Anne’s notes from Lyrasis class, August 26, 2009

 

 

RDA Overview and Update

Presented by Glen Wiley

 

 

RDA is built on AACR2 (and will replace it) but attempts to address new and emerging database structures and is intended for both analog and digital information sources.

 

 

Part 1:

The teacher discussed FRBR and FRAD. Although RDA is independent of FRBR (?), he seemed to be saying that they were highly connected and RDA will work best with FRBR.

So some info on FRBR:

• it’s an “entity relationship model”:
•  Abstract depiction of the universe of things being described
•  The ‘real world’ is a set of basic objects (aka entities) and relationships among these entities.

 

 

More definitions:

Entities—a class of things

Attributes—characteristics of the entities

Relationships—associations among entities

 

 

One goal of FRBR is to reduce redundancy (in description?) but increase connections (among entities?)

 

 

There are 3 groups of entities in FRBR (that is, 3 classes of things?)

Group 1—Documents (which is divided into):

            Work

            Expression

            Manifestation

            Item

 

 

Group 2—Who made it? (divided into):

            Creators

            Person

            Family

            Corporate body

 

 

Group 3—What is it about? (divided into):

            Subjects of work

            Concept

            Event

            Place

            Object

 

 

(By the time we get to group 3, I’m pretty lost. But the teacher said the important thing to concentrate on was Group 1.) This is all accompanied by a complicated diagram. Here’s one part of it:

Work > is realized through > Expression > is embodied in > Manifestation > is exemplified by > Item

 

 

Anyways, FRBR is NOT a standard. It’s a conceptual model that’s supposed to clarify (to everyone) how a catalog works.

(snicker)

 

Some more diagrams. To me it seems like “attributes” overlap the different “sections” but I think the teacher was saying that really they don’t overlap.

 

 

FRBR is intended to help users:

Find

Identify

Select

Obtain

(and Navigate, although that’s not one of the user tasks specifically called out)

 

 

Suddenly, FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data) comes into the mess.

 

FRAD—extends the FRBR model to cover authority data.

Another diagram:

Bibliographic entities >known by > Names and/or Identifiers> basis for> Controlled access points

 

 

(so I think we’re just talking authority control here and how it’s built/grows)

 

 

More diagrams that I totally don’t get. Now apparently we understand all about FRBR and FRAD. If you don’t get it, you’re a loser. Here’s a few web resources with more information for losers:

 

 

• Functional Requirements for Authority Data: A Conceptual Model

(second draft)  http://www.ifla.org/VII/d4/FRANARConceptualModel-2ndReview.pdf

Great! It looks like this link doesn't even work anymore.

 

• Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)

http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf

 

• Entity Relationship Diagram http://www.rdaonline.org/ERDiagramRDA_24June2008.pdf

 

 

 

 

Part 2:

Finally we’re on to RDA

• international standard that’s meant to be international (not one that became international accidentally, like AACR2)
• designed for digital world
• broadens statement of principles (Paris Principles, snore)

 

 

Structure

OK, you know how AACR2 is divided into two big parts? The first covers Description and the second covers Access. Well, RDA is kind of in 2 big parts but the first part covers two things:

 

 

RDA: Big Part A has (part one) Description and (part two) Relationships and Big Part B has (part three) Access Point Control.

 

 

Here’s a web source all about the structure:

http://www.rdaonline.org/constituencyreview/RDAPhase1TOC_11_24_08.pdf

(I believe this pdf is only 113 pages, so it's easy to navigate and understand)

 

Here’s a quick overview of the parts and sections:

 

 

Recording attributes

• Section 1 - Recording attributes of manifestation and item

• Section 2 - Recording attributes of work and expression

• Section 3 - Recording attributes of person, family, and corporate body

• Section 4 - Recording attributes of concept, object, event, and place

Recording relationships

• Section 5 - Recording primary relationships between work, expression, manifestation, and item

• Section 6 - Recording relationships to persons, families, & corporate bodies assoc. w/resource

• Section 7 - Recording subject relationships

• Section 8 - Recording relationships between works, expressions, manifestations and items

• Section 9 - Recording relationships between persons, families, and corporate bodies

• Section 10 - Recording relationships between concepts, objects, events, and places

 

 

So the sections have chapters (woohoo! Wouldn’t want it too simple!) and the sections/chapters are often associated with one (or more) of the FRBR user tasks (Identify, Select, Obtain, etc.). Looks like there’s almost 40 chapters. (woohoo!) Then, of course, you’ve got your appendices, sort of like AACR2.

 

 

See web for handout:

http://www.rda-jsc.org/docs/5editor4.pdf

 

 This handout lists all the RDA chapters and says what "user task" they relate to and includes a column on "Data Encoding Structure." The teacher said we would mostly be interested in "Scenario 2" of that. (I'm not sure what that means) Anyways, this column also seems to be indicating what fields of a MARC record the RDA chapter relates to.

 

 

One thing we’ll have to learn with RDA is new terminology:

• “Heading” becomes “access point”
• “Main entry” becomes “Primary access point”
• “Added entry” becomes “Secondary access point”
• “Uniform title” becomes “Citation access point” for a work, for an expression, for a manifestation.

(huh?)

 

 

Other differences:

• We will catalog a “resource” (not an “item”)
• No more rule of three!!!
• ISBD punctuation not required
• No Latin abbrev.
• GMDs will be rethought

 

 

Then something about RDA content issues. There will be a lot of core elements, which I think is different from AACR2’s levels of description. But I don’t know how, if at all, that affects us.

 

 

Here’s a couple Web sources about the core/required elements:

 

Full list of Required Elements: http://www.rda-jsc.org/docs/rdafaq-requelements-20080103.pdf

 

Mapping Data Elements from RDA to MARC 21 MARC Discussion Papers:

http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/listdp.html#2009

 

 

 

Coding for RDA:

Most libraries will put their RDA in MARC records. (I figure that’s what we’ll do. We should watch out, though, because there will be changes to MARC and I think that somehow affects Millennium and what Millennium understands to do with the records. Perhaps Gerri will simply take care of all of this.)

 

LC is going to discontinue updating MARC 21 in 2010 or 2011!

 

OK. Then there was something about the RDA/ONIX initiative. That has to do with publishers and libraries working together so that the “description data” is easily used between the two groups. That seems pretty farfetched to me. I mean, I’m sure the publishing industry isn’t making bad data on purpose. It’s just not their job, and what’s good for them isn’t necessarily good for us and I don’t see how such a big shift in work/time could be forced into publishing schedules. But, whatever.

 

 

Some More Resources:

MARC 21 Format 2009 Changes to Accommodate RDA: http://www.loc.gov/marc/formatchanges-RDA.html

 

 

Here’s a site for using a browsable index of the RDA rules/sections:

http://www.biblio.tu-bs.de/db/wtr/content.htm

 

 

And here’s links to presentations from ALA (the Saturday one is the one I left because it was frightening):

  

“Look Before You Leap: Taking RDA For a Test-Drive” at American Library Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 11, 2009, Presenters: Barbara Bushman, John Espley, Shawne Miksa, Nannette Naught

http://presentations.ala.org/index.php?title=Saturday%2C_July_11

 

 

“RDA, FRBR, FRAD: Making the Connection” preconference at American Library Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 10, 2009 Presenters: Barbara Tillett, Glenn Patton, Robert Maxwell, and Tom Delsey

http://presentations.ala.org/index.php?title=Friday%2C_July_10