quick overview of RDA, some new MARC fields and issues, RDA as linked data

1. Presentation at Code4Lib North 2013
Alison Hitchens, Cataloguing &
Metadata Librarian,
University of Waterloo
Image courtesy of Jennifer Young

2. RDA is…
 Replacing AACR2 as the content
guidelines for bibliographic & authority
data to support resource discovery
 Based on IFLA’s entity-relationship
models “Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records” and “Functional
Requirements for Authority Data”
 Focused on the use of the data to find,
identify, select, obtain, clarify, understand
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3. RDA is not…
 An encoding standard
 A display standard
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0.4.2.3 Flexibility: The data should function
independently of the format, medium, or
system used to store or communicate the
data. They should be amenable to use in a
variety of environments.

4. New & revised fields
Hybrid records
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5. Implications for Search &
Display & Sort & RIS export etc.
 New fields and subfields to index &
display
 Pay special attention to the 264 field for
publication, distribution, manufacture,
copyright information
 New fields to replace the general
material designation (GMD)
 Do you currently use the GMD to identify
resource type?
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6. MARC 264
1st indicator 2nd indicator
blank=NA/No info/Earliest
2=Intervening
3=Current/latest
0=production
1=publication
2=distribution
3=manufacture
4=copyright notice date
All of these fields can
contain dates
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264 31 $3 2005- $a Boca Raton : $b CRC Press
264 #1 $a New York : $b Springer, $c 1999-
264 #4 $c ©1998-

7. New fields: 336, 337, 338
336 $a text $2 rdacontent
337 $a computer $2 rdamedia
338 $a online resource $2
rdacarrier
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8. Relationship Designators
 Not a new MARC subfield but not often in
use pre-RDA
 Not mandatory but encouraged in RDA
700 1# $a Rizki, Mateen M., $e editor of compilation
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9. Hybrid Records
“Hybrid record. A non-RDA
bibliographic record … to which RDA
cataloging elements have been added,
either manually or via machine
manipulation [emphasis added]”
- from “Report of the PCC Post-
Implementation Hybrid Bibliographic
Records Guidelines Task Group”
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Photo credit: Charlie Kellogg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/papa_charliegeorge/346036348
9/

10. Some Machine Conversion
Examples from the Report
 245: Remove the General
Material Designation (GMD)
 245 subfield c: Remove
ellipses and change Latin
abbreviation (“… [et al.]”
becomes “[and others]”)
 300: Spell out abbreviations
and change Latin
abbreviations to English
equivalents
 336, 337, & 338: Add these
fields, including subfields a, b
& 2
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Image credit: quisnovus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quisnovus/5458166433/

11. Metadata Registry
RDA in RDF
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12. Metadata Registry
 RDA
Vocabularies
can be found
in the Open
Metadata
Registry
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13. RDA in RDF at BNF!
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Machine-readable view:
http://data.bnf.fr/11952682/alexandre_dumas_le_comte_de_monte-cristo/rdf.xml

14. Some Issues
 Should we have multiple pieces of
information in one element?
 Extent: 300 pages
 Authorized access point for a work: Hemingway, Ernest,
1899–1961. Sun also rises
 We need to use more identifiers
 Do we need to “dumb-down” library data?
 RDA Toolkit is subscription based not open
 Understanding linked data
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15. C4LN 2013 - RDA 15

16. LC’s Bibliographic Framework
Transition Initiative
 Transitioning from
MARC21 to more
Web-based, linked
data friendly format
 Main classes:
 Creative work
 Instance
 Authority
 Annotation
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Figure 5 from “Bibliographic
Framework as a Web of Data”

17. Some Resources
 ALCTS “Webinar Archive”
http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/past/webinar
 “BIBFRAME.ORG New Bibliographic Framework” http://bibframe.org/
 IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records.
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records: Final Report. Munich: KG.
Saur, 1998 http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/cataloguing/frbr/frbr.pdf
 Library of Congress “Bibliographic Framework Initiative”
http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/
 Library of Congress “RDA in MARC”
http://www.loc.gov/marc/RDAinMARC.html
 Library of Congress “Resource Description and Access (RDA):
Information and Resources in Preparation for RDA”
http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/index.html
 Program for Cooperative Cataloging “Report of the PCC Post-
Implementation Hybrid Bibliographic Records Guidelines Task Group”
October 2012
http://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/rda/RDA%20Task%20groups%20and%20c
harges/PCC-Hybrid-Bib-Rec-Guidelines-TG-Report.docx
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18. Contact
Alison Hitchens
Cataloguing & Metadata Librarian
University of Waterloo Library
ahitchen@uwaterloo.ca
@ahitchens
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