SOME GENERAL
FEATURES OF RDA
Atoma T. Batoma
batoma@illinois.edu
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• RDA major goal: enhance the user’s retrieval and
access experience, the so-called FRBR User
needs/User tasks (find, identify, select and obtain)
• FRBR conceptual model of entity-relationship offers a
more effective means for realizing those tasks
(convenience of the user); better adapted to the digital
world.
• RDA contains instructions and guidelines for,
a)recording attributes for FRBR entities and the
relationships between them as well as those creating
them, b) describing resources and choosing access
points and their form.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
•RDA is organized by FRBR entities and
relationships
Not by ISBD areas (AACR2)
•RDA is organized in 10 sections that contain
separate elements based on user tasks
Not in chapters for classes of materials (AACR2)
•RDA is focused on online resource
Not on print resource (AACR2)
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• RDA is a Content Standard
Not a display (presentation) standard like
AACR2 (largely a content and display
standard)
Not an encoding schema (use whatever
schema is appropriate to record data
elements: Dublin Core, MODS, MARC, etc.)
• MARC for the purpose of this training
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Group 1 entities: Work, Expression,
Manifestation, and Item.
• Group 2 entities: People or “parties”
responsible for the intellectual or artistic
content, or the physical production,
dissemination, etc, of manifestations of
bibliographic resources: Persons, Families
and Corporate bodies.
• Group 3: Subjects of a work: Group 1and 2
entities + concepts, objects, places, events.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• (Group 1)
• Work: distinct intellectual or artistic
creation (or content).
• Identifiers (LC control number for
example)
– The sound and the fury, by William Faulkner
– Le petit prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• (Group 1)
• Expression: intellectual or artistic realization
of a work in the form of alpha-numeric,
numerical or choreographic notation, sound,
image, object, movement, etc. Identifiers LC
control number, etc.
– The sound and the fury by Faulkner (text)
– Symphony No. 9, by Beethoven (musical notation)
– The Nutcracker by the American Ballet Theatre
(choreographic notation)
– La Gioconda, by Leonard de Vinci (art object)
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• (Group 1)
• Manifestation: physical embodiment
of an expression of a work, i.e. expressions
recorded in some physical form.
Identifiers: ISSN, ISBN, publisher’s
number, URN, URL, etc.)
– The sound and the fury, by William Faulkner.
London, Vintage, 1995. ISBN: 0099475014
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• (Group 1)
• Item: single exemplar or instance of a
manifestation. Identifiers: call number,
copy, location, item record #, etc.
– The sound and the fury, by William Faulkner.
London: Vintage, 1995. ISBN: 0099475014.
UIU Undergrad., call #: PS3511.A86 S71995
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• RDA Elements: Core and Core If elements (RDA 1.3)
• Core elements are elements for describing resources selected
from those that reflect attributes and relationships designated
in FRBR and FRAD models as supporting user tasks. They are
mandatory for a national level record.
Example: Title proper (245, $a) RDA/LC, publication date (260, $c)
RDA/LC, copyright date (260, $c) LC
• Core if elements are data elements that become mandatory
depending on the situation.
Example: Copyright date (260, $c) RDA
• Alternatives (institutional, local policies)
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Vocabularies in RDA
– Controlled vocabularies
• Closed (a few), such as content, media, carrier
types, mode of issuance, etc.
• Open (most): catalogers can supply a term if
needed term is not in the list.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Vocabularies in RDA (continued)
– AACR2 to RDA vocabularies
• Heading
Authorized access point
• Author, composer, etc.
Creator
• Main entry
Preferred title + authorized
access point for creator if appropriate
• Uniform title
(1) Preferred title (+
other information to differentiate; (2) conventional
collective title
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Vocabularies in RDA (continued)
– AACR2 to RDA vocabularies
• See reference
• See also reference
point for related entry
• Physical description
description
variant access point
authorized access
carrier
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Mode of issuance and type of description: (what I am
cataloging?)
– Mode of issuance : categorization reflecting whether a
resource is in one or more parts, the way it is updated, and its
intended termination (2.13.1.1 (single unit, multipart
monograph, serial, integrating resource)
• Single unit: resource issued as single physical unit ( single
tangible vol. monograph) or single logical unit (pdf file on the
web.)
• Multipart monograph: resource issued in 2 or more parts
(simultaneously or successively that is complete or intended
to be completed in a finite numbers of parts.
• Serial: resource issued in successive parts, usually bearing
numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion.
• Integrating resource: Resource that updates but does not
remain discrete for integrated into the whole.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Mode of issuance and type of
description: (what I am cataloging?)
(continued)
– Type of description (comprehensive vs.
analytical, hierarchical)
• Comprehensive: describes the resource as a whole
• Analytical: describes a part of a larger resource
• Hierarchical (also called multilevel): combines a
comprehensive description of the whole resource with
analytical descriptions of one or more of its parts.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Representation, or how to
transcribe the data
– ICP Principal:
•
•
•
•
“Take what you see”
“Accept what you get”
See RDA 1.7.1 for general guidelines
See also appendixes A on capitalization, B on
abbreviations, and C on articles to omit.
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• Sources of information (expanded in
RDA)
– Preferred (not “chief”) source depends on the
resource
• Example: Parallel title: same source as title
proper (AACR2), no restriction on location
(RDA)
• Example: Statement of responsibility:
restricted number of sources in the resource
(AACR2), no restriction on location (RDA).
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• The General Material Designation
(GMD) replaced with
– Content type: form of communication in which
the content is expressed (text, musical notation,
cartography, etc.)
– Carrier type: format of the storage medium and
housing of a carrier in combination with the type
of intermediation device required to view, play,
run, etc. (audiocassette, cartridge, slides, etc.)
– Media type: general type of intermediation
device required to view, play, run, etc., the
content of a resource
SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA
• No more “rule of 3”
Options:
– Name all the parties associated with the creation/
production/distribution of the resource in the
statement of responsibility.
– Name only one party and use “and others” strategy
(give the number of parties).
– Record the parties not chosen as main access point
as added access points (the relationship designators
are not mandatory).
GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA vs. AACR2
Questions?
GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA vs. AACR2
Suggested Readings
RDA: Resource Description and Access, by the Joint Steering Committee
for development of RDA, especially “Frequently Asked Questions”,
http://www.rda-jsc.org/rdafaq.html
RDA Core Elements: http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/pdf/core_elements.pdf
AACR2 to RDA using the RDA toolkit, webinar presented by Troy Linker
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/webinar/2011Feb
Oliver, Chris. Introducing RDA: A Guide to the Basics. ALA Editions, 2010
Several presentations of FRBR entity-relationships model are available on
the web but Qiang’s presentation at the beginning of this training is a clear
and informative summary of the model.
GENERAL FEATURES OF RDA vs. AACR2
Suggested Readings
• You may also find useful the following multilingual glossary of
cataloging terms, which is at
http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/multilingual-dictionaryof-cataloguing-terms-and-concepts-muldicat