RDA: What It Is, and What It Means to You - November 11, 2010

I tuned in to a Minitex webinar led by Mark Ehlert about RDA (Resource Description and Access.) The presentation included an introduction to the foundations of RDA, FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data), covered what RDA is along with an explanation of the toolkits available, the testing that has been done, and the potential rollout of RDA.

This was a great introduction to the topic and set the stage for learning more details about using RDA when/if that time comes. Mark made it clear AACR2 is not going away any time soon, but it's still a good idea to start planning for the likely change to RDA down the line.
These are the major ideas about RDA to keep in mind at this time:
1) RDA is the proposed successor to AACR2

• rules for creating descriptions of resources
• rules for devising access points to discover resources
• rules follow AACR2 predominantly
• greater reliance on cataloger's judgment
• fewer abbreviations used; words are transcribed instead (e.g., First edition instead of 1st ed.)

2) Based on FRBR/FRAD rather than ISBD

3) Layout of the materials and terminology differ from AACR2 (not as linear)

4) 3 new fields (336, 337, 338) will be required in an RDA record

Surely much more to come on this topic!