Resource Description

and Access (RDA)

Session1: What is RDA, Who is
responsible, When was it
implemented

Mr M’kulama Abel C.M

Email: [email protected]

Departmnet of library and infromation science

 What is RDA?
“RDA is a content standard, not a display
standard & not a metadata schema.
-RDA is a set of guidelines that indicate how
to describe a resource, focusing on the
pieces of information (or its attributes) that a
user is most likely to need to know.
- RDA encourages the description of
relationships between related resources &
between resources & persons or bodies that
contributed to creation of that resource.”
(Oliver, 2007)
 Example of Bibliographic Information
Attributes/Elements of an informationRDA
resource e.g.
guides Book
cataloguers
on how to deal with
Title
bibliographic content in
Sub order to create bibliographic
Title records.
Author How/where to find
bibliographic information &
Publisher how to enter it in the
Edition catalogue:
• Author
Date of publication
• Title
2nd edition • Publisher
• Edition
ISBN Number • Date
• ISBN
Place of publication
 What RDA is not
RDA is not a display standard or metadata schema
What is a display standard and/or metadata schema?
•Schema = outline, internal representation, a
structure
•Display standard/ metadata schema?
–structure, outline, representation for arranging &
displaying bibliographic information
–Bibligraphic information is the information that is
entered in the catalogue to assist with user needs (FISO)
 Examples of metadata Standards
•International standard bibliographic
description (ISBD)
–Covers a range of standards:
•ISBD (Monograph), ISBD (Catographic Material), ISBD
(Electronic Resources), ISBD (Serials)
•MARC (Machine Readable Cataloguing)
– has gone through some changes to accommodate
RDA
–RDA not specifically tide to ISBD like AACR2
•Dublin Core
 ISBD gives us the
eight areas
required to
describe an
information
resource and how
they should be
arranged
What RDA is not
 What RDA is
RDA is a content standard
RDA thus focuses on how to deal with
bibliographic data (content) in describing
information resources
A Set Rules for Cataloguing: “rules/guidelines that
indicates how to describe a resource, focusing on
the pieces of information (or attributes) that a user
is most likely to need to know.

• What attributes do you use to look for books or

information? Discuss
 RDA, the content standard
• Replaces AACR2 and removes Anglo-American
bias
• Informed by FRBR and FRAD
• Designed for use in the digital environment
• Consistent, flexible and extensible
• Compatible with international principles, models
and standards (IFLA principle, ISBD, MARC, Dublin
Core, etc.) (Crosswalk)
• Focus on organizing information for the benefit of
the user (FISO)
• Useable outside the library community (Archival
institutions, Heritage sites and Museums)
 RDA's general Objectives & Principles
• Convenience of user (FRBR & FRAD)
• Cost efficiency: Meet user tasks at minimal cost
• Flexibility: data should be responsive to use in a
variety of environments
• Continuity: Amenable to integrate into existing
databases (AACR databases)
• Defensible, not arbitrary it contradicts logic, take
a defensible, practical solution (Cataloguers
judgement )
RDA's General Objectives & Principles
• Representation: data about a resources must
reflect representation of a resource itself. E.g. A
chosen name for a person must be one common
in the resource. (E.g. Paul Ngozi not Paul Nyirongo)
• Common usage: Transcribed data from the
resource should reflect common usage
– E.g. Princess Nakatindi Winna not Nakatindi Wina
– Football not Soccer for Zambian users
– Soccer not Football for American users
RDA's General Objectives & Principles

• Accuracy: Provide supplement information to

clarify unintelligible or misleading
representation
• Differentiation: Data describing a resource
should differentiate it from other resources
– DOB –DOD, NRC
• Sufficiency and necessity: Data describing a
resource should be sufficient to meet the
needs of users.
RDA's General Objectives & Principles
• Relationships: descriptions should indicate
relationships between resources described
and others (How do entity items relate with
entities person, corporate body and family)
• Attribution: Records of relationships should
adequately reflect attribution of responsibility
• Uniformity: Data describing a resource must
be uniform, hence instructions in appendices
 Who is responsible for RDA ?
• RDA was developed by the Joint steering Committee
(JSC), also responsible for the developing AACR2
– RDA is rooted in standards including: ISBD,
AACR2, Ranganathan’s laws, Cutter Principles,
Lubetzky)
• 1961 Paris statement at the International Conference
on Cataloguing Principles = AACR published 1967
• 1969 Copenhagen meeting = ISBD ( Covering
standards including ISBD for single and multi volume
monographs, ISBD for E- resources, etc)
• 2005: “the changes made to AACR2 had sufficient
implications” to warrant a new one, “instead of calling it
AACR3, published as RDA”
• JSC consulted various LIS associations to feed into RDA
code
 When was RDA implemented?
• Published as an online version in 2010
• Under pressure from the cataloguing community,
JSC published a print version
– JSC, American Library Association (ALA) (lead
publishers) stressed that RDA was conceived as an
online code, to be able to fully benefit, use it in online
environments
• Adoption and use consistently rising
• National workshops and Curriculum development
& integration working as important routes to
adoption of RDA
– UNZA LIB Adoption and implementing in 2018
 Why do we need to Know/Switch to
RDA?
1. The modern information environment
– Volume, variety and velocity of information
production
• Volume – colossal amounts
• Variety - Different formats (Print, Pdf, audio, Epub, etc)
• Velocity – Fast, haste, alacrity
2. Librarians, needed a much simpler yet
standard way to describe the new forms of
intellectual output
Why do we need to Switch to RDA?
3. Changes in Information Resources
– Information resources have transformed beyond
the printed book
– proliferation of copies of resources in different
physical format
– The Google project, Smart Technologies, etc.
 Why do we need to Switch to RDA?

4. The Catalog now

– AACR rules were developed for old linear systems
(e.g. emphasis on 3x 5 cards)
– Not able to handles resources and user needs in
the 21st centaury & beyond
– Catalogues now are more robust and
Sophisticated, requiring a robust and sophisticated
cataloguing system
 Why do we need to Switch to RDA?

5. Changes in Users, User Activities and

Library Collections
– library users have a different set of information
skills from those of just a few decades ago
– Other databases seem to offer better than library
catalogues
– Information resources and sources have become
things that are much less embodied
 Why we need to Switch to RDA in Summary
• “Key factors contributing to the change have been the
introduction and on going development of automated
systems for the creation and processing of
bibliographic data, and the growth of large-scale
databases, both national and international in scope,
that contain records contributed and used by
thousands of libraries participating in shared
cataloguing programs. The growth of shared
cataloguing has been spurred not only by the
opportunities that new technologies bring with them
but also by an increasing need to reduce cataloguing
costs by minimizing duplicate cataloguing effort.”
Thank for listening

• Questions please