AACR3 … RDA An interim report on the new cataloguing code

1. 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 AACR3 … RDAAn interim report on the new cataloguing code

2. Where we came from — earlier cataloguing codes 1841 — Panizzi’s British Museum rules (UK) 1876 — Cutter’s rules (US) 1908 — Anglo–American rules (AA — very slim volume) 1949 — ALA rules (US) 1961 — Lubetzky’s analysis — leading to the ‘Paris Principles’ 1967 — AACR, with divergent North American and UK versions 1969 — IFLA: International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) 1978 — AACR2. Issued at a time when rapid technological change was beginning to impact on libraries. Revisions up to 2005 1997 — International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR, Toronto 2004-5 — Draft of “AACR3” Part 1 reviewed by JSC constituencies

3. International developments prior to RDA Updating of the ‘Paris Principles’ IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code (IME ICC) www.ifla.org/VII/s13/index.htm#IME-ICC IFLA’s Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm

4. AACR review — genesis of RDA Reviewers of AACR in 2004/5 called for: More radical change Simplification of the rules Greater consistency and less redundancy for easier use and interpretation A return to principle–based rules that build on cataloguers’ judgement A content standard for metadata schemas International applicability Improved collocation in displays through use of work/expression relationships and a new approach to the GMD Application of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records model (FRBR/FRAR)

5. RDA is designed to support the FRBR Resource Discovery user tasks: 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.

6. FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) Based on IFLA analysis of users' needs to Find, Identify, Select and Obtain an item Group 1 entities: 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: Person Family Corporate body Place

7. RDA — Resource Description and Access Some of RDA’s design objectives: To retain and reuse the best parts of AACR2 To ensure that AACR2 and RDA are record–compatible To maintain, but modify the relationship with ISBDs To take account of economic considerations for institutions that use the rules To make provision for digital developments and emerging technologies To foster the relationship between cataloguing and metadata To engage with other metadata communities outside the library world

8. RDA will be … an international content standard for Resource Description and Access to cater for the wide variety of media and formats now held by libraries designed for the digital environment a web-based product (but also available as loose-leaf print) independent of storage / communication formats such as MARC 21

9. RDA will enable … description and access of all digital resources (as well as traditional analogue resources) usability of resulting records in the digital environment (Internet, Web OPACs, etc.) use by other language communities. It is being developed initially for use in an English language environment but with internationalization in mind

10. Issues in developing RDA Striking a balance between continuity and change 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 Maintaining compatibility with existing records Defining RDA as a content standard rather than a display standard Defining new data elements to replace the GMD Clarifying definitions for notes Retaining relationships between elements Severing the tie to ISBD whilst ensuring that RDA records can still be formatted for ISBD display if required

11. Instructions rather than rules — a change of emphasis RDA has instructions where AACR had rules Instructions start with the general and move toward the specific Some guidelines and instructions will be designated as optional in order to provide a cataloguer with either: an alternative to the preceding instruction or guideline, or an opportunity to record supplementary information within a data element

12. RDA content largely consistent with AACR2 ... but Areas of change include: Use of ISBD becomes optional for RDA users GMD / SMD are superseded by the RDA/ONIX Framework for resource categorization Attributes set for carrier Attributes set for content Uniform title/Citation access point (proposal) Name of work + expression attributes + manifestation attributes + item attributes as required Transcription of data — changed emphasis

13. Transcription from the source Consider the relative importance of transcription of data for resource identification? For rare books, early printed music, etc. — very important For the metadata communities — not at all important “Transcribe what you see” Correction of inaccuracies will be elsewhere in the record Facilitates automated data capture from e.g. publishers

14. RDA structure. Part A: Description Chapter 0. Introduction Chapter 1. General guidelines on resource description Chapter 2. Identification of the resource [FRBR Identify task] Chapter 3. Carrier [FRBR Select task] Chapter 4. Content [FRBR Select task] Chapter 5. Acquisition and access information [FRBR Obtain task] Chapter 6. Persons, families, and corporate bodies associated with a resource Chapter 7. Related resources

15. Data elements in Part A Arrangement within Chapters 1–5 is by data element Title Edition Publisher Place of publication Date of publication, etc. Series Resource Identifiers Extent Content description Item–specific information Elements might either be explicitly required or optional Specific instructions cover how to record an element and any exceptions for specialist materials.

16. RDA structure. Part B: Access point control(expresses FRBR relationships) Chapter 8. General guidelines on Access Point Control Chapter 9. Access points for persons Chapter 10. Access points for families Chapter 11. Access points for corporate bodies Chapter 12. Access points for places Chapter 13. Access points for works, etc. Chapter 14. Other information used in access point control

17. RDA structure. Appendices Appendix A. Capitalization Appendix B. Abbreviations Appendix C. Initial articles Appendix D. Presentation of descriptive data Appendix E. Presentation of access point control data

18. New terminology AACR2 Heading / Main entry Added entry Uniform title RDA Primary access point Secondary access point Citation: access point For a work For an expression For a manifestation

19. GMD/SMD Three new categories to replace GMD/SMD Media category Type of carrier Type and form of content Resulting from joint work between RDA and ONIX so enabling improved data exchange with publishers

20. Mandatory elements and alternatives clarified AACR2 Alternatives Optional additions Optional omissions RDA Required Required if applicable Optional

21. Coding RDA records in MARC 21 – and DC? Most RDA data elements can be incorporated into MARC 21 Changes: New data elements to replace GMDs and SMDs Possibly some other modifications necessary to MARC 21 Considering ISBD punctuation RDA will establish a clear line of separation between the recording of data and the presentation of data ISBD punctuation not required in RDA, but instead is optional Presentation information (e.g. ISBD punctuation) will appear in an appendix of RDA

22. Cataloguing / metadata communication standards MARC MARC 21 UNIMARC XML DTDs MARCXML www.loc.gov/standards/marcxml/ MODS www.loc.gov/standards/mods/ Metadata standards Dublin Core dublincore.org/ MPEG 7 www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-7/mpeg-7.htm VRA www.vraweb.org/vracore3.htm EAD www.loc.gov/ead/ ISBD (also content/display standard) www.ifla.org/VI/3/nd1/isbdlist.htm ONIX www.editeur.org/onix.html

23. 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 : 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.

24. RDA schedule RDA is very much still in progress 2007 (March-June): Review of revised chapter 3 (Carrier) 2007 (July-September): Review of revised chapters 6-7 (Relationships) 2007-8 (December-March): Review of part B (Access Points) 2008 (July-September): Review of complete draft of RDA 2008 (August) ‘Soft-launch of Beta version RDA’ at IFLA Conference 2009 Release of RDA as web-tool

25. Resources and contacts RDA JSC website —drafts available at: www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rda.html RDA discussion list www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/rdadiscuss.html UK contact for comments: CILIP/BL Secretariat c/o katharine.gryspeerdt@bl.uk Contact me at: antony.gordon@bl.uk