University of Zimbabwe Library has fully implemented RDA , and this was a training done to equip catalogers with skills to use RDA.

2. To create an efficient instrument to establish
whether the library contains a particular
item specified by access points such as:
1. Easy Retrieval (descriptive)
2. Holdings information (who has it)
3. Content of information (choice)

3.  Recommended Dietary Allowances
 Recommended Daily Allowance
 Russian Digital Alliance
 ...???

4. • RDA: Resource Description and Access
• FRBR: Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
• FRAD: Functional Requirements for Authority Data
• JSC: Joint Steering Committee
• AACR2: Anglo American Cataloguing Rules Second Edition
• MARC: Machine Readable Cataloguing
• GMD: General Material Designation
• SMD: Specific Material Designation
• WEMI: Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item
• FISO: Find, Identify, Select, Obtain

5.  RDA is new cataloguing rules – successor to AACR2
 Based on the conceptual models of FRBR and FRAD
 Has online subscription product (RDA Toolkit) with print
version
 Designed for the digital world
 Designed for different Information providing Institutions

6.  Information resources is expanding to different formats
 Formats/carriers could be paper-based, audio or digital
 For instance:
 the content of a visual image can be captured on an
information carrier like film.
 Another content type is sound that can be recorded
as notation in printed scores or captured as an
MP3/MP4 file

7.  AACR was originally published in 1978. The
world has changed since then:
• The internet happened
• We are no longer using card catalogues
• We have more information carriers than
• before
• Technology is growing everyday
 AACR was revised in 1988, 1998 and 2002, but
all the revisions basically followed the same
structure as AACR2

11.  AACR was developed in the era of the card
catalogue, and much of the terminology in
AACR reflects that, for example terms like
‘heading’, ‘main entry’ and ‘added entry’.
 During the draft of AACR3 there was a concern
about the need to move closer to the alignment
with FRBR model.

12.  Simplifies the process of transcription by taking
what you see on the resource.
 Eliminates many of the AACR2 rules that instruct
cataloguers to alter the data that they are
transcribing.
 New elements are being added to RDA, some to
solve problems with AACR2 and some to add
elements that are lacking in AACR2

13.  User oriented. It allows users to ―easily find,
identify, select, and obtain the materials they
need within the system
 The end user is presented with data that can be
easily read and correctly interpreted.

14.  Easy to understand due to the use of English
language terms instead of Latin.
 Spelled out forms replacing the abbreviations
used in AACR2.
 More flexible framework than AACR2.
Cataloguers can use a number of different
encoding schema, including Dublin Core,
MARC21, and Metadata Object Description
Standard.

15.  It is more adaptable to an online network and
new types of media
 RDA is also fully online, so there are no
manuals to purchase or paper to print, saving
the libraries money

16.  Initial implementation is costly – subscription and
training
 The system needs to be installed on all computers and
all cataloguing records need to be converted over (not
enforced)
 The library staff needs to be trained to acquire skills on
how to use RDA
 The library must pay a subscription rate to use RDA
online.

17.  Committee of Principals (COP)
 Co-publishers who manage the AACR Fund
 Joint Steering Committee for the Development
of RDA (JSC)
 In South Africa there is an RDA Steering
Committee as well (RDA-SA)

18. • During the 1990s, IFLA took the lead in bibliographic
control to develop a conceptual model known as
FRBR
• Published in1998
• It reinforces the objectives of catalogues and the
importance of relationships.
• It helps users to fulfill basic tasks with respect to the
catalogue; enabling people to find, identify, select
and obtain information they want.
• These are known as the FRBR user tasks (FISO).

19.  FRBR ‐ Modeling the Bibliographic Universe utilizes an
entity‐relationship framework:
• Entities (a class of things)
• Relationships (associations among entities)
• Attributes (characteristics of the entities) [RDA calls these
“elements”]

20.  Framework identifies and defines entities of interest to
users
 Systematically analyses data users expect to find in a
bibliographic record
 “Users” are broadly defined
• Traditional library patrons and staff
• Publishers, distributors, retailers, and information
• providers outside traditional library settings

21. • Entities that are related to each other
• They can be described through data elements or
attributes.
• The entities themselves are sorted into three groups:
Group 1 - entities – WEMI (resource)
Group 2 - entities – Person, family and corporate body
(agent)
Group 3 - includes 1 & 2 plus – concept, object, event
and place (Subject
 FRBR uses an Entity-Attribute-Relationship structure

22.  The data elements describing a resource that are covered in
RDA generally reflect the attributes and relationships associated
with the entities WEMI that are defined in FRBR. Those entities
are defined in RDA as follows:
◦ Work—a distinct intellectual or artistic creation (i.e., the
intellectual or artistic content)
◦ Expression—the intellectual or artistic realization of a work in the
form of alpha-numeric, musical or choreographic notation, sound,
image, object, movement, etc., or any combination of such forms
◦ Manifestation—the physical embodiment of an expression of a
work
◦ Item—a single exemplar or instance of a manifestation.

24. Expression
Manifestation
Item
Work
Physical -
recording of
content
Intellectual/
artistic content
is realized through
is embodied in
is exemplified by

25.  Abstract entity ‐ ideas
 No single material object one can point to
 Recognized through individual realizations or expressions
 Exists only in the commonality of content between and
among the various expressions
 Two examples of Work attributes:
◦ 1. Title of the Work:
◦ 2. Form of Work: (e.g., novel, play, poem, essay, biography,
symphony, concerto, sonata, map, drawing, painting,
photograph, etc.).

26.  The intellectual or artistic realization of a work in the form of:
Alpha‐numeric notation
Musical notation
Choreographic notation
Sound
Image
Object
Movement
Or any combination of such forms
 It is how the ideas are communicated
 Two examples of Expression attributes:
Book written in English
Song sung in Shona

27.  Represents all the physical objects that bear the same
characteristics, in respect to both intellectual content and
physical form.
 Encompasses a wide range of materials
 Manuscripts, Books, Periodicals, Maps, Posters, Sound
recordings, CD‐ROMs, Multimedia kits
 Three examples of Manifestation attributes:
◦ 1. Publisher/Distributor:
◦ 2. Date of Publication/Distribution:
◦ 3. Capture mode: (e.g., analogue, acoustic, electric,
digital, optical etc.).

28.  Item is a concrete entity:
 A single physical object (e.g., a copy of a one‐volume monograph, a
single audio cassette, etc.)
 or:
 Can comprise more than one physical object (e.g., a monograph
issued as two separately bound volumes, a recording issued on three
separate compact discs, etc.)
 Two examples of Item attributes:
◦ 1. Item identifier: (e.g., call number, accession number, bar code,
etc.). Or (e.g., a rare book collection, a branch library, etc.).
◦ 2. Provenance of the Item: The provenance of an item is a record
of previous ownership or custodianship of the item.

30.  The JSC has included FRAD’s (Functional Requirements for
Authority Data) basic concepts in RDA.
 Basically, entities in the bibliographic universe, such as those
identified in FRBR, are known by names or identifiers or both.
 In the cataloguing process, those names and identifiers are used
as the basis for constructing controlled access points.
 The FRBR model has been extended into the realm of authority
data.

31. • Now we have these two models from IFLA
• They give us a picture of how we might design systems in
the future
• Cataloguers are no longer work in isolation – new
technology developments
• Catalogues, and especially bibliographic data, can now be
integrated into the wider Internet environment.
• New kinds of links can be made
• New displays can be generated for users from the data that
can be packaged in new ways, all of it on a global scale.

33.  How to tell when you have an RDA record
Look for “‡e rda” in the 040 field
336, 337 and 338 fields
Other more MARC fields added

34. • RDA tells us what to record, a little about how, nothing
about where to record it
• LC policy tells us more about how and definitely where
• Name attributes are now being recorded in many distinct
fields, as well as the 670, by cataloger judgment
• Specific attributes used to break conflict are still
additions in the authorized access point (1XX)

38.  W attributes found in what field?
• preferred title : 1XX $t, 130, 240, 245, 7XX $t
• date of work : 130 $f
• other distinguishing characteristic of the work : depends on
what the distinguishing characteristic is
• intended audience : 008/22 ; 6XX $v [Juvenile resources]
• key : 240, 130, 7XX
• medium of performance : 240, 130, 7XX
• numeric designation of a musical work : 240, 130, 7XX
• coordinates of cartographic content : 255

39.  E attributes found in what field?

• content type : 336
• date of expression : $f of expression access point
• language of expression : 008/35-37, 041, 546, 130/240
$l, 7XX $l
• summarization of content : 520
• other distinguishing characteristic : depends on the
characteristic
• Scale [Core for cartographic resources] : 507

40. • title proper : 245 $a
• statement of responsibility for the title proper : 245 $c
• edition statement : 250 $a
• place of publication/distribution/manufacture/ production : 264 $a
• publisher/distributor/manufacturer/producer : 264 $b
• date of publication/distribution/manufacture/ production : 264 $c
• series statement : 490
• carrier type : 338
• media type : 337
• extent : 300 $a
• dimensions : 300 $c
• identifier for the manifestation : 020, etc.
• mode of issuance : 362
• physical medium : 340
• URL : 856
• frequency : 310/321
• note on changes in carrier characteristics : 500
• digital file characteristic : 352

41.  I attributes found in what field?
• restrictions on use : 5XX
• item identifier : barcode in Item record
• access restrictions on the item : 5XX

45.  A MARC bibliographic record includes data identifying
many FRBR entities – the Group 1 entities of:
• Work
• Expression
• Manifestation
• Item (sometimes)
• It can also include the persons, families, corporate bodies
– and relationships.
 The attributes, or as RDA calls them, the elements may
be stored in a MARC record in a subfield or a field.

46.  The focus of RDA is the user
◦ Each section is explicitly related to user tasks
◦ Fewer abbreviations and omissions
◦ No limitations on the number of access points