex Libris and
BIBTEXT – future changes (v8.2)
• LC sent Ex Libris developers a list Aug.
2011 asking to enhance indexing for new
fields (v8.2)
Library of Congress