Resource Description and Access

About: Resource Description and Access is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1859 publications have been published within this topic receiving 10957 citations. The topic is also known as: RDA & Resource Description & Access.

Training for the U.S. RDA Test

Abstract: This article describes activities related to training for the 2010 test in the United States of the new descriptive cataloging standard Resource Description and Access (RDA). The main focus is on activities carried out at the Library of Congress (LC) on behalf of all the participants and specifically for LC's participants. Lessons learned from these activities for future training are included.

RDA: Training and Continuing Education Needs in Academic Libraries.

Abstract: IntroductionRDA: Resource Description & Access is a new cataloging code that has been developed as a replacement to Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2). The development of RDA marks the first major catalog code revision in more than 30 years in the English-speaking library community. While RDA is backward-compatible with most AACR2 instructions, its instructions have been reworked to align more directly with the new conceptual model for bibliographic control as developed in Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR). As a practical application of the FRBR model, RDA is intended to provide a flexible and extensible framework that is easily adaptable to accommodate all types of content and media within rapidly evolving technology environments, while also producing well-formed data that can be shared easily with other metadata communities in an emerging linked data environment (IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, 1998).Many RDA-related questions have arisen in the cataloging community over recent years. Questions include key areas of difference between RDA and AACR2, comparison between RDA and other metadata standards, impact on encoding standards such as Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC), end-user considerations, and practitioners' views on the new cataloging code (Tosaka & Park, 2013). At this point, however, the most critical question in the field may be how catalogers and paraprofessionals can prepare themselves for RDA implementation. A successful transition from AACR2 depends first and foremost upon how easily and smoothly practicing catalogers and metadata creators can learn and apply the new cataloging code effectively. This transition may be even more challenging in the changing cataloging department environment today. Comparing transitions to AACR2 and RDA, Inter (2011) wondered, for example, how the cataloging community could best train the army of paraprofessional copy catalogers that handles the bulk of daily cataloging production in most technical services departments, and whether RDA implementation might be hindered by this ongoing process of deskilling in the cataloging profession.A number of studies were initially conducted-mostly by national library organizations-to survey practitioners' views on RDA training when the new cataloging code was published for official release in June 2010 (Tosaka & Park, 2013). The primary goal of this study was to replicate these earlier studies and evaluate practitioners' preparation and expectations about professional training on the eve of RDA implementation. Using nationwide online survey data, mostly drawn from cataloging and metadata librarians in U.S. academic libraries, we sought to investigate prevailing levels of preparation among cataloging and metadata practitioners, perceived readiness to implement the new cataloging code, and perceived areas of training topics and types of continuing education resources needed to support the successful transition from AACR2.Overview of Past RDA SurveysThe implementation of AACR2 in the early 1980s sparked controversies in the U.S. library community that were once described as the "war of AACR2" (Martell, 1981). By contrast, the reception of RDA arguably has not reached the same level of criticism and acrimony. The official release of RDA was followed by several surveys designed to gather information about catalogers' views on the technical, operational, and financial implications of its implementation. These results threw much needed light on how practitioners in the field felt about RDA costs and benefits and how those issues could be better addressed in preparing a smooth transition to the new cataloging code (Tosaka & Park, 2013).U.S. National Libraries RDA TestIn early 2009, the three U.S. national libraries announced a joint plan to test RDA and conduct a systematic review of its operational, technical, and economic implications. …