US RDA Test
and Implementation or Not
Barbara Tillett
For the Texas Library Association Conference
April 12, 2011
US Test of RDA
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/
Purposes of the US RDA Test
• To determine benefits versus costs
• To see if initial release achieved the JSC
objectives
– Already knew JSC has list of issues to
address after the first release
• To determine whether the three US
national libraries will implement the initial
release of RDA
– Yes, no, or with conditions
Assumptions of the Test
•
•
•
•
Results to be shared
Test in current systems
All data from the test will be freely available
Testers experiences compared to codes
they currently apply
U.S. RDA Test Timeline
• June 2010 ALA released RDA Toolkit
• June-Aug.31 ALA allowed free access to
RDA Toolkit to everyone who registered
• June-Sept. 30 U.S. testers were training
and had time to practice
• Oct. 1-Dec. 31 U.S. test of RDA
• Jan.-May 2011 analysis of test results
• June 2011 decisions by U.S. national
libraries (expected by ALA)
5
Preparing for the Test
• MARC 21 format adjustments in local ILS
• Local decisions on RDA alternatives/
options - documentation
• Local decision on which elements to
include beyond the RDA Core elements
• Templates and macros set up for standard
data
• Practice time after basic training
6
The Test
• Common Original Set (25 titles)
– AACR2 (or other current rules)
– RDA
• Common Copy Set (5 titles)
• Extra Original Set
• Extra Copy Set
• Surveys
Results of the Test
• Surveys for cataloger’s experience and costs
• Feedback on user reaction to records built
on RDA instructions
– To help inform future adjustments to RDA
– To help improve the IFLA models and principles
• Test records
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatestrecords.html
10,570 RDA bibliographic records
12,800 RDA authority records
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Implementing RDA?
• If “yes” to that question, need to get ready
• If “no” to that question, still need to get
ready
– RDA bibliographic and authority records
in shared databases & local catalogs
– RDA access points in non-RDA records
• If you don’t know the answer, still need to
get ready
Who needs to get ready?
• You
• Your library colleagues
• Your library’s ILS
• Your library’s users
How to prepare yourself
1. Become familiar with FRBR and FRAD:
entities, terminology, user tasks
2. Review available training materials and
documentation
3. Explore RDA Toolkit or printed version of RDA
if have access; if not, review last full draft
(caveat: some aspects changed):
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/constituencyreview
How to prepare yourself
4. View webcasts/webinars and attend
briefings, workshops, etc.
5. Read books and articles about RDA
6. Talk with cataloging colleagues in your
library: share what you know with each
other
How to prepare yourself
7. Talk with cataloging colleagues in other
libraries
8. Create RDA practice records
9. Create more RDA practice records !!
How to prepare your
colleagues
• Staff in all parts of your library
• Tell them what you’ve learned about
FRBR, FRAD, RDA, MARC
– In appropriate levels of detail
– Telling someone else ensures you really do
understand
Prepare your library: If
implementing RDA
• Make policy decisions with colleagues
from various areas:
– Elements beyond RDA core elements you will
include in own records and accept in copy
records (consult with vendor and consortium
as needed)
– Decisions on options and alternatives or
always apply cataloger judgment
– Changes in existing records (e.g., form of
access points, GMD vs. 336-338 fields)
Prepare your library: If not
implementing RDA
• Make policy decisions with colleagues
from various areas:
– Add RDA records from vendors or other
libraries to your catalog for resources in
your collection?
– If adding RDA records, accept with no
changes? If make some changes, what
changes?
Library system impact if RDA
records in your catalog
• Talk with IT staff and/or vendor to ensure
MARC 21 RDA changes were
implemented (have been issued as
regular MARC updates)
• Make decisions on display and indexing
of new fields in your OPAC
Training and implementation
• If implementing RDA:
– Develop training materials
– Give demonstrations of the RDA Toolkit
– Review mappings
– Create templates, macros, workflows
– Practice, practice, practice !!!
– Discuss practice/real records
– Foster cataloger judgment (includes
“stamping out tweaking” of others’ records)
Training and implementation
• If not implementing RDA:
– Explain changes from AACR2 so staff can
understand records in WorldCat, etc. (and
especially if RDA records will be added to
your catalog)
– Explain changes in MARC 21 formats
Inform your library’s users
• Explain changes in display and indexing
• If your policy is not to change authorized
access points to the same form in all
records, give guidance where forms are
different
Down the road ...
• Stay informed/investigate:
– Controlled vocabularies on the Web
– Linked data
– Encoding schema successor to MARC 21
• Talk with colleagues in other information
communities (e.g., archives, museums)
• Enjoy exciting challenges and opportunities!
Suggested reading
Help with RDA
• Instructions
–LChelp4rda@loc.gov
• RDA Toolkit
–“Support” in the Toolkit
–Via www.rdatoolkit.org
Webcasts
(the free software for RealPlayer is needed to see and hear
these Webcasts, it is available freely on the Internet)
• Resource Description and Access: Background / Overview.
Speaker: Barbara Tillett. Recorded May 14, 2008. Running
time: 67 minutes. Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4320
• Cataloging Principles and RDA: Resource Description and
Access. Speaker: Barbara Tillett. Recorded June 10, 2008.
Running time: 49 minutes. Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4327
• [FRBR for Non-Catalogers.] FRBR: Things You Should Know
but Were Afraid to Ask. Speaker: Barbara Tillett. Recorded
March 4, 2009. Running time: 57 minutes. Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4554
Webcasts
(the free software for RealPlayer is needed to see and hear
these Webcasts, it is available freely on the Internet)
• AACR2, RDA, VIAF, and the Future: there to here to there. Speaker:
Barbara Tillett for the NISO Webinar: “Bibliographic Control Alphabet Soup:
AACR to RDA and Evolution of MARC”. Recorded October 14, 2009.
Available through October 2010 at:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/niso/view?id=2JTZCS&pw=B%22f%3F
8M8
•
Q&A: http://www.niso.org/news/events/2009/bibcontrol09/questions/
• RDA Changes from AACR2 for Texts. Speaker: Barbara B. Tillett. Recorded
January 12, 2010. Running time: 75 minutes (41 minutes of presentation
followed by Q&A). Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4863
• RDA Test “Train the Trainer” (Training modules). Presented by Judy
Kuhagen and Barbara Tillett, January 15, 2010; Northeastern University,
Boston, Mass.
Modules 1-9 http://www.loc.gov:8081/bibliographicfuture/rda/trainthetrainer.html
• RDA: Looking to the Future: Information Systems and Metadata. Speaker:
Barbara Tillett. Recorded March 9, 2010. Running time: 54 minutes.
Available at: http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4967
Webcasts in Spanish
RDA: Recursos Descripción y Acceso: Antecedentes y
Aspectos de su Implementación. Speaker: Barbara Tillett. In
Spanish. Recorded August 13, 2009. Running time: 85 min.
Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=47
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RDA: Recursos, Descripción y Acceso - Cambios en las
pautas de catalogación y desafíos para la implementación,
por Peru y Costa Rica, Septiembre-Octubre, 2010. Speaker:
Barbara Tillett. Recorded: December 2010. Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=51
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Training modules - Free
RDA Test “Train the Trainer”, Modules 1-9. Presented by Judy Kuhagen and Barbara
Tillett, January 15, 2010; Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. at:
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/trainthetrainer.html
Module 1: What RDA Is and Isn’t
Module 2: Structure
Module 3: Description of Manifestations and Items
Module 4: Identifying Works, Expressions, and Manifestations
Module 5: Identifying Persons
Module 6: Identifying Families (filmed at the Library of Congress, March 1, 2010)
Module 7: Identifying Corporate Bodies
Module 8: Relationships
Module 9: Review of Main Concepts, Changes, Etc.
PowerPoint files of the Modules (with speaker’s notes) and accompanying material
are freely available at: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatraining.html