RDA: Your “Recommended Daily Allowance” of Cataloging

Christee PascaleAssociate Head, Metadata & Cataloging

Erin StalbergHead, Metadata & Cataloging

NCSULA, NCSU LibrariesApril 15, 2011Raleigh, NC

Agenda

• The Road to Resource Description and Access (RDA)

• The US RDA Test• Getting Experimental:

Training for the US RDA Test• What’s New in an RDA Record

THE ROAD TO RESOURCE DESCRIPTION & ACCESS (RDA)

What is RDA?

• Resource Description & Access, the successor to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2)

– new content standard– not an encoding standard

(MARC is the encoding standard)– intended to be independent of MARC, and hoped to be

used beyond the MARC community

Why a new standard?

• Work started out in 2004 on AACR3 – simplify rules – encourage use as a content standard for metadata schema– encourage international applicability– address current problems with AACR2– principle-based– build on cataloger’s judgment

• After an initial draft, it was decided to take a new approach and call the effort Resource Description & Access.

Format Standards

(MARC/MODS/DC)

Content Standards

(AACR2/RDA)

Encoding Syntaxes(MARC/XML)

Controlled Vocabularies

(LCSH/MARC Code Lists)

Indexing Display

FRBR & FRAD

• Underlying RDA are the conceptual models FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data).

• Not a set of rules• Uses an entity relationship model• FRBR tasks: Find/Identify/Select/Obtain• FRAD tasks: Find/Identify/Contextualize/Justify

FRBR

• Book

– Who wrote?(work)

– Who translated?(expression)

Slide courtesy of Library of Congress RDA Test Training: January 15, 2010, Module 2

FRBR

• Book

– Publication at bookstore –any copy(manifestation)

– Door prop(item)

Slide courtesy of Library of Congress RDA Test Training: January 15, 2010, Module 2

person1

writestitle

work

person2

title

translates

expression

is related

to

Content standard v. Encoding standardAACR2/RDA

For the title proper of a book, use the title page (or image thereof) as the preferred source of information.

If a married person is identified only by a partner’s name, treat a term of address as an integral part of the name.

– Davis, Maxwell, Mrs.– Strauss, Johann, Frau

MARC

MARC 245 tag = title properMARC 246 tag = varying form of title

245 10 $a The many faces of special education246 38 $a The many faces of special educators

MARC 100 tag = personal name, primary access point

MARC 700 tag = personal name, additional access point

MARC 600 tag = personal name, subject

100 1/ $a Strauss, Johann, ǂc Frau, ǂd 1850-1919700 1/ $a Strauss, Johann, ǂc Frau, ǂd 1850-1919600 10 $a Strauss, Johann, ǂc Frau, ǂd 1850-1919

THE U.S. RDA TEST

About the test

• Response to concerns about RDA raised by the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control (2008 report)

• To assure the operational, technical, and economic feasibility of RDA

• Includes the three national libraries and the broader U.S. library community

About the test – Participants

Library of CongressNational Agricultural LibraryNational Library of Medicine Backstage Library WorksBrigham Young UniversityCarnegie Library of Pittsburgh Clark Art Institute LibraryUniversity of Chicago College Center for Library

Automation (Florida) Columbia University Douglas County Libraries, Colorado Emory University GSLIS Group Minnesota Historical Society

Morgan Library and Museum Music Library Association/Online

Audiovisual Catalogers, Inc. North Carolina State University

Libraries University of North Dakota North East Independent School

District, San Antonio, Texas Northeastern University OCLC Metadata Contract Services Ohio State University Libraries State Library of Pennsylvania Quality Books Stanford University Libraries George Washington University

Why did NCSU choose to participate?

• To force ourselves to learn• Copy-heavy institution• Support-staff-heavy institution• Trying to re-invigorate our training program• How do records of various types co-exist

happily?• Assessment/usability & cost/value

About cataloging activities @ NCSU• 19 Metadata & Cataloging staff

– 7 in Monographs– 6 in Serials & Continuing Resources– 4 in Metadata & Data Quality– 1 Technology Support for Technical Services– 1 NCSU Libraries Fellow

• Highly centralized• 2009-2010 output

– 60,568 physical & electronic titles (MARC)– 50,504 physical volumes (MARC)– 12,909 digital image assets (non-MARC)– 779 digital text assets (non-MARC)– 669.75 linear feet of manuscript materials (non-MARC)– 2,943 faculty citations (non-MARC)

About cataloging activities @ NCSU

• MARC … OCLC & SirsiDynix Symphony• EAD … Archivist’s Toolkit• VRA Core … VCat• MODS … local “Digital Assets” database• Dublin Core … Dspace

About the test – Timeline

• July-September 2010– Test partners prepare and deliver training, begin creating

practice RDA records• October-December 2010

– Test partners produced records for test– http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatestrecords.html

• January-May 2011– The US RDA Test Coordinating Committee analyzes the results

of the test and prepares its report to the management of the three national libraries.

– Institutional analysis of records and surveys.– Decision expected for ALA Annual, June 2011.

About the test

• Common sets• Extra set

• Surveys– Institutional surveys– Cataloger demographic surveys– Record-by-record surveys

NCSU Statistics

• Common set original: 25• Common set copy:

– met NCSU criteria for upgrade: 4– did not meet NCSU criteria for upgrade: 1

• Extra set with surveys: 462– MARC Original: 390 (includes 201 ETDs)– MARC Copy: 62– MODS: 10

• NCSU was the 5th highest record creator

GETTING EXPERIMENTAL: TRAINING FOR THE RDA TEST

Approach to training @ NCSU

• Involved all Metadata & Cataloging staff• Was not to be a debate about the merits

of RDA• Would not cover everything

– Focused on what cataloger’s needed to know for the test

• Established a training team• It had to succeed!

Approach to training @ NCSU

• Training team– Christee Pascale, Associate Department Head– Jacquie Samples, Continuing & Electronic

Resources Librarian– Patrice Daniels, Monographs– Anne Navarro, Monographs– Lisa Madden, Continuing & Electronic

Resources

Training @ NCSU – Curriculum

• FRBR Workshop• RDA Core Training• Breakout Group Sessions• ALCTS webinars & ongoing discussion

What we’ve learned so far

• Resetting the training & expertise baseline is kind of cool

• Performing a test in a live, production environment has consequences

• Unlearning is hard• Energy is a good thing in and of itself

Things we know in our heads but it is still good to be reminded of

• Most libraries do not train from scratch• Catalogers like when expectations are

clear and documentation is up to date• Support staff like when their supervisors

know the answers to their questions • Cataloging managers like when LC

decides what to do first

What we still don’t know

• Costs for implementation• Time study results• User assessment

NCSU RDA Survey Statistics

• NCSU’s largest RDA record contribution was original bibliographic records: 75% original, 25% copy

• Breakdown of contributed cataloging by format:– 74% monographic, 23% continuing resources, 3% non-MARC

• After 3 months, most NCSU cataloger’s spent 15-40 minutes creating an original book RDA record– Progress: creation time is comparable to original book AACR2

cataloging– Future: as RDA experience & policy clarity increases, time to

create an RDA record should continue to decrease

WHAT’S NEW IN AN RDA RECORD

Fewer Abbreviations

AACR2xiv, 324 p. : ill., ports. ; 23 cm.

RDAxiv, 324 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm

AACR2[S.l. : s.n., 2004].

RDA[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified],

[2004].

Transcription: “Take What You See”

Edition statement on piece: second editionAACR2: 2nd ed.RDA: Second edition.

Title on piece: Melallization of polymersAACR2: title proper: Melallization [i.e. Metallization] of

polymersRDA: title proper: Melallization of polymers

variant title: Corrected title: Metallization of polymers

General Material Designation (GMD)

• AACR2 used GMD in title field– [videorecording], [electronic resource], [kit] …

• RDA replaces GMD with 3 new elements:– Content type

• text, two-dimension moving image, computer program …

– Media type • computer, video, unmediated …

– Carrier type • videodisc, online resource, audio disc, volume …

Systems Impact

• NCSU added all new MARC fields (ourselves) to our SirsiDynix Symphony policy tables

• GMD/RDA Content, Media & Carrier Type Fields– NCSU is not displaying and/or utilizing these fields in

Endeca– We currently facet & draw icons based on item data– For staff, hit lists & reports in Symphony are a bit of

an issue without the GMD as easy format notation

RDA Record Examples in MARC

• The Blue Planet– http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2348417

• Ocular disorders presumed to be inherited in purebred horses– http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2278482

• Realizing the promise of conservation buffer technology– http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2407642

• Directory of North Carolina Libraries– http://www2.lib.ncsu.edu/catalog/record/NCSU2368917

Documentation & Resources

• NCSU: – http://go.ncsu.edu/rda– or Search Confluence for “RDA Test”

• Library of Congress– http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatest.html– Download RDA records:

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatestrecords.html

• Metadata Registry– http://metadataregistry.org/rdabrowse.htm

QUESTIONS?