RDA (Resource Description & Access)

Patricia Dragon, Head, Special Collections Cataloging, Metadata, And Authorities Jennifer Joyner, Metadata Technician Nara Newcomer, Assistant Music Librarian Joyner Library, East Carolina University J.Y. Joyner Library Paraprofessional Conference May 13, 2011 RDA (Resource Description & Access)

Outline
RDA background and overview, introduction to FRBR (Nara)
RDA vs. AACR2 and what it means for catalogers in the short term (Patricia)
Controversies and discussions surrounding RDA (Jennifer)

RDA Background and Overview, FRBR Introduction
What is RDA?
Why RDA?
FRBR and RDA
Practical basics, organization, and terminology

What is RDA?

What is RDA?
R esource D escription and A ccess
Successor to AACR2
Based on FRBR: F unctional R equirements for B ibliographic R ecords and FRAD: F unctional R equirements for A uthority D ata
Content standard, not a display standard – clear line of separation between recording of data and presentation of data

RDA Timeline
1997: International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR in Toronto, Canada
1998: FRBR published by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) in 1998
2002: Work began on “AACR3”
2005: Name changed to RDA, to reflect need to closer align with FRBR and international view (removed “Anglo-American”)

RDA Timeline
November 2008: full draft of RDA made available
June 2010: RDA released
RDA testing by U.S. national libraries and partners:
Through Sept. 30, 2010: training & creation of practice records
Oct. 1-Dec. 30, 2010: creation of test records
Jan. 1-Mar. 31, 2011: evaluation
June 2011: decision announced
do not implement
postpone implementation until certain changes are made
implement
implement with specific recommended changes/policy decisions for US libraries

Why RDA ???

WHY RDA?
Better suited to the digital environment
More accepting of data from other sources – efficiencies by accepting machine-captured data
More machine actionable – data recorded in a way machines can use more easily.
Improve discoverability of materials because it is based on FRBR

FRBR – what problem does it solve?
The book?
The movie?
A particular edition?
A particular language?
The copy you checked out last month?
I want Moby Dick

FRBR
F unctional R equirements for B ibliographic R ecords
Group 1 entities:
work, expression, manifestation, item
Group 2 entities:
person, corporate body
Group 3 entities:
concept, object, event, place
User tasks:
find, identify, select, obtain

FRBR Group 1 Entities
Work : “a distinct intellectual or artistic creation”
Expression : “the intellectual or artistic realization of a work”
Manifestation : “the physical embodiment of the expression of a work”
Item : “a single exemplar of a manifestation”
The specific attributes of each entity are described further in the full text of FRBR.

FRBR Group 1 Entities: Work
“ a distinct intellectual or artistic creation”
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

FRBR Group 1 Entities: Expression
“ the intellectual or artistic realization of a work”
Jan. 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte with Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, conductor
Mozart’s complete musical score for Die Zauberflöte

FRBR Group 1 Entities: Manifestation
“ the physical embodiment of the expression of a work”
1984 Philips LP release of the 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte
1991 Philips CD release of the 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte
1994 Philips CD release of the 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte

FRBR Group 1 Entities: Item
“ a single exemplar of a manifestation”
ECU’s copy of the 1994 Philips CD release of the 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte
Durham County Library’s copy of the 1994 Philips CD release of the 1984 performance of Die Zauberflöte

Work Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” Expression: German translation by Christian Enzenberger Expression : the original English text Manifestation : 2006 Dial Books edition Manifestation: Chronicle Books 2000 edition Item : ECU’s copy Item : Duke’s copy

Your turn!
Which group 1 entity is it?
Work: “a distinct intellectual or artistic creation”
Expression : “the intellectual or artistic realization of a work”
Manifestation : “the physical embodiment of the expression of a work”
Item : “a single exemplar of a manifestation”

Work Beethoven’s 5 th Symphony Expression: Zagreb Philharmonic’s 1988 performance Expression : Hugo Ulrich’s arrangement for piano duet Manifestation : C.F. Peters edition Manifestation: Naxos 2008 CD release Item : ECU’s Copy Expression: Chicago Symphony’s 1988 performance Manifestation: HNH international 1997 CD release Item : John Doe’s copy

Practical Basics, Organization, Terminology

Practical Info about RDA
RDA Toolkit – envisioned as an online tool
By subscription
Print version available
Also includes AACR2 and LCPS (Library of Congress Policy Statements – the successor to LCRIs)
www.rdatoolkit.org

RDA Organization
AACR2:
Part I: Description. Chapters for format (books, sound recordings, maps, etc.)
Part II: Headings, Uniform Titles, and References
RDA:
Organized according to user tasks – find, identify, select, obtain
No chapters for formats
Sections 1-4: Recording attributes
Sections 5-10: Recording relationships

AACR2
RDA
heading
see reference
see also reference
GMD
authorized access point
variant access point
authorized access point for related entity
media type + carrier type + content type
Terminology Changes: Examples

IN THE SHORT TERM What RDA means for catalogers and the catalog

How are RDA bib records different? AACR2 RDA RDA record from LC Examples for RDA, Books, at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdaexamples.html

Description conventions
Leader/18=i: ISBD conventions
040 $e=rda: Can search in Connexion dx:rda to find rda records

Relationship designator and added entries
100/700 $e: Relationship designator (RDA 18.5.1.3)
700: Unjustified added entries allowed
245: Statement of responsibility shortened (RDA 1.3)
See http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdachoices.html for all the places where cataloger’s judgment is invoked.

Dates
Date of publication (even questionable) required (RDA 2.8.6)
Copyright date a separate data element in RDA (RDA 2.11)

Abbreviations
Many abbreviations spelled out (RDA 3.4.5.2)
Cm is not an abbreviation but a symbol (RDA 3.5.1.3)

New field: 336
336: Content type: The form of communication through which a work is expressed. (RDA 6.9)
text two-dimensional moving image notated music performed music computer dataset

New field: 337
337: Media Type: general type of intermediation device required to view, play, run, etc., the content of a resource. (RDA 3.2)
unmediated audio computer microform

New field: 338
338: Carrier type: format of the storage medium and housing of a carrier. (RDA 3.3)
volume audio disc online resource microfilm reel videodisc

Other changes to bib records
Eliminates rule of 3 (RDA 6.27.1.3)
Eliminates GMD
Take what you see
This is not nearly a full list; to see more, go to:
http://www.rda-jsc.org/docs/5sec7rev.pdf

So do we need to care?
You don’t have to adopt RDA. But you do have to deal with RDA records.
OCLC policy:
Do not change the rules of a master record.
Do not input duplicate records according to different rules.
Do edit however you wish locally.*
*See OCLC policy statement on RDA Cataloging in WorldCat for the U.S. testing period http://www.oclc.org/us/en/rda/policy.htm

Changes in the ILS: the “hybrid environment”*
No GMD. Addition of fields 336-338.
Display the new fields?
Turn off display of the GMD?
Create a format icon?
Relationship designators
Display?
Will they cause a new sequence in browse?
Will they prevent linking to authorities?
*See PoCo Discussion Paper on RDA implementation alternatives http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/PoCo-RDA-Discussion-Paper040511.pdf

Some changes to authorities
Eliminate abbreviations such as “b.” and “d.” in dates
Eliminate O.T./N.T. for books of the Bible.
Spell out Department instead of abbreviating Dept. (LC delayed implementation)
AACR2 RDA 9.19.1.3 (LC practice) Smith, John, b. 1825 Smith, John, 1825- Smith, John, d. 1859 Smith, John, -1859 AACR2 RDA 6.23.2.9 Bible. O.T. Exodus Bible. Exodus AACR2 RDA 11.2.2.14 North Carolina. Dept. of Revenue North Carolina. Department of Revenue

Are these changes related to the major goals of RDA?: Yes
Create machine-friendly data:
Record separate data in separate elements
Re-use data
More data, less text
Plenty of “space”
Impose FRBR structure:
Relationship designators=relationships
Separate content and carrier

And no
While RDA offers the possibility of reconceiving the library catalog, mainstream library catalogs with bibliographic data in MARC format are not currently able to exploit the full potential of RDA.

The RDA controversy: What people are saying about RDA

Implementation of RDA
Pros
Will help modernize library catalogs
Will help change the way we think about library metadata
Cons
RDA does nothing new
Limited by MARC
Costly

THE ADVANTAGES OF RDA
Pros

RDA and the library catalog
RDA will help modernize the library catalog
New features of library catalogs include:
Facets to narrow searching
Ranking of results
More visual results – book covers, table of contents, reviews
One goal of RDA is to make these tasks easier

The future of library catalogs “ The important question now is: how can the library catalog move from being ‘on the Web’ to being ‘of the Web?’ . . . Rather than creating data that can be entered only into the library catalog, we need to develop a way to create data that can also be shared with the Web.” -Karen Coyle in Understanding the Semantic Web, p. 13

http://blazing-sunset-24.heroku.com/

Other places to find FRBRized data
OCLC Fiction Finder
http://fictionfinder.oclc.org/
Variations3 Music Project (Indiana University)
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/projects/variations3/
eXtensible Catalog (University of Rochester)
http://www.extensiblecatalog.org/

RDA: A Leap Forward “ Instead I see the potential of RDA elsewhere: in the vocabularies specifically, and not incidentally in the revolution they represent in the way we envision our future in metadata. . . . [I]t’s not what we say, but how we say it, that makes RDA a big leap forward.” -Diane Hillmann From her blog post “What is this change that is RDA?”

THE DISADVANTAGES OF RDA
Cons

RDA isn’t different enough “ . . . trying to force FRBR’s 19th century view of information onto our new information universe is like those people long ago who continued to insist, while ignoring all the evidence, that the earth is the center of the universe.” -James Weinheimer From his presentation “RDA: the Wrong Solution for the Wrong Problem”

RDA: Limited by MARC “ Because the tests crammed RDA data into MARC, it really doesn’t operate as a test of RDA itself, or of the usefulness of FRBR. What we’ve ended up with is a vast amount of misunderstanding. . .” -Diane Hillmann From her blog post “Thank you, Code4Lib”

Will RDA kill MARC? “ Will RDA kill MARC? I don’t know, but I hope it will. . . .[T]he conflict between the aspirations of RDA and the limitations of MARC may finally tip the balance in favor of changing data formats despite the inevitable pain and cost.” -Kelley McGrath from her presentation “Will RDA Kill MARC?”

The cost of RDA “ Unfortunately, RDA does not fill the bill since the powers-that-be won't notice anything except the price tag.” -James Weinheimer In a listserv post regarding the decision of officials at a Texas public school system to reduce library cataloging services to two paraprofessionals to manage cataloging for 100 schools

RDA and the future
RDA is an unfinished standard
Placeholders exist in certain chapters of the RDA Toolkit
RDA Toolkit is designed to be a living document
The future direction of RDA is unclear
Still waiting for a decision from U.S. national libraries and the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)

RDA and your library
How is your library approaching RDA?
Does your library plan to implement RDA?
If so, what is your plan?
If not, how do you think you’ll handle RDA records?
And finally, how do YOU feel about RDA? Do you think it will benefit your library and its patrons?

Blogs and lists
Karen Coyle’s InFormation:
http://kcoyle.blogspot.com/
Diane Hillmann’s Metadata Matters:
http://managemetadata.org/blog/
James Weinheimer’s First Thus:
http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/

Blogs and lists
RDA Toolkit blog:
h ttp://www.rdatoolkit.org/blog
List of cataloging blogs:
http://www.catalogingfutures.com/catalogingfutures/blogs/
RDA-L discussion list:
http://www.rda-jsc.org/rdadiscuss.html

Bibliography
Chapman, A. (2010). The Case of AACR2 Versus RDA. Legal Information Management, 10, p 210-213.
Chapman explains why AACR2 no longer meets the needs of modern-day information demands, as well as how RDA will help meet these demands.
Coyle, K. Library Data in a Modern Context. (2010). Library Technology Reports , 46(1), 5-13. Retrieved from EBSCO host .
Provides a brief history of the library catalog, as well as outlines the areas of change needed for the library catalog in the 21st century.
Elrod, J. McRee. (2010, February 4). Practical Measures to Cope with RDA Records. Retrieved from http://www.slc.bc.ca/mac/rda_talk.pdf
A highly practical approach to changes that could be made in the OPAC to accommodate RDA records, although be forewarned that the author does seem to have more energy than most for retrospective conversion and making adjustments to incoming records.

Bibliography
IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. (1998, 2009). Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/functional-requirements-for-bibliographic-records
The full text of the FRBR final report. It's long and detailed, but ultimately the definitive place for information on FRBR.
Library of Congress (2010). Library of Congress Documentation for the RDA Test. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatest.html
The source for everything about the U.S. test, including files of records created during the test.
McGrath, K. (2011) Will RDA Kill MARC? Retrieved from http://pages.uoregon.edu/kelleym/KM_MWpresentation.pdf
McGrath, in this presentation from ALA Midwinter 2011, clearly outlines the limitations of MARC.

Bibliography
Oliver, C. (2010). Introducing RDA: A guide to the basics. Chicago: ALA.
Written for practicing catalogers. Has a lot of emphasis on the continuity with and changes from AACR2, and about the transition.
Tillet, B. "What is FRBR?: A Conceptual Model for the Bibliographic Universe." Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service, 2003. http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF
An 8 page introduction to the main concepts of FRBR. One of the clearest explanations out there, though it will require careful concentration to read. Remember that the statements about "current" work date from 2003 and don't reflect recent developments especially with RDA.

Bibliography
Weinheimer, James. (February 4, 2011). RDA: the wrong solution for the wrong problem [Webinar]. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://www.archive.org/details/RdaTheWrongSolutionToTheWrongProblem
In this webinar, Weinheimer explains why he thinks RDA should not be implemented.

Contact Us
Patricia Dragon
Head, Spec. Collections, Metadata & Authorities
Joyner Library, East Carolina University
[email_address]
Nara Newcomer
Assistant Music Librarian
Music Library, East Carolina University
[email_address]
Jennifer Joyner
Metadata Technician
Joyner Library, East Carolina University
[email_address]

RDA (Resource Description & Access)

by Jennifer Joyner on May 24, 2011

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RDA (Resource Description & Access) — Presentation Transcript