Overview of content related to 'isbd'

Book Review: Introducing RDA

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Katrina Clifford reviews a work covering the long-heralded change in the cataloguing rule set - RDA (Resource Description and Access).

The world of information description and retrieval is one of constant change and RDA (Resource Description and Access) is often touted as being one of the most radical changes on the horizon. Early discussions were often couched very much in terms of the principles behind the move from AACR2 (Anglo American Cataloguing Rules) and the principles of a FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records)-based system. We gradually move closer to the Library of Congress' decision on whether to adopt RDA or not, raising questions of what adoption will mean in terms not just of day-to-day cataloguing but the wider retrieval world. Therefore, it is not just cataloguers who may feel they need to gain an understanding of exactly what RDA is and what moving to it will involve. The title of Chris Oliver's book, Introducing RDA: A Guide to the Basics, will, as a result, catch the eye of people from many spheres of information work.

Content of the Book

Although this book is just over 100 pages long, I would say it is not necessary to start at the beginning and work your way through the book to get the most out of it. If you're looking for something that places RDA squarely within the historical context of information retrieval and the rationale behind its development then the first two chapters give a comprehensive overview in relatively few pages. Chapter 1, 'What is RDA?' introduces the idea of RDA being designed as a result of an increasingly varied range of resources in need of description, especially those that are digital in nature. Additionally there is the need to search multiple datasets at once, including those beyond libraries, in allied institutions such as museums and archives. Chapter 2, 'RDA and the international context', as implied by the title explores the relationship of RDA to international documentation standards such as ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) and how it copes in terms of handling language issues of catalogue records. It is just a brief overview however, all the ideas are discussed in one or two paragraphs each. Together, these two initial chapters would easily fill in the background for an uninitiated professional, such as a library school student and indeed they show that RDA is built upon many of the key concepts touched upon in library school courses, such as Cutter's Rules for a dictionary catalog.

Chapter 3 furthers this introduction by describing FRBR and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data) and how they relate to RDA. In all the more recent discussions surrounding practical aspects of the uptake of RDA, the theoretical principles underlying it are often forgotten and revisiting them can be an interesting exercise. After an overview of how FRBR and FRAD are constructed, it moves on to why they are important. One figure lays out a MARC record and labels the fields with the appropriate FRBR entities which is helpful in understanding them in context. The remainder of the chapter shows how the RDA terms have been incorporated into the layout of the sections of RDA and the wording of the rules themselves. The chapter shows why RDA is laid out in a very different way to AACR2, grouping rules by the attribute described rather than by item format. This chapter is perhaps the most difficult to work through, but I feel this is due to the nature of the content, rather than any failing on the part of the author.

Chapter 4 is entitled 'Continuity with AACR2' and while this may indicate it will describe how catalogues may appear different, the start of the chapter focuses more on continuity in terms of governance and principles rather than on the nuts and bolts of the records themselves. It does move to describing how AACR2 has been reworked into RDA, rather than RDA being written from scratch and illustrates this with a couple of rules and wordings from both products to compare the differences and similarities. It then moves back to what is essentially an historical account of the 'deconstruction' of AACR2, which is interesting in itself; but it would have been better placed near the start of the chapter to distinguish better between the historical description and the examples from RDA which follow.

RDA: A New International Standard

editor — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Ann Chapman describes work on the new cataloguing code, Resource Description and Access (RDA), based on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR).

Immaculate Catalogues, Indexes and Monsters Too...

editor — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

David E. Bennett reports on the three day residential CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group Annual Conference, University of East Anglia, during September 2006.

Restful accommodation and pleasant food prepared the delegates for the carefully balanced mix of social networking sessions and challenging seminars. Everyone was extremely friendly and most proved to be erudite socialites, networking in some cases with great assertiveness and sense of purpose.

The Future of Cataloguing: Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Paola Stillone reports on a three-day annual conference of the CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group (CIG), held at the University of Bath, 30 June - 2 July.

The conference was aimed at information professionals interested in looking at issues that are changing cataloguing and indexing. The latest international developments in metadata standards, cataloguing codes, taxonomies and controlled languages unlock new opportunities for cataloguers' involvement. They also raise complex interoperability issues which go beyond traditional cataloguing and highlight the need for the acquisition of new skills in the digital information environment.

Metadata: Cataloguing Theory and Internet Subject-based Information Gateways

editor — Sat, 19 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Ann Chapman, Michael Day, and Debra Hiom compare library cataloguing concepts and ROADS Template creation.

Metadata Corner: CrossROADS and Interoperability

editor — Thu, 19 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Michael Day, Rachel Heery and Andy Powell report on work in progress on enhancements to the ROADS software.

Handling MARC With PERL

editor — Sun, 19 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Jon Knight investigates the inner workings of the MARC record's binary distribution format and presents the first cut at a Perl module to read and write MARC records.

The MAchine Readable Catalogue (MARC) format is probably one of the oldest and most widely used metadata formats today. It was developed in the United States during the 1960's as a data interchange format for monographs in the then newly computerised library automation systems. In the following years the MARC format became a standard for export and import of data to library systems in much of the world and various national and vendor enhanced variations on the original MARC format appeared.