1. CARTOGRAPHIC RESOURCES AND RDA: A
SNAPSHOT OF CHANGES FROM AACR2
RULES AND PRACTICES
ALCTS CaMMS Cataloging & Classification Research Interest Group Presentation
2014 ALA Annual Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada

2. Introduction to RDA Changes for
Cartographic Resources
Are you cataloging using RDA? Do you have
experience cataloging cartographic resources?
A. Changes affecting all resources
B. “Resource-common” changes
C. Changes focused on cartographic resources

3. CHANGES THAT IMPACT ALL
RESOURCE TYPES
3

4. KEY POINTS on RDA CHANGES
• Terminology has changed, some fields have changed, but basic
processes haven’t changed THAT much
• “Take What You See” or the Principle of Representation
• Now we have “Core” and “Core if” elements
• “Rule of Three” is now an option, not a requirement
• No more Latin abbreviations (e.g., “S.l.” or “et al.”); or many
abbreviations at all!
• Use 264 field or fields for Imprint-related information
• Use 336, 337, and 338 fields to record content type, media type,
and carrier type
• Relationship Designators are used more often, required for first
Creator (could change)
• Abbreviation practices

5. “Take What You See” Concept
• Principle of Representation (RDA 1.7 for transcription
instructions) or “take what you see”
– Simplifies the descriptive process
– Impact on abbreviations
– Helps make our records more internationally
useable
…remember “take what you see” as you do your
descriptive work

6. “Core” and “Core if”
See RDA Instruction 1.3 “Core Elements”
Some primary ones are:
• Title
• Statement of Responsibility
• Edition
• Date of Production (for unpublished resource)
• Publication Statement
• Extent
Hint -- Scale of a cartographic resource!

7. Rule of Three…map example
AACR2:
The Roman Empire around 200 CE / ǂc compiled by Richard
Talbert … [et al.], with assistance from Cary Barber … [et al.].
RDA:
The Roman Empire around 200 CE / ǂc compiled by Richard
Talbert, Elizabeth Robinson and Ross Twele, with assistance from
Cary Barber, Byron Boots and Brian Turner.
Creator: Talbert, Richard J. A., 1947-
Creator: Robinson, Elizabeth.
Creator: Twele, Ross.
Contributor: Barber, Cary.
Contributor: Boots, Byron.
Contributor: Turner, Brian.

8. Abbreviations: no more “et al.”, “S.l.” and “s.n.”
Bibliographie du department “Urbanisation et socio-systèmes urbains”
1982-1987 / comité de redaction, L. Bourgeois … [et al.]. (AACR2)
Bibliographie du department “Urbanisation et socio-systèmes
urbains” 1982-1987 / comité de redaction, L. Bourgeois, J.P.
Duchemin, E. Le Bris, A. Sinou. (RDA)
[S.l. : s.n., … (AACR2)
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], …
↑
(RDA)
See Instruction 2.2.4 for when and where to use square brackets, along
with the LC-PCC PS given for this Instruction.

9. 264 Field: The New “Imprint” Field
• Separate 264’s for Production, Publication,
Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Date
• Second Indicator value determines the type of data
• “Production” data means it is not published
• Mix and match as needed
• If square brackets are used, each subfield is bracketed
individually
• NO “S.l.” and/or “s.n.” – replaced by “[Place of XX not
identified]”, “[XX not identified]”, and/or “[date of XX
not identified]”
2013 MAGIRT Program June 29, 2013

10. New 33X fields
 Directly related to extensible framework
 Gives more specific detail than data found in physical
description field
 Controlled vocabulary
 Repeatable fields
MARC Tag Name RDA Instruction
336 Content Type 6.9 (Core)
337 Media Type 3.2
338 Carrier Type 3.3 (Core)

11. 336, 337, 338 FIELDS EXAMPLE FOR A SHEET MAP
336 cartographic image ǂb cri ǂ2 rdacontent
337 unmediated ǂb n ǂ2 rdamedia
338 sheet ǂb nb ǂ2 rdacarrier
Hosted by ALCTS, The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services
11

12. Relationship Designators…concerning
cartographic materials
Appendix I, see Instructions under I.2, I.3, I.4
I.2.1 Creators: “author”, “cartographer” or “designer”
I.2.2 Contributors: “producer”, “sponsoring body”
…and so forth…
For example:
100 1 Raisz, Erwin, ≠d 1893-1968, ≠e cartographer.
**Cartographic cataloging community is working on a best
practices guide that will include relationship designators.

13. Abbreviation Practices
Change touches many parts of our records,
including:
Statement of responsibility
Edition statement
Imprint data
Physical description
Notes
However, if data being transcribed contains an
abbreviation then leave it in that form, e.g., “Co.”

14. RESOURCE-COMMON CHANGES
AS APPLIED TO CARTOGRAPHIC
RESOURCES
14

15. Cartographic Elements
Impacted by Appendix B
B.5.1 Dimensions
B.5.7 Additional Scale
Information
B.5.8 Right Ascension
B.5.11 Other Elements
B.7 Latin Alphabet
Abbreviations
and also
TABLE 1 under B.11 for
“Names of Certain Countries…”

16. AACR2
abbreviation
RDA word usage
ill. illustration; illustrations
ca. approximately
col. color
diam. diameter
hand col. hand colored
ms. manuscript
Commonly Abbreviated Cartographic
Words

17. Abbreviations/”abbreviations” in Physical
Description Elements for Cartographic
Materials
Overall the changes from AACR2 to RDA are minor, for instance:
AACR2→ 1 map : ≠b col. ; ≠c 62 x 59 cm., folded to 22 x 10 cm.
versus
RDA→ 1 map : ≠b color ; ≠c 62 x 59 cm, folded to 22 x 10 cm.
More on “cm.” as an “abbreviation” shortly…

18. Dimensions Examples for “cm.” vs. “cm”
300 1 map : $b col. ; $c 62 x 59 cm., folded to 22 x 10 cm. (AACR2)
300 1 map : $b color ; $c 62 x 59 cm, folded to 22 x 10 cm (RDA)
300 1 microfiche : $b negative ; $c 11 x 15 cm. (AACR2)
300 1 microfiche : $b negative ; $c 11 x 15 cm (RDA)
300 1 model : $b hand col., plaster ; $c 123 x 252 x 78 cm., mounted
in wooden stand. (AACR2)
300 1 model : $b hand colored, plaster ; $c 123 x 252 x 78 cm,
mounted in wooden stand. (RDA)
3.5.1.3 RecordingDimensions
Unless instructed otherwise, record dimensions in centimetres to
the next whole centimetre up and use the metric symbol cm (e.g., if
the height measures 17.2 centimetres, record 18 cm).

19. RDA Instruction B.5.1
B.5.1 Dimensions
When recording dimensions (see 3.5), use symbols or
abbreviations in the list at B.7 that apply to units of
measurement.
Metric symbols are not abbreviations and are not
followed by a full stop.
Exception for when to add period to “cm”, see LC-PCC PS
for 1.7.1, item #4.

20. DIFFERENCES SPECIFIC TO
CARTOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
20

21. ↓
Type: _e_ ELvl: _I_ Srce: _d_ Relf: ____ Ctrl: ____ Lang: _____
Blvl: _m_ Form: ___ GPub: ___ SpFm: ____ MRec: ____ Ctry: _____
→CrTp: _a_ Indx: _0_ Proj: ___ DtSt: ____ Dates: ______ , ______
Desc: _i_[code change] ↑
1 010
2 040 UPM ≠b eng ≠e rda ≠c UPM
3 007
4 020
→ 5 034 _
6 041
~› 7 052 ≠b [this field can also be used for monographs, but it is used sparingly]
8 090 ≠b
9 049 UPMM
10 1XX
11 245 _ _ ≠a ≠b ≠c
12 246 _ _
→13 255 ≠a ≠b ≠c
→14 264 _ _ ≠a ≠b ≠c [new RDA field, NOT unique to cartographic materials]
15 300 ≠a ≠b ≠c
→16 336 ≠a ≠b ≠2 [new RDA field, NOT unique to cartographic materials]
→17 337 ≠a ≠b ≠2 [new RDA field, NOT unique to cartographic materials]
→18 338 ≠a ≠b ≠2 [new RDA field, NOT unique to cartographic materials]
19 4XX _ _ ≠v
20 500
21 500
22 6XX _ _
23 6XX _ _
24 7XX _
25 7XX _
26 8XX
27 856 4 _

22. SCALE DATA ELEMENT
Scale is a core element (RDA 7.25).
All data in the 255 field is supplied by cataloger.
 Chapter 7 of RDA “Describing Content”
 7.25 Recording Scale Statements (255 ≠a)
 7.26 Recording Projection Statements (255
≠b)
 7.4 Recording Coordinates (255 ≠c)
 7.25.1.3 “Recording Scale” mirrors Area 3.3 of
Chapter 3 in AACR2 except for the use of square
brackets; the explicit use of the term “Scale” in
the statement; and the use of “ca.”
22

23. SCALE DATA ELEMENT: CONVERSION TO
REPRESENTATIVE FRACTION FORM
RDA 7.25.1.3 and AACR2 3.3B1→ must provide scale as a
representative fraction (RF), e.g., 1:100,000
When not given on the map as an RF, convert by:
 Use of a Natural Scale Indicator to measure from a bar/graphic
scale on the map (see above)
BUT…in RDA we do not supply the data with square brackets
23

24. Scale Data Element: “approximately” and
Square Brackets
AACR2 Format
Scale [ca. 1:10,000]
Scale [1:600]. 50 ft. to an in.
3.3B1. Give scale as a RF, if not
in that form convert and give
in square brackets with “ca.” if
computed from a NSI, or only
in square brackets if computed
from a verbal scale.
RDA Format
Scale approximately 1:10,000
Scale 1:600. 50 ft. to an in.
7.25.1.3, instructions for
recording scale overall, must
give as RF form; 7.25.3.3
instructions for recording
horizontal scale. Square
brackets are NOT used.

25. Abbreviating as Applied to Projection
Statements
Initially a transcribed element in RDA; changed back to
being a supplied element with the April 2014 RDA
update. See RDA 7.26
255 $b: “proj.” now “projection”; why?
Appendix B: “projection” is not in the Latin abbreviations
table at B.7, therefore it cannot be abbreviated
Example
255 Scale 1:50,000 ; $b Borneo rectified skew orthomorphic projection

26. Abbreviations:
Possible Changes Forthcoming
Appendix B.11
Currently one can use Table B.1 at this Instruction to ascertain which place
names are allowed to be abbreviated for certain countries, states, provinces,
and territories (in the U.S., Canada, and Australia). A proposal is currently
undergoing scrutiny at the JSC, made by the British Library (Proposal
6JSC/BL/10/BL follow up), to eliminate abbreviating place names for all
geographic entities.
Think of the impacts: to geographic subject headings and in some cases
subject subdivisions; to Place of Publication data; and to some authority
records.
At the same time, why not be consistent in practices, and this change will
assist the user once again.

27. SAMPLE RDA RECORD FOR A SINGLE MAP ON ONE SIDE OF A SHEET
SHOWING CHANGED ELEMENTS FROM AACR2 (carto-specific = RED)
DESC: = i
007 a ǂb j ǂd c ǂe a ǂf n ǂg z ǂh n
040 UPM ǂb eng ǂe rda ǂc UPM
034 1 a ǂb 88000 ǂd W0745900 ǂe W0741700 ǂf N0413000 ǂg N0405000
052 3813 ǂb S9
090 G3813.S9 1955 ǂb .H3
049 UPMM
100 1 Harper, George B., ǂe cartographer.
245 10 Sussex County, New Jersey / ǂc corrected to 1955 by George B. Harper,
County Engineer.
255 Scale approximately 1:88,000 ǂc (W 74°59ʹ--W 74°17ʹ/N 41°30ʹ--N 40°50ʹ).
264 1 Convent Station, N.J. : ǂb copyright, General Drafting Co., Inc., ǂc [1955]
300 1 map : ǂb color ; ǂc 62 x 59 cm, folded to 22 x 10 cm
336 cartographic image ǂb cri ǂ2 rdacontent
337 unmediated ǂb n ǂ2 rdamedia
338 sheet ǂb nb ǂ2 rdacarrier
500 "All borough streets are improved."
500 Includes a location map and two illustrations.
500 Text, illustrations with captions, and mailing area on verso.
651 0 Sussex County (N.J.) ǂv Maps.
655 7 Maps. ‡2 lcgft
710 2 General Drafting Company.

29. tHANKs!
Paige G. Andrew
pga2@psu.edu