RDA is a new cataloging standard designed to replace AACR2 and provide guidelines for describing digital resources. It is based on FRBR and FRAD which are models that organize information by user tasks and relationships between entities like works, expressions, manifestations and items. RDA aims to be more intuitive for users by providing more detailed descriptions of resources and is being tested by various libraries and organizations before its full implementation. However, some questions remain regarding its costs and benefits compared to AACR2.

1. Resource Description and Access
(RDA)
Resource
Description and
AccessWhat
Is
RDA?
Why
RDA?
Who Is
Involved?
How
Does
RDA
Work?
What Do
People
Think About
RDA?
Emporia State University, LI804, Dr. Lynne Chase, Fall 2009
Holly Caro, Paula Ciberay, Jennifer Dibbern, Andrea McCullough, Amy Nelson, Alfredo Pinto,
Kate Skarbek, Elisa Wood

2. What is Resource Description and
Access (RDA)?
Cataloguing code
Primarily used by libraries
Designed to replace Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules,
2nd Ed (AACR2)

3. Information Transfer Cycle
Authors &
Creators
Products
Distributors
Disseminators
Users

4. Differences between RDA and
AACR2
Provides digital resource cataloguing guidelines
Designed with the user in mind
More detail in record about editions, translations,
alternative format and creator

5. AACR2 RDA
General Material Designators
(GMDs) of AACR2 will not be
used in RDA. Instead…
Heading will now be…
“See” references will now be…
“Uniform title” will be …
When preferred title is linked with
the creator…
Data elements for media type,
carrier type, and content
type will be used
“access point”
“Variant access points”
“Preferred title” for a work
We have a “preferred access
point” for the work

6. Expanding Bibliographic Universe
“This bibliographic
universe is not just
books, but rather,
many galaxies and
worlds of
content….”
(Tillet, 2008, p. 4)

7. Why RDA?
A need for a cataloguing code to adequately describe digital
technology
A means to reach Internet users
Offers more specific controlled vocabularies allowing
machines to manipulate data more than before
Focuses on identifying elements needed to
describe interrelationships

8. Who is Involved in the Development
of RDA?
Joint Steering Committee (JSA) for Development of RDA
Canadian Committee on Cataloguing

9. Close Up on Key Players
LOC Working group on the Future of Bibliographic
Control
Presents findings on bibliographic control and other descriptive
practices
Presents findings on supporting management of and access to
library materials in the evolving information technology
environment
Recommends ways library community can implement these
practices
Advises Library of Congress on its roles and priorities – In 2008,
recommended suspending work on RDA

10. Close Up on Key Players, cont.
Committee of Principles
RDA Test Coordinating Committee Members
RDA Test Partners- Partners represent institutions that use a
wide range of cataloging systems, OPACS, communication
formats and types of materials.
Museums
Archives
Publishers
Educators
ILS Vendors
Dublin Core
Other semantic web
communities

11. Who Uses RDA?
Few so far

12. Who Will Use RDA?
Possibly:
Although right now, the real answer is no one.

13. Potential Users of RDA
Library communities who do not currently use an online
catalogs, databases or bibliographies
Other communities with a need for access to online catalogs,
databases or bibs
Corporations and businesses

14. How is RDA Constructed?
10 Sections broken into 2 main categories
Attributes = first 4 sections
Relationships = sections 5 – 10 deal with
recording relationships either to or between
entities

15. Attributes
Manifestation and item
Work and expression
Person, family, and corporate body
Concept, object, event, and place

16. Relationships
Primary relationships
Relationships of persons, families, and corporate bodies
associated with a resource
Subject relationships
Relationships between works, expressions, manifestations, and
items
Relationships between persons, families and corporate bodies
Relationships between concepts, objects, events, and places

17. What is RDA Based On?
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Resources (FRBR)
Functional Requirements for Authority
Data (FRAD)

18. Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Resources (FRBR)
An entity-relationship model
Designed to give holistic approach to user retrieval and
access
Reflects an associative, relational organization of information
where the user can expand their search in multiple directions
if they wish

19. FRBR, cont.
Model identifies and facilitates 4 user tasks:
Find- specific resources
Indentify- confirm resource as meeting user needs
Select- find resources that are singular to the user’s
need
Obtain- gain access or acquire the resource
5th Unofficial (enhancement) user task: Navigate- to discover
relations of the universe represented in the catalog, database
or bibliography being used

20. FRBR Group 1 Entities like Plato’s
Forms?
Work
Expression
Manifestation
Item

21. FRBR consists of 3 entity groups:
Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item
Person, Corporate Body
Concepts, Objects, Events, Place
A book, stage play, CD, film, etc.
The group or organization responsible for
stewardship of product
The subject of the product

22. Work, Expression, Manifestation,
Item

23. Person, Corporate Body
Figure 3.2:
Group 2 Entities
and
“Responsibility”
Relationships

24. Concepts, Objects, Event, Place
Figure 3.3:
Group 3 Entities
and “Subject”
Relationships

25. How FRBR is Used
FictionFinder is an OCLC, FRBR-based
online catalog for over 2.9 fiction records in
WorldCat

26. Functional Requirements for Authority
Data (FRAD)
An entity-relationship model
User-centered
Model identifies 4 user tasks
Find- same as FRBR
Identify- same as FRBR
Contextualize- to place in context, to clarify relationships
Justify- document why the name was chosen as an access
point

27. FRAD Functions
Every access point to a work is unique and
allows access to the specific work
Searching under one heading will find
associated records or collections

28. RDA History
British and N. American
texts of Anglo-American
cataloging code
published
AACR2 issued by
English-speaking
countries
Revisions to AACR2
IFLA developed FRBR
to reinforce objectives of
catalogs and the
importance of
relationships
Revisions to AACR2
International
Conference on the
Principles and
Future
Development of
AACR held in
Toronto
Draft revision of
AACR2 begun
(AACR3)
Concern about need
to move towards
FRBR's model
Draft of RDA part 1
made available for
review
More drafts of RDA
chapters issued
Concerns raised by
NLM & National
Agricultural Library
Full draft of RDA
issued
Test period for RDA
Anticipated release
of RDA

29. Thoughts on RDA
Much debate caused by so many unknowns.
The test period will help clear up some of the
these.
The evaluative test factors set to determine
feasibility are:
Operational
Technical
Economic

30. RDA Pros
A cataloging standard for the digital
environment
A framework that describes all resources
Focuses on the needs of users
Supports metadata sharing among
metadata communities
Supports new uses of library records in
online services

31. RDA Cons
Some claim RDA goes too far
Others claim that RDA doesn’t go far
enough
Concerns about cost/benefit
Concerns about how RDA will impact work
flows
Concerns about learning and training
Switching from AACRs vocabulary to RDA
will be difficult for catalogers

32. Further RDA Questions
Will switching from format as top priority to function as
top priority work efficiently in the arrangement of
cataloging rules?
Will the additional information provided by RDA prove
useful to users, will the results be information
overload?
Will ILS systems be compatible with all access points?
Will transitioning to RDA be difficult for the customer;
will it be easily understood?

33. References
FictionFinder: A FRBR-based prototype for fiction in WorldCat (n.d.). Retrieved September 22,
2009, from http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/fictionfinder.htm
Hillman, D. (2009, February 2). Denver Midwinter: All RDA, all the time… [Web log message].
Retrieved from http://managemetadata.org/blog/2009/02/02/denver-midwinter-all-rda-all-
the-time
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (2009, February). Functional
requirements for bibliographic records (Final Report). Retrieved from
http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/functional-requirements-for-bibliographic-records
Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (2009). Report on RDA. Retrieved from
http://www.rda-jsc.org/index.html
Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (2006). Resource description and
access. Retrieved from http://www.rdaonline.org/
Library of Congress (2008). Joint Statement of the Library of Congress, the National Library of
Medicine, and the National Agricultural Library on Resource Description and Access.
Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/
Library of Congress (2008). On the Record: Report of The Library of Congress Working Group
on the Future of Bibliographic Control. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-
future/rda/

34. References, cont.
Library of Congress (2009). Testing Resource Description and Access. Retrieved from
http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/
Lovins, D. (2008). Cataloging news. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 45(4), 101-113.
Patton, G.E. (2009, August). From FRBR to FRAD: Extending the model. Paper presented at the
World Library and Information Congress: 75TH IFLA General Conference and Council, Milan,
Italy. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla75/215-patton-en.pdf
Taylor, A.G., Joudrey, D.N. (2009) The organization of information. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries
Unlimited.
Tillett, B. (2008). Cataloging principles and RDA: Resource description and access. Retrieved from
http://www.frbr.org/2008/07/16/barbara-tillett-rda-webcasts
Tillett, B. (2008). Resource description and access: Background/overview. Retrieved from
http://www.frbr.org/2008/07/16/barbara-tillett-rda-webcasts
Tillett, B. (2004). What is FRBR? A conceptual model for the bibliographic universe, The Australian
Library Journal, 54 (1). Retrieved October 4, 2009, from
www.worldcat.org/oclc/54962277?tab=details
Vizine-Goetz, D. (2007). Fiction Finder: Imagining a Next Generation Catalog. Retrieved September
22, 2009, from http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/frbr/fictionfinder.htm