Resource Description and Access

Resource Description and Access (RDA ) is an in Library of rules for the development of resources. Initially developed for use in libraries, the rule set is however also suitable for another group of users in areas such as museums and archives. The Library of Congress, the British Library, Library and Archives Canada, National Library of Australia and the German National Library are planning to implement the new standard. For the cooperative implementation in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland, a project was established at the German National Library.

Background

The traditional library experts apply different sets of rules and standards for the development of publications in different languages ​​and cultures. For decades, attempts have been made to achieve standardization to facilitate the international exchange of data and to make the data production and data management more efficient. One of the rules most widely used are the Anglo - American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition, (AACR ). In 2000 took charge of the development of these rules organization, the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of the Anglo - American Cataloguing Rules, the works for an update on, but quickly led to a fundamental redesign. This approach was also reflected in the new name of Resource Description and Access ( RDA). The first edition of the standard was published in June 2010.

Responsibilities

Responsible for the general and strategic issues related to the development of RDA is the Committee of Principals ( CoP) consisting of the directors of the British Library, the Library of Congress, Library and Archives Canada and the National Library of Australia (or their representatives ) as well as the directors of the respective library Association American Library Association, Canadian library Association and the Chartered Institute of library and Information Professionals ( CILIP ). The group of publishers consisting of the American Library Association ( ALA), the Canadian Library Association (CLA ) and CILIP, is responsible for all activities relating to the publication of the standard. Responsible for the technical and substantive development of the standard RDA is the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC ), which consists of representatives of the above mentioned libraries and associations, and since 2012 the German National Library, representing the German-speaking countries.

The development of the RDA will be ongoing over a specified revision process.

RDA vocabularies

A first set of RDA terms was published in August 2011 in the Open Metadata Registry ( OMR). The development and publication of stable RDA elements and controlled vocabularies make data that have been created according to RDA, available for Linked Open Data users and related applications. The RDA elements and vocabularies are a fundamental component of RDA, which allows a consistent description and retrievability of bibliographic resources.

RDA Toolkit

The set of rules, its annexes, glossaries and elements and other RDA related documents be first made available in the form of an online tool ( " RDA Toolkit " ) to facilitate a modern, sophisticated, and current work with the standard. The data elements defined as the minimum standard for bibliographic description are marked in the text of the online tool. In addition, the application of provisions of the Library of Congress and the Program for Cooperative Cataloguing, the so-called LC - PCC hp, direct controlled.

RDA will be available in different languages. A German, French, Spanish and Chinese translation have already been completed are in progress or, more languages ​​will follow and be entered into the RDA Toolkit.

Eurig

For technical discussions among European users there since September 2011, the European RDA Interest Group ( Eurig ). One of their main tasks sees the group in the development and coordination of European positions for the development of RDA.

RDA in German-speaking

In German-speaking countries, the German National Library and all other States represented in the standardization committee institutions for introduction of the RDA have decided. The decision provides an implementation of the RDA before that are not yet fully exploits all the possibilities of standards and initially considered the use in libraries, but the integration into the existing systems in an economically acceptable level allows. The purpose elaborated schedule foresees the transition to RDA for the common standard file in July 2014 and the beginning of the productive cataloging of bibliographic data for the end of 2015.