Resource Description and Access (RDA) Update Forum
January 13, 2008
Speaker:
John Attig, ALA Representative to the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA
Before I get into the forum details, here are 4 documents that are key to understanding the next steps forward to RDA implementation:
- RDA Implementation Scenarios [pdf], Tom Delsey, RDA Editor
- A New Organization for RDA
- Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
- Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) [pdf]
(Your cataloging/metadata life will go a lot smoother if you take some time to study these documents!)
On to the RDA forum. I had the good fortune to hear John Attig speak twice about RDA because I attended the CC:DA meeting the day before. This was helpful. He discussed 4 topics:
- A new organization for RDA
- Content of the draft section currently being reviewed
- Other decisions taken at the October 2007 JSC meeting
- Next steps
I'm going to focus on the new organization and the next steps for RDA.
New organization of RDA
- The new organization of RDA is the result of JSC's stronger grasp of what it is they are trying to accomplish.
- Old organization did not fit with: the RDA objectives and principles, how they see metadata, and how they understand the FRBR/FRAD model .
RDA will be implemented within a context of the encoding, storage, and exchange of data. RDA needs to support 3 possible implementation scenarios:
- Scenario #3 is the current cataloging environment. A flat record structure with all entities described in a single, composite record.
- Scenario #2 is a single bibliographic record linked to authority records.
- Scenario #1 is separate descriptions of each entity linked by identifiers to show relationships.
Scenario #1 represents the future. Every entity will have a unique identifier. Access points and authority control may be less important in scenario #1. This was part of the reason to change the organizational structure of RDA. The old organization was tied to scenario #2.
RDA and FRBR/FRAD
RDA's new organization now has an explicit connection to FRBR and FRAD. (By the way, everyone at Midwinter who brought this up thought it was a good change.) All FRBR entities are covered. There are placeholders in the structure for the FRBR group 3 entities (concept, object, event, place) to be developed in the future. The structure of the RDA outline now has 2 main parts: attributes of the FRBR entities and relationships among the entities.
The essential handout
We were given a 6 page handout that mapped out the new RDA organization, the FRBR user tasks and entities, and the 3 implementation scenarios. I'm sure this will be posted on the RDA website soon.
Next steps
- The JSC has what seems a herculean task to complete the work of RDA before its first release.
- A complete draft is scheduled for July 2008.
- A new RDA online prototype may be available to try later this year.
- JSC is discussing with MARBI both MARC 21 implementation and developing alternatives to MARC
- RDA's first release is scheduled for early 2009 with implementation following in late 2009.
By the way, Marjorie Bloss, RDA Project Manager, opened this session, but I unfortunately missed her update. I've only scratched the surface on the content of this forum. John Attig is to be commended for doing a great job unpacking an awful lot of complex information. I expect there will be a lot more to report on RDA in the coming year.
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