RDA (Resource Description and Access) is the new cataloging standard that replaces AACR2. It focuses on describing resources in the digital environment and utilizes relationships between entities. Catalog records will contain more information and be easier to understand. New search capabilities will be possible by exploring relationships between entities. Librarians outside cataloging should be aware of changes that may impact searching and displaying records, and should consult systems vendors regarding implementing RDA.

1. A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 3
RDA BASICS
FOR NON-CATALOG LIBRARIANS
D R . S O N I A A R C H E R - C A P U Z Z O
U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A A T G R E E N S B O R O
S M A R C H E R D M A @ G M A I L . C O M

2. WHAT WE’LL COVER
• Quick intro
• A bit about RDA
• What this change means for librarians outside the
catalog department
• What we see in a catalog record will change.
• New ways of searching will become possible.
• Changes you may need to talk to your systems vendors
about.
• Time for your questions

3. INTRODUCTION
• Why is a basic knowledge of RDA important?
• A few acronyms
• AACR2: Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition
• MARC21: MAchine-Readable Cataloging
• ISBD: International Standard Bibliographic Description
• RDA: Resource Description and Access

6. RDA
SOME BASIC INFO
• A content standard
• Published 2010, still being revised
• Looking forward
• Meant to describe a variety of media (extensible)
• Designed for the digital environment
• Looking back
• Designed to play well with earlier standards, like AACR2

7. RDA USER TASKS
• Find
• Match search criteria to specific entities (via attributes
and/or relationships)
• Identify
• Confirm that the resource found corresponds to the
resource sought and distinguish between similar resources
• Select
• Choose entities that meet the patron’s needs and
determine which do not
• Obtain
• Access or acquire the entity sought

8. ELEMENTS OF RDA
• Entities
• Group 1: products of intellectual or artistic endeavor
• Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item (WEMI)
• Group 2: those who produce Group 1 entities
• Person, Corporate body, Family (PCbF)
• Group 3: subjects of Group 1 entities
• Concepts, Objects, Events, Places, and any Group 1 and 2 entities
• Attributes- collectively describe/name/define a single
entity
• This is what we’re used to
• Relationships- between 2 entities
• This is new
• Note the importance of relationships

9. CHANGES IN DESCRIPTION
• What we see in a catalog record will change.
• The amount of information provided in a record will
increase.
• The amount of jargon used in a record will decrease.

10. CHANGES IN DESCRIPTION
“TAKE WHAT YOU SEE”
• More information can be included
• Example: no more rule of 3
• More cataloger’s judgment
• Example: catalogers can choose to only include a few
names or all of them
Imaginary book / by Jane Doe, John Doe, Jane Eyre, John
Hancock, and John Smith.
OR
Imaginary book / by Jane Doe [and four others].

11. CHANGES IN DESCRIPTION
• Easier-to-understand descriptions
• Example: no more abbreviations
• P. is now “page”
• Ed. is now “edition”
• But we still use cm (no period)
• Example: no more Latin terms
• S.l. is now “Place of publication not identified”
• Ca. is now “approximately”
• Et. al. is now “and # others”

12. EXAMPLE
EASIER-TO-UNDERSTAND DESCRIPTIONS
Hart, Amy, author
The RDA primer : a guide for the occasional cataloger /
Amy Hart.
Santa Barbara, California ; Denver, Colorado ; Oxford,
England : Linworth, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2010]
©2010.
xiii, 89 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

13. EXAMPLE
EASIER-TO-UNDERSTAND DESCRIPTIONS
Hart, Amy, author
The RDA primer : a guide for the occasional cataloger /
Amy Hart.
Santa Barbara, California ; Denver, Colorado ; Oxford,
England : Linworth, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2010]
©2010.
xiii, 89 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

14. NEW SEARCH CAPABILITIES
• New ways of searching will become possible.
• Relationships are more important.

15. RELATIONSHIPS
Authority
records
are
becoming
more
detailed

16. RELATIONSHIPS
• Inclusion of more names
• All contributors can be included in the statement of
responsibility and in added entries
• Works contained in the main work can be included and
defined
• Relator terms tell you what the relationship is
• Examples:
• Author to work
• Part of a collected works set
• A parody of a work
• Very handy with more complex relationships

17. EXAMPLE OF RELATIONSHIPS
Beethoven, Ludwig van,
1770-1827.
Stutschewsky, Joachim,
1891-1982.
Image from www.orble.com

18. EXAMPLE OF RELATIONSHIPS
Beethoven, Ludwig van,
1770-1827, composer.
Stutschewsky, Joachim,
1891-1982, editor.
Image from www.orble.com

19. EXAMPLE OF RELATIONSHIPS
WITHOUT RELATOR TERMS
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Variations sur un
thème de Händel.
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Variations sur le
thème Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen.
Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759. Judas
Maccabaeus.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Zauberflöte.
Mädchen oder Weibchen.

20. EXAMPLE OF RELATIONSHIPS
WITH RELATOR TERMS
Contains (work) : Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.
Variations sur un thème de Händel.
Contains (work) : Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.
Variations sur le thème Ein Mädchen oder
Weibchen.
Musical variations based on (work) : Handel, George
Frideric, 1685-1759. Judas Maccabaeus.
Musical variations based on (work) : Mozart,
Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791. Zauberflöte.
Mädchen oder Weibchen.

21. CHANGES IN SEARCH AND DISPLAY
• Changes you may need to talk to your systems
vendors about.
• No more GMD, replaced by new fields

22. NO MORE GMD
(GENERAL MATERIAL DESIGNATION)
•GMD in AACR2
Adele [videorecording] : live at the Royal Albert Hall /
Done and Dusted, Family Values, XL Recordings,
Columbia Music Video ; producer, Cordelia Plunket ;
director, Paul Dugdale.

23. NO MORE GMD
•Replaced in RDA by: Content type, Media type, Carrier
type
• Content type: text, two-dimensional moving image, performed
music
• Media type: unmediated, computer, video, audio
• Carrier type: volume, sheet, computer disc, audio disc
Adele : live at the Royal Albert Hall / Done and Dusted,
Family Values, XL Recordings, Columbia Music Video ;
producer, Cordelia Plunket ; director, Paul Dugdale.
two-dimensional moving image (content type)
video (media type)
videodisc (carrier type)

24. YOUR CATALOG AND RDA
• Talk to your system vendor!
• Make sure all useful fields and subfields display…
• Or can be searched by your system
• Working with GMDs in old records and
content/media/carrier type in new records
• Be aware that some subject changes, especially to
do with the Bible, are sticky and need to be
addressed.
• Linking data

25. CONCLUSION
• RDA will change what we see in the catalog
• Some things will take some time to get used to
• Some changes in RDA still need to be made
• Potential for better searching is great
• You have time!

26. WORKS CITED
FRBR Cheat Sheet. Available at
http://guides.library.cornell.edu/content.php?pid=422336&sid=3452
947
Hart, Amy. The RDA Primer: A Guide for the Occasional Cataloger.
Santa Barbara, California: Linworth, 2010.
Hit the Ground Running! RDA Training for Music Catalogers. Available
at
http://guides.library.cornell.edu/content.php?pid=422336&sid=3452
843
Library of Congress (LC) RDA Training Materials. Available at
http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/RDA%20training%20materials/LC%
20RDA%20Training/LC%20RDA%20course%20table.html
Oliver, Chris. Introducing RDA: A Guide to the Basics. Chicago:
American Library Association, 2010.
RDA Toolkit. Available at rdatoolkit.org
Tillett, Barbara. “What is FRBR? A Conceptual Model for the
Bibliographic Universe.” Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution
Service, 2004. Available at http://www.loc.gov/cds/FRBR.html

27. RDA BASICS
FOR NON-CATALOG LIBRARIANS
AUGUST 21, 2013
D R . S O N I A A R C H E R - C A P U Z Z O
U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A A T G R E E N S B O R O
S M A R C H E R D M A @ G M A I L . C O M
THANK YOU
QUESTIONS?