RDA : Resource Description and Access Deirdre Kiorgaard Australian Committee on Cataloguing Representative to the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA

AACR to RDA

AACR and descriptive cataloguing  AACR is a robust standard, but … –‘Class of materials’ approach is no longer valid Need for principles-based instructions Need for extensibility –Designed for the card catalogue not digital world Data needs to be usable in the web environment  RDA offers better coverage –Visual, Archival & Online resources

Brave new world?  The power of the search engine

Next generation catalogues tagging reviews synonym control links full text table of contents “The OPAC has tended to favour an increase in the number of access points over the effective presentation of the relationships between resources. … It has been the failure to exploit the navigational potential of this rich metadata that has given the OPAC such a bad name.” Danskin, 2006.

Navigation and relationships  Controlled forms of name  Preferred names for works  Carefully crafted subject vocabularies

RDA and relationships  Preferred titles for works and expressions  Links & relationships between works, expressions, manifestations and items  Relationships between works etc, and their creators, etc  Relationships between persons, families and corporate bodies

RDA and FRBR/FRAD/FRSAR  The value of conceptual models –Identify & define the things that are important - entities –Identify & define the attributes that characterise the entities –Identify & define significant relationships between entities  FRBR/FRAD/FRSAR –Identify & define bibliographic entities, attributes and relationships  FRBR – user tasks “ a structured framework for relating the data recorded in bibliographic (and authority) records to the needs of the users of those records.”

FRBR in practice  Used in databases Red Light Green, Fiction Finder, xISBN, Austlit, Music Australia, Trove  Used in library systems and catalogues VTLS – Virtua  FRBR Bibliography

FRBR in practice – Fiction finder (1)

FRBR in practice – Fiction finder (2) Work

FRBR in practice - Trove Work

FRBR in practice - VTLS Work Expression Manifestations

FRBR in practice – Austlit (1) Work Related works

FRBR in practice Austlit (2) Expression Manifestations

Benefits of FRBR  A new way of providing access –Improved navigation of the catalogue for users –Improved catalogue displays For researchers – a more organised display For the general public – a less cluttered display  Improved efficiency of data creation & maintenance

The (not so) secret life of catalogue data (1) “metadata increasingly appears farther and farther away from its original context” Shreeves, Riley and Milewicz (2006).  Shared library databases  Digitisation projects  Institutional repositories

The (not so) secret life of catalogue data (2)  The GLAM sector Galleries, libraries, archives and museums  The Internet Catalogue records have jumped the fence  Leading to: Services based on data aggregations Sharing of library data with other sectors Exposure of library data to the internet

Whose standards? “Standards are like toothbrushes; everyone agrees they are a good idea, but nobody wants to use anyone else’s.” Baca (2008)  Library standards  Digital library standards  Cultural institutions  Publishing

“Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe”

Achieving commonality When choosing the standards to use within the library sector: –use existing standards where they exist –influence the development of existing standards to cover any perceived gaps or to address any issues When working with other communities: –use elements from existing standards where needed, rather than re-inventing the wheel –use and/or develop common vocabularies wherever possible –use or build upon common models and principles –make our element sets available on the web

RDA and achieving commonality  Uses external vocabularies  Jointly develops new vocabularies  Draws on standards in related communities  Is built on common models and principles  Includes mappings to other standards/schema

RDA in the digital world  Clearly defined element set –better granularity, improved mapping to other schema, e.g. Dublin Core, ISBD, MODS/MADS, MARC21  Greater emphasis on relationships –Better navigation and displays  Better interoperability - common vocabularies –Content type, carrier type, media type; Relationship designators; Encoding formats, etc. –Making vocabularies accessible  RDA and the semantic web

Sample – RDA instructions  RDA as a cataloguing tool Interactive and online Integration with policies and processes

Draft implementation timeline March/April 2010ACOC survey on RDA training in Australia June 2010RDA released 31 August 2010RDA Toolkit open access period ends July 2010-March 2011US libraries test RDA November 2010Train-the trainer courses begin Early 2011Implementation of MARC changes on Libraries Australia Mid 2011Implementation of RDA in Australian and overseas libraries

Further information  Australian implementation Enquiries:  Subscription options and Australian pricing  MARC changes to support RDA  US testing

Forthcoming publications  Practical Cataloguing: AACR, RDA and MARC21 / Anne Welsh and Sue Batley ISBN:  Introduction to Resource Description and Access : Cataloguing and classification in the digital era / Shawne D Miksa ISBN:  Introducing RDA: A Guide to the Basics / Chris Oliver ISBN

Thanks …. Questions?