5JSC/Editor/RDA/Appendix D
March 25, 2008
To:
Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA
From:
Tom Delsey, RDA Editor
Subject:
Draft of RDA – Appendix D – Record syntaxes for descriptive data
Related documents:
5JSC/Editor/RDA/Part B/Appendix E/Rev (2005-11-29)
5JSC/ RDA/Element analysis/Rev
International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). Preliminary
consolidated edition. München: K.G. Saur, 2007
MARC 21 format for bibliographic data. 1999 edition. Washington: Library of
Congress, 1999-
Attached is a revised draft of Appendix D – Record syntaxes for descriptive data, incorporating
the following:
1. revisions to the mapping of ISBD elements to the corresponding elements in RDA to
reflect changes in the preliminary consolidated edition of ISBD
2. revisions to the mapping of ISBD elements to the corresponding elements in RDA to
reflect structural changes in RDA and changes in the naming of RDA elements
3. revisions to the instructions on ISBD prescribed punctuation to reflect changes in the
naming of ISBD elements
4. addition of a table mapping the variable fields and subfields defined in the MARC 21
format for bibliographic data to the corresponding elements in RDA
The following should be noted by JSC:
D.1.1 Order of elements
The numbering of RDA elements in the right-hand column of the table reflect the numbering in
the current drafts of RDA Sections 1, 2, and 8. For elements in chapter 3, the numbering in the
January 2006 draft has been modified to reflect the restructuring of element sub-types and subelements listed in lines 94-211 of the revised draft of the RDA Element Analysis table (2007-1216). The same applies to the numbering of RDA elements in the right-hand column of the table
under D.2
D.1.2 ISBD punctuation
As agreed in discussion of earlier drafts of Appendix D, the instructions under D.1.2 derived from
AACR2 include only the instructions that are listed under the heading “Recommended
punctuation” for each area in ISBD. (The term “prescribed punctuation” in earlier editions of the
ISBDs has been changed to “recommended punctuation” in the preliminary consolidated edition.)
The one exception is the comma separating a statement of equinox and statement of epoch.
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5JSC/Editor/RDA/Appendix D
Although that use of a comma is specified in ISBD at 3.1.3.3, it is not listed as recommended
punctuation for the Mathematical data (Cartographic resources) area at 3.1.
In the instructions under D.1.2, ISBD terminology is used to refer to elements, even though that
terminology is not always consistent with the naming of elements in RDA.
D.1.4 Multilevel description
The ISBD term “multilevel description” has been retained in this section; the term used in RDA
has been changed to “hierarchical description”.
D.2 Mapping of MARC 21 bibliographic to RDA
The mapping is only preliminary and will need to be reviewed.
The mapping of subfields in the 76X-78X fields is problematic from an RDA perspective. The
subfields defined for each of those fields reflect a mix of elements associated with works,
expressions, and manifestations. In RDA, however, the relationships covered by each of the
fields apply exclusively either to related works or expressions or to related manifestations. For
example, the relationships covered by fields 780 (Preceding entry) and 785 (Succeeding entry)
apply only to works. The subfields defined in those fields that reflect elements associated with
manifestations would not be valid when recording the corresponding RDA relationships.
D.3 Dublin Core
A mapping of elements defined in Dublin Core (or in the Dublin Core Library Application
Profile) will be added after the preliminary mapping prepared by the Editor for the April 2007
meeting in London has been reviewed by the RDA/DCMI Working Group.
Examples
The examples under D.1.2-D.1.4 will need to be reviewed for consistency with instructions in the
current drafts of RDA. They will also need to be reviewed for consistency with appendix B after
final decisions are made on the use of abbreviations.
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