Showing papers on "Resource Description and Access published in 2019"

Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Abstract: Knowledge organization standards are important community artifacts that set forth agreed upon specifications and protocols, and though they may appear neutral they have been shown to harbor specific perspectives. These perspectives are often covert but hold implications for the ways in which knowledge is conceptualized, organized, and represented. Values are deeply held preferences for ways of acting and ways of being, and represent an effective lens for examining the perspectives embedded in societal practices and artifacts. To date, however, knowledge organization standards have not been approached through formal value analysis. This study addresses this gap through an examination of the influential library standard Resource Description and Access (RDA), specifically focusing on what values are present within this standard, how these values are communicated, and how they are recognized and responded to by practitioners. To address these questions, a qualitative, exploratory, multiphase study was conducted, utilizing value and rhetorical analyses of the text of RDA as well as open-ended interviews with RDA practitioners focused on their interpretations of the document. Findings show that RDA upholds its design principles through the expression of principles-based values and values associated with user needs, communicated through a set of routine structures such as directives and conditionals. In their usage of RDA, catalogers place greater emphasis on values associated with users and their perspectives, and see access as the most important value within this standard. At the same time, the relative absence of asserted community values such as privacy and autonomy illustrates the challenged nature of human values in knowledge organization standards. Findings from this study demonstrate the integral nature of values in standards, and position value analysis as a useful methodology in the critical study of standards in all domains. For the knowledge organization and cultural heritage communities, this work reveals the ways in which standards and their enactments serve to mediate key community values. In raising questions about the role of human values in knowledge organization standards, this study also contributes to ongoing discussions of information ethics and professional values. Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access (RDA)

RDA in Europe : Implementations and perceptions

Abstract: This research explored the implementations and perceptions of the Resource Description and Access (RDA) cataloguing standard in Europe. It refers to the development and implementation of the standard among Anglo-American libraries and draws comparisons between them. It examines the spread and application of RDA throughout Europe both by analysing the available literature and by conducting interviews with professionals at 12 European national libraries. The results highlight the issues faced by the European institutions and the unique perspectives that emerge from implementing RDA in different languages and cultures. European institutions demonstrate a higher level of involvement and interest in the development of RDA and a stronger desire to work towards RDA interoperability and alignment with the cultural heritage sector. The European implementation drives forward the internationalisation of RDA by actively seeking solutions to the issues in the new standard arising from the cultural and linguistic diversity.

Mapping Derivative Relationships from RDA to BIBFRAME 2

Abstract: Semantic interoperability between Resource Description and Access (RDA) and BIBFRAME models is of great interest to the library community. In this context, this work investigates the mapping of cor...

Thai Catalogers’ Use and Perception of Cataloging Standards

Abstract: Library-based metadata and knowledge organization standards, such as Resource Description and Access (RDA); Dewey Decimal Classification system (DDC); and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH...

Imperatives and Challenges of Resource Description and Access (RDA) Implementation in Libraries in a Developing Country

Abstract: In recent times, information products are becoming more often packaged and repackaged in electronic formats. Cataloguing these resources is a core responsibility of libraries and librarians. A major emerging standardization tool for cataloguing electronic resources is the “resource description and access” (RDA). This article examined the imperatives of RDA implementation among libraries in a developing country—Nigeria. It reviewed global trends and observed the poor RDA implementation level among libraries in Nigeria. It also identified challenges of RDA implementation peculiar to a developing country like Nigeria. The article further outlined strategies that would help to deal with the identified challenges. It concluded that the implementation of RDA is not optional, but mandatory for Nigerian libraries if they must be and remain relevant in the competitive world of librarianship.

Open Social Knowledge Creation and Library and Archival Metadata

Abstract: Standardization both reflects and facilitates the collaborative and networked approach to metadata creation within the fields of librarianship and archival studies. These standards—such as Resource Description and Access and Rules for Archival Description—and the theoretical frameworks they embody enable professionals to work more effectively together. Yet such guidelines also determine who is qualified to undertake the work of cataloging and processing in libraries and archives. Both fields are empathetic to facilitating user-generated metadata and have taken steps towards collaborating with their research communities (as illustrated, for example, by social tagging and folksonomies) but these initial experiments cannot yet be regarded as widely adopted and radically open and social. This paper explores the recent histories of descriptive work in libraries and archives and the challenges involved in departing from deeply established models of metadata creation.

Resource Description and Access Adoption and Implementation in Public Libraries in the United States

Abstract: This study surveyed the current state of knowledge about, and application or use of, Resource Description and Access (RDA) among American public library catalogers. In 2017, an online survey request was e-mailed to four thousand libraries for the person or persons most responsible for cataloging to complete the questionnaire. More than three hundred libraries responded. The data expose serious concerns with RDA adoption within the public library sector. While a majority of catalogers know about RDA, their working knowledge about it differs substantially depending on whether they work in rural or urban library settings. Regardless, 22 percent of respondants still had not heard of the RDA standard until completing this survey. While further training and educational opportunities (along with funds) for catalogers nationwide would help minimize this disparity, LIS schools also can play a role by educating more thoroughly the next generations of catalogers in this newer descriptive standard. Coming on the brink of a shift in the theoretical framework of the RDA standard, from the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model to the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM), public library catalogers risk falling even farther behind in their knowledge and competency with the RDA standard.

Common usage as warrant in bibliographic description

Abstract: Within standards for bibliographic description, common usage has served as a prominent design principle, guiding the choice and form of certain names and titles. In practice, however, the determination of common usage is difficult and lends itself to varying interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the presence and role of common usage in bibliographic description through an examination of previously unexplored connections between common usage and the concept of warrant.,A brief historical review of the concept of common usage was conducted, followed by a case study of the current bibliographic standard Resource Description and Access (RDA) employing qualitative content analysis to examine the appearances, delineations and functions of common usage. Findings were then compared to the existing literature on warrant in knowledge organization.,Multiple interpretations of common usage coexist within RDA and its predecessors, and the current prioritization of these interpretations tends to render user perspectives secondary to those of creators, scholars and publishers. These varying common usages and their overall reliance on concrete sources of evidence reveal a mixture of underlying warrants, with literary warrant playing a more prominent role in comparison to the also present scientific/philosophical, use and autonomous warrants.,This paper offers new understanding of the concept of common usage, and adds to the body of work examining warrant in knowledge organization practices beyond classification. It sheds light on the design of the influential standard RDA while revealing the implications of naming and labeling in widely shared bibliographic data.

Collaborating communities revisited

Abstract: Purpose: This article follows up “Collaborating communities: the RDA experience and its implications for common information environments”, published in 2007 in the proceedings of the 11th seminar on Archives, Libraries, Museums held in Porec, Croatia. That paper was written before the publication of RDA: Resource Description and Access, the successor to the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR). The article outlines what has happened since, with a focus on the development of RDA in collaboration with related standards groups.Methodology/approach: This is a chronological review of the development of documents, which lead to the publication of RDA. Cooperation and harmonization of description of information objects among different concerned communities is also presented.Research limitations: The thorough review of RDA and related documents covers the period from 2008 to 2018.Originality/Practical implications: The strategic development of RDA is dependent on continuing collaboration with international communities, cultural heritage communities, and linked data communities. All of these communities have a strong interest in linked open data and the Semantic Web, and RDA has played a significant role in initiating and stimulating collaborative development of library and cultural heritage metadata in RDF format.