RDA and Special Libraries
Chris Todd, Janess Stewart
& Jenny McDonald
What RDA is
• A replacement for AACR2
• A different approach
attributes and relationships instead of description and access points
• An emphasis on user needs
• The potential for better discovery systems
• A major change to the way cataloguers think about what
they do
What RDA is not
• An encoding system
yes, you can still use MARC or whatever you use in your system
• A display system
whatever you use as your OPAC will be fine, with a few tweaks to
display some new elements
• A discovery system
RDA + appropriate encoding system = better discovery experience
RDA on its own changes nothing
• A major change to the work cataloguers do
What do you need to know now?
• RDA is (almost certainly) coming to some libraries in the
next year or two – some records already on the NUC
• National Library of NZ will publicise relevant information
on the DescribeNZ wiki: http://www.describe.org.nz/
• Before RDA can be fully implemented, changes need to
be made to:
– encoding standards (e.g. MARC)
– display settings (what the OPAC & staff views look like)
– search functionality (indexing new fields and subfields)
• To navigate RDA it really helps to understand FRBR
RDA timeline – key events
RDA published
June 2010
US National Libraries test started
June 2010
RDA records in OCLC WorldCat
October 2010
US National Libraries test results complete
Library of Congress implementation decision
National Library of Australia, Library and
Archives Canada and British Library
implementation decision
International implementation of RDA
March 2011
June 2011
July – Sept.
2011?
2nd quarter 2012?
Access to RDA
Online toolkit
ALA
EPIC
(US$)
(US$)
Solo-user
$195 / year
$165.75 / year
Site subscription,
one user at a time
$325 / year
$276.25 / year
Print copy from
Facet Publishing
(UK) (944 p.)
£105.00
(binder not included)
For more information on subscriptions
• EPIC website: http://epic.org.nz
• Paula Banks, EPIC manager: paula.banks@dia.govt.nz
• http://www.rdatoolkit.org/pricing
What does RDA mean for special
libraries?
• If you get records from the NUC
– You need to know what RDA records look like
– You need to decide what to do about the new RDA fields in your own
catalogue
• If you add records to the NUC
– You need to follow any new Te Puna guidelines for entry of records via
WebCat or as full records (after implementation decision announced)
• If you don’t use the NUC at all
– You won’t have to make any changes to your own system
– You may still want to be aware of the impact of RDA on other libraries
Minimum requirements for the NUC
Print monograph
MARC
AACR2
•
Leader – type of record
•
ISBN / ISSN
•
Leader – bibliographic level
•
Main entry (1XX)
•
Leader – encoding level
•
Title proper
•
Fixed fields – date type
•
General material designation
•
Fixed fields – date 1
•
Statement of responsibility
•
Fixed fields – language
•
Edition statement
•
Fixed fields – cat source
•
Place of publication
•
non-filing characters
•
Publisher’s name
•
Extent
•
Cataloguing source (040)
In practice…
MARC Leader: language material, monograph, minimum level
MARC fixed fields: single date, 1987, English, other (i.e. not national
cataloguing agency)
MARC Non-filing characters: 0
Common additions many
Cataloguing source: WN
ISBN: 0-85142-197-0
Main entry: Aitchison, Jean, 1938Title proper: Thesaurus construction
Statement of responsibility: Jean Aitchison
Edition statement: 2nd ed.
Place of publication: London
Publisher's name: Aslib
Date of publication: 1987
Extent: 173 p.
libraries would consider
essential include...
- subtitle
- second author in
statement of responsibility
- added name entry
- subject headings
...and in MARC…
Leader
a m
008
s 1987
7
eng d
Common additions many
libraries would consider
essential include...
- 245 $b & expanded $c
- 6XX
- 700
020
$a 0851421970
040
$a WN
100 1
$a Aitchison, Jean, $d 1938-
245
0 $a Thesaurus construction / $c Jean Aitchison.
250
$a 2nd ed.
260
$a London : $b Aslib, $c 1987.
300
$a 173 p.
RDA core elements (basic book)
Print monograph
• Title proper
• Identifier for the manifestation
• Statement of responsibility
related to title proper (1st only)
• Extent
• Designation of edition
• Language of the expression
• Place of publication (1st only)
• Carrier type
• Publisher’s name (1st only)
• Content type
• Date of publication
• Work manifested
• Copyright date (separately)
• Creator (1st only)
RDA in practice
Title proper: Thesaurus construction
Statement of responsibility: Jean Aitchison
Designation of edition: Second edition
Place of publication: London
Publisher's name: Aslib
Date of publication: 1987
Copyright date: 1987
Identifier for the manifestation: 0-85142-197-0
These are new
Extent: 173 pages
requirements but
Creator: Aitchison, Jean, 1938not new ideas
Language of the expression: English
Carrier type: volume
Content type: text
Work manifested: Aitchison, Jean, 1938-. Thesaurus construction.
...and in MARC…
Leader
a m
008
s 1987
7
eng d
Not all RDA
elements can be
recorded in
MARC at present
020
$a 0851421970
040
$a WN $e rda
100 1
$a Aitchison, Jean, $d 1938-$e author.
245
0 $a Thesaurus construction / $c Jean Aitchison.
250
$a Second edition.
260
$a London : $b Aslib, $c 1987, ©1987.
300
$a 173 pages.
336
$a text $2 rdacontent
338
$a volume $2 rdacarrier
Some differences in RDA records
• Record what you see
– Don’t abbreviate
(illustrations; not ill.)
– Don’t stop at 3
(by Cathy, Jason, Melanie and Robert; not by Cathy … [et al.])
• Content/Carrier/Media types instead of General Material
Designation (GMD)
– Content type: Performed music & Carrier type: audio disc;
not [sound recording]
• Explicit relationships!
– author, composer, illustrator, contained in, motion picture adaptation of