Background/Overview
by Dr. Barbara B. Tillett
Chief, Policy and Standards Division
Library of Congress
For AMIGOS
February 4, 2011
Overview
Influences on RDA
 Changing environment
 Why not AACR3?
 RDA goals and structure
 Examples of changes
 US RDA Test
 Training materials available and
workshops being offered to help minimize
costs

2
Influences
Anglo-American cataloging tradition
 Paris Principles
 ISBD
 FRBR/FRAD
 Internet
 Toronto Conference 1997
 IME ICC  ICP
 Web environment collaborations

3
Influences Panizzi – 1841
(“91 rules”)
Not just finding list/inventory
 Full and complete data
 Collocation by authors
 References

4
Influences – Cutter
 Objects:
(1876-1904 eds.)
Find
 author,
title, subject
Show
 given
author, given
subject, kind of
literature
Assist
in choice
 edition,
literary or
topical character
5
IFLA’s Influence on
Cataloguing Codes
1961
“Paris
Principles”
(influenced by
Lubetzky and
Verona)
1967
1941
1949
1876
1902
1904
1906
1908
1841
Anglo-American Tradition
7
More of IFLA’s Influence
1969 – ISBDs
•
•
International Standard Bibliographic
Description
2007
Consolidated
edition
8
AACR2
1978
1988
1998
2002
9
FRBR

IFLA’s Functional
Requirements for
Bibliographic Records
(FRBR)

User tasks
 Find
 Identify
 Select
 Obtain
Entities, Relationships,
Attributes
Mandatory elements for a
national level bibliographic
record


10
Functional Requirements
for Authority Data (FRAD)



June 2009
Extends the FRBR
model to authority data
(Still to come is FRSAD
on subject authority
data)
27
International Cataloguing
Principles (ICP) - 2009
 Principles
& Glossary
20
languages
http://www.ifla.org/en/public
ations/statement-ofinternational-cataloguingprinciples
12
Internet

Wide range of information carriers
•

Catalogs are no longer end points in isolation
•

complexity of content
Global access to data
Integrate bibliographic data with wider Internet
environment
•
•
Share data beyond institutions
Metadata (bibliographic information)
 Created by a wider range of personnel
 Within and outside libraries
 Element-based metadata schemas

Dublin Core, ONIX, etc.
13
What’s wrong with AACR?

Increasingly complex

Lack of logical structure

Mixing content and carrier data (GMDs)

Not enough support for collocation - inherent
relationships missing

Anglo-American centric viewpoint

Written before FRBR

Before Internet and well-formed metadata
Based on slide from Ann Chapman, UKOLN
14
1997 International Conference on the
Principles and Future Development
of AACR
 Toronto, Canada  Principles
JSC invited
worldwide experts
 Issues leading to
RDA

Content vs. carrier
 Logical structure of
AACR
 Seriality
 Internationalization

15
JSC and Project Management Team
Marjorie Bloss, RDA project manager; Marg Stewart, CCC/ JSC chair; Alan
Danskin, BL; John Attig, ALA; Barbara Tillett, LC; Deirdre Kiorgaard,
ACOC; Hugh Taylor, CILIP; Nathalie Schulz, JSC secretary; Tom Delsey, editor
16 49
AACR3
17
JSC Collaborations with other
Metadata Communities
 IFLA - Principles, Conceptual models, ISBD/ISSN
ONIX (Publishers) – types of content, media, carriers
 Dublin Core, IEEE/LOM, Semantic Web, W3C

“Data Modeling Meeting” - London 2007
 RDA/MARC
Working Group (MARBI)
18
Other Collaborations

Law Library community
 Treaties

Hebraica and Religion Teams at LC
 Bible

proposals
Mss/Archives experts at LC (Mss. Div., NUCMC,
American Folklife Center, Rare Books)
 DACS

Music Div and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and
Recorded Sound Div., MLA
 AMIM2

and Ch.6 proposals for music
Prints & Photographs Division
 CCO

Geography and Maps Divisions at LC
19
20
GOALS:
RDA will be …
A new standard for resource description
and access
 Designed for the digital world

•
Optimized for use as an online product
• Description and access of all resources
•
•
All types of content and media
Resulting records usable in the digital
environment (Internet, Web OPACs, etc.)
21
RDA – The Goals

Rules should be easy to use and interpret

Be applicable to an online, networked
environment

Provide effective bibliographic control for all types
of media

Encourage use beyond the library community

Be compatible with other similar standards

Have a logical structure based on internationally
agreed principles

Separate content and carrier data

Examples – more of them, more appropriate
slide Ann Chapman, UKOLN
22
RDA Structure
General introduction
 Identifying Elements (Entities and their
attributes)
 Relationships
Appendices

Capitalization, Abbreviations, Initial articles, etc.
 Presentation (ISBD, MARC, etc.)
 Relationship designators
 Etc.

Glossary
and Index
24
General Principles (ICP)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Convenience of user
Representation
Common usage
Accuracy
Sufficiency and
necessity
Significance
Economy
• Consistency and
•
•
Standardization
Integration
Defensible, not
arbitrary
• If contradict, take a
defensible, practical
solution.
25
Transcription – Principle of
Representation in RDA

“Take what you see” as option in RDA
 Correction
of inaccuracies elsewhere
 No more abbreviating

Accept what you get
 Facilitating
automated data capture
26
Sample Changes from AACR2

Transcribed data (macros and templates)
 Option

to keep rule of 3
e.g., “[and five others]” – no more “… et. al.”
 First
place of publication is “core”
 “Place of publication not identified” – not “s.l.”
 “Publisher not identified” – not “s.n.”
 “Date of publication not identified”
27
27
RDA Element Analysis

RDA element (domain: manifestation)
 Title
element
 Title proper
 element sub-type
 Parallel title
 element sub-type
 Other title information  element sub-type
 Variant title
 element sub-type
 Earlier variant title
 element sub-type
 Later variant title
 element sub-type
 Key title
 element sub-type
 Abbreviated title
 element sub-type
 Devised title
 element sub-type

28
RDA elements
“Core”
 Media, Carrier, and Content Types to replace
GMDs
 Other examples of new elements:

 File
characteristics for digital materials
 Video format characteristics
 Custodial information for archival resources
 Braille characteristics
29
New Terminology from IFLA
AACR2 terms
RDA terms
Heading
Access point
Added Entry
Access point
Authorized heading
Authorized access point
See references
Variant access point
Uniform title
Preferred title
Name of the work (to
include name of creator
when applicable)
30
Based on Gordon Dunsire’s slide
Database/format Scenarios
Bib record (flat-file)
Z
666.7
.L55
2009
Lee, T. B.
Cataloguing has a future
1 sound disc
Spoken word.
Donated by the author.
1. Metadata
31
Based on Gordon Dunsire’s slide
Database/format Scenarios
Bib record (flat-file)
100 01 $a Lee, T. B.
245 00 $a Cataloguing has a future
300
$a 1 sound disc
500
$a Spoken word.
561 1 $a Donated by the author.
650 0 $a Metadata
32
Based on Gordon Dunsire’s slide
Database/format Scenarios
FRBR registry (IFLA)
Future
record
FRBR
Bibrecord
record (description)
(flat-file)
Bib
Work
information
record
RDA element registry
Author: Lee, T. B.
Title: Cataloguing has a future
Work title:
has a future
Content type:Cataloguing
Spoken word
Expression
information
Carrier type:
Audio disc
Name authority record
Name:
Identifier: …
Subject authority record
Subject: Metadata
Manifestation
information
Provenance:
Donated by the author
Label:
Identifier: …
RDA content type registry
Item information
ONIX
Label: Spoken word
RDA carrier type registry
Identifier: …
33
Linked Data
Work information
Author:
Subject:
Work Title: Cataloguing has a future
Name authority record
Name: Lee, T. B.
Identifier: …
Expression information
Content type:
Manifestation information
Title: Cataloguing has a future
Carrier type:
Subject authority record
Label: Metadata
Identifier: …
RDA content type registry
Item information
Provenance: Donated by the author
RDA carrier type registry
Audio disc
Label: Spoken word
Identifier: …
34
Package for Data Sharing
Communication format record
Work information
Author:
Subject:
Work Title: Cataloguing
Cataloguing has
has aa future
future
Expression information
Content type:
Name: Lee, T. B.
Identifier: …
Subject authority record
Manifestation information
Title: Cataloguing has a future
Carrier type:
Label: Metadata
Identifier: …
RDA content type registry
Item information
Provenance: Donated by the author
Audio disc
Name authority record
RDA carrier type registry
Label: Spoken word
Identifier: …
35
Package for displays
Future display
(
)
Author: Lee, T. B.
Content type: Spoken word
Title: Cataloguing has a future
Carrier type: (Audio disc)
36
36
Databases,
Repositories
VIAF
LCSH
Services
Web front
end
Internet
“Cloud”
37
http://www.rda-jsc.org/
38
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.-Mar. 2011 analysis of test
results and decisions by U.S. national
libraries (expected by June 2011)

39
Preparing to use RDA
MARC 21 format adjustments in local ILS
 Local decisions on RDA alternatives/
options
 Local decision on which elements to include
beyond the RDA Core elements
 Templates and macros set up for standard
data
 Practice time and discussions after basic
training

40
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
41
Summary

User-oriented models (FRBR/FRAD)
 Collocate
works/expressions
 Identify resources through specific
elements (attributes) and relationships

Internationalization
 Cost
reduction through increased sharing
of data
 Across information communities
42
Summary

Principle-based rules (ICP)
 Cataloger’s
judgment (User-focused)
 Take what you see for transcribed data
(Representation)
Add controlled vocabularies for
precision of searching
 Facilitate harvesting and sharing of
descriptive metadata

 Less
rigid, more flexible
43
Thank you!
44
Acronyms and Links
DC – Dublin Core
• DCMI – Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
http://dublincore.org/
• DCAM – Dublin Core Abstract Model
http://dublincore.org/documents/2007/04/02/abstract-model/

FRAD – Functional Requirements for Authority Data
http://www.ifla.org/VII/d4/wg-franar.htm

FRBR – Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (this site
includes a Webliography)
http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm

IFLA – International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions
http://www.infla.org

JSC – Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA
http://www.rda-jsc.org/

RDA – Resource Description and Access
http://www.rda-jsc.org/rda.html

45
Other Help

ALA Publishing URL for RDA Toolkit:
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/

RDA Toolkit demo:
http://www.rdatoolkit.org/training/guidedtour

US RDA Test, General information:
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/

Library of Congress Documentation for the RDA Test
(training materials and decisions for test on RDA options):
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatest.html
46