Transcript AACR3 RDA: An Interim Report on the New Cataloguing Code

AACR3 … RDA
An interim report on the new cataloguing code
Antony Gordon (British Library Sound
Archive)
Drawn partially from presentations by:
Jennifer Bowen (City University, New York)
Alan Danskin (British Library) — itself based on a
presentation by Gordon Dunsire and the JSC
Where we came from — earlier cataloguing codes
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1841 — Panizzi’s British Museum rules (UK)
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1876 — Cutter’s rules (US)
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1908 — Anglo–American rules (AA — very slim volume)
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1949 — ALA rules (US)
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1961 — Lubetzky’s analysis — leading to the ‘Paris Principles’
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1967 — AACR, with divergent North American and UK versions
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1969 — IFLA: International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD)
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1978 — AACR2. Issued at a time when rapid technological change was beginning
to impact on libraries. Revisions up to 2005
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1997 — International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of
AACR, Toronto
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2004-5 — Draft of “AACR3” Part 1 reviewed by JSC constituencies
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International developments prior to RDA
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Updating of the ‘Paris Principles’
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IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing
Code (IME ICC) www.ifla.org/VII/s13/index.htm#IME-ICC
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IFLA’s Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
(FRBR) www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm
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AACR review — genesis of RDA
Reviewers of AACR in 2004/5 called for:
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More radical change
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Simplification of the rules
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Greater consistency and less redundancy for easier use and
interpretation
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A return to principle–based rules that build on cataloguers’ judgement
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A content standard for metadata schemas
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International applicability
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Improved collocation in displays through use of work/expression
relationships and a new approach to the GMD
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Application of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
model (FRBR/FRAR)
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RDA is designed to support the FRBR Resource
Discovery user tasks:
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Find
 Identify
 Select
 Obtain
… to enable users of library catalogues, etc. to find,
identify/confirm, select and acquire access to resources
appropriate to their requirements.
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FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic
Records)
Based on IFLA analysis of users' needs to Find, Identify, Select and
Obtain an item
Group 1 entities:
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Work (a conceptual commonality — the composer's conception)
Expression (MS, editions, different recordings — insubstantial)
Manifestation (the Work-Expression made concrete — printed
editions, CDs, etc.
Item — a specific exemplar of a manifestation
Group 2 entities:
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Person
Family
Corporate body
Place
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RDA — Resource Description and Access
Some of RDA’s design objectives:
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To retain and reuse the best parts of AACR2
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To ensure that AACR2 and RDA are record–compatible
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To maintain, but modify the relationship with ISBDs
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To take account of economic considerations for institutions that use the
rules
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To make provision for digital developments and emerging technologies
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To foster the relationship between cataloguing and metadata
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To engage with other metadata communities outside the library world
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RDA will be …
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an international content standard for Resource Description and
Access to cater for the wide variety of media and formats now
held by libraries
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designed for the digital environment
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a web-based product (but also available as loose-leaf print)
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independent of storage / communication formats such as
MARC 21
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RDA will enable …
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description and access of all digital resources (as well as
traditional analogue resources)
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usability of resulting records in the digital environment (Internet,
Web OPACs, etc.)
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use by other language communities. It is being developed
initially for use in an English language environment but with
internationalization in mind
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Issues in developing RDA
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Striking a balance between continuity and change
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Deciding whether to throw out AACR2 and start from scratch. The decision
was made to keep the best parts of what has been tried and tested over the
years
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Maintaining compatibility with existing records
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Defining RDA as a content standard rather than a display standard
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Defining new data elements to replace the GMD
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Clarifying definitions for notes
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Retaining relationships between elements
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Severing the tie to ISBD whilst ensuring that RDA records can still be
formatted for ISBD display if required
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Instructions rather than rules — a change of emphasis
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RDA has instructions where AACR had rules
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Instructions start with the general and move toward the specific
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Some guidelines and instructions will be designated as optional in
order to provide a cataloguer with either:
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an alternative to the preceding instruction or guideline, or
an opportunity to record supplementary information within a
data element
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RDA content largely consistent with AACR2 ... but
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Areas of change include:
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Use of ISBD becomes optional for RDA users
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GMD / SMD are superseded by the RDA/ONIX Framework for
resource categorization
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Attributes set for carrier
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Attributes set for content
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Uniform title/Citation access point (proposal)
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Name of work + expression attributes + manifestation attributes +
item attributes as required
Transcription of data — changed emphasis
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Transcription from the source
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Consider the relative importance of transcription of data for
resource identification?
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For rare books, early printed music, etc. — very important
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For the metadata communities — not at all important
“Transcribe what you see”
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Correction of inaccuracies will be elsewhere in the record
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Facilitates automated data capture from e.g. publishers
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RDA structure. Part A: Description
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Chapter 0. Introduction
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Chapter 1. General guidelines on resource description
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Chapter 2. Identification of the resource [FRBR Identify task]
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Chapter 3. Carrier [FRBR Select task]
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Chapter 4. Content [FRBR Select task]
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Chapter 5. Acquisition and access information [FRBR Obtain task]
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Chapter 6. Persons, families, and corporate bodies associated
with a resource
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Chapter 7. Related resources
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Data elements in Part A
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Arrangement within Chapters 1–5 is by data element
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Title
Edition
Publisher
Place of publication
Date of publication, etc.
Series
Resource Identifiers
Extent
Content description
Item–specific information
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Elements might either be explicitly required or optional
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Specific instructions cover how to record an element and any exceptions
for specialist materials.
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RDA structure. Part B: Access point control
(expresses FRBR relationships)
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Chapter 8. General guidelines on Access Point Control
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Chapter 9. Access points for persons
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Chapter 10. Access points for families
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Chapter 11. Access points for corporate bodies
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Chapter 12. Access points for places
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Chapter 13. Access points for works, etc.
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Chapter 14. Other information used in access point control
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RDA structure. Appendices
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Appendix A. Capitalization
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Appendix B. Abbreviations
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Appendix C. Initial articles
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Appendix D. Presentation of descriptive data
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Appendix E. Presentation of access point control data
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New terminology
AACR2
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Heading / Main entry
Added entry
Uniform title
RDA
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Primary access point
Secondary access point
Citation: access point
 For a work
 For an expression
 For a manifestation
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GMD/SMD
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Three new categories to replace GMD/SMD
 Media category
 Type of carrier
 Type and form of content
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Resulting from joint work between RDA and ONIX so enabling
improved data exchange with publishers
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Mandatory elements and alternatives clarified
AACR2
 Alternatives
 Optional additions
 Optional omissions
RDA
 Required
 Required if applicable
 Optional
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Coding RDA records in MARC 21 – and DC?
Most RDA data elements can be incorporated into MARC 21
Changes:
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New data elements to replace GMDs and SMDs
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Possibly some other modifications necessary to MARC 21
Considering ISBD punctuation
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RDA will establish a clear line of separation between the recording of data
and the presentation of data
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ISBD punctuation not required in RDA, but instead is optional
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Presentation information (e.g. ISBD punctuation) will appear in an
appendix of RDA
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Cataloguing / metadata communication standards
MARC
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MARC 21
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UNIMARC
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XML DTDs
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MARCXML www.loc.gov/standards/marcxml/
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MODS www.loc.gov/standards/mods/
Metadata standards
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Dublin Core dublincore.org/
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MPEG 7 www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-7/mpeg-7.htm
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VRA www.vraweb.org/vracore3.htm
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EAD www.loc.gov/ead/
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ISBD (also content/display standard) www.ifla.org/VI/3/nd1/isbdlist.htm
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ONIX www.editeur.org/onix.html
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Organization, development and support for RDA
The Committee of Principals comprises directors (or their representatives)
from: The American Library Association, The Canadian Library Association,
CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, The
British Library, The Library of Congress, Library and Archives Canada
The Joint Steering Committee (JSC) manages the process and includes
representatives from :
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The American Library Association
The Australian Committee on Cataloguing
The British Library
The Canadian Committee on Cataloguing
CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
The Library of Congress
The Editor of RDA is Tom Delsey.
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RDA schedule
RDA is very much still in progress
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2007 (March-June): Review of revised chapter 3 (Carrier)
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2007 (July-September): Review of revised chapters 6-7
(Relationships)
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2007-8 (December-March): Review of part B (Access Points)
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2008 (July-September): Review of complete draft of RDA
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2008 (August) ‘Soft-launch of Beta version RDA’ at IFLA
Conference
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2009 Release of RDA as web-tool
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Resources and contacts
RDA JSC website —drafts available at:
 www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rda.html
RDA discussion list
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www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rdadiscuss.html
UK contact for comments: CILIP/BL Secretariat c/o
 [email protected]
Contact me at:
 [email protected]
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