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RDA Toolkit Blog

Multilingual RDA

Tue, 14 May 2013 - 2:32 pm e — jhennelly

With the May release to RDA Toolkit, RDA: Resource Description and Access became a multilingual standard, and RDA Toolkit became a multilingual website. French and German language versions of RDA are now accessible to all subscribers of RDA Toolkit. In 2012 ALA Publishing, on behalf of the RDA Co-Publishers, entered into an agreement for the French language translation of RDA with ASTED (Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation).

Rewording RDA

Tue, 14 May 2013 - 1:17 pm e — jhennelly

The following post was written by Chris Oliver, Copy Editor for the Rewording of RDA.

The aim of the rewording project was to improve the readability of the text of RDA while preserving the exact meaning and intent of all the instructions. The original RDA had a distinctive rhythm, a consistent style, and a well-planned structure. While working on readability, it was also important to ensure that the reworded text would fit as smoothly as possible with the text that was left unchanged.

Some Useful RDA Documentation

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 - 3:01 pm e — jhennelly

Last week Cathy Lamoureaux of Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh posted a very helpful collection of RDA documents to AUTOCAT. For those who might have missed this posted, we have included it here with the author's permission. The value of the documents for RDA training is readily evident and requires no further explanation from me.

British Library announces implementation of RDA

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 - 4:19 pm e — jhennelly

An April 2 post to the RDA-L user list by Alan Danskin announced the British Library's implementation of RDA effective April 1, 2013. The full text of the post follows.

Revised RDA Toolkit Release Schedule for 2013

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 - 2:13 pm e — jhennelly

The RDA Toolkit release schedule for 2013 has been revised. RDA Toolkit releases will take place in May, July, and November in 2013. Releases always take place on the second Tuesday of a release month.

2013 RDA Toolkit Release Schedule

  • May 14
  • July 9
  • November 12

The May release is expected to include French and German translations of RDA as well as the complete rewording of RDA as requested by the U.S. RDA Test Coordinating Committee.

The July release is expected to include the RDA Update from the JSC.

RDA Toolkit Update - February 2013

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 - 3:48 pm e — jhennelly

Recent RDA Toolkit Improvements

Over the last 6 months the co-publishers for RDA have released the following updates and improvements to RDA Toolkit. Follow the links below to read more about each improvement.

RDA at Midwinter 2013

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 - 3:43 pm e — jhennelly

Policies for handling hybrid records and copy cataloging after the March 31st implementation day were a key topic of RDA discussions at ALA's 2013 Midwinter Meeting that wrapped up yesterday in Seattle.

About Our Growing Video Help Page

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 - 12:14 pm e — jhennelly

What better way to discuss our growing library of help videos than with a video blog entry.

Questions from the 1.16 RDA Toolkit Essentials webinar

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 - 10:04 pm e — jhennelly

Yesterday's RDA Toolkit Essentials webinar generated quite a few questions and there were several that we were not able to address within the allotted time. So we are using the blog post to both share the questions and our answers.

Question: Are examples provided in the Element Set within the Tools Tab? [Sally]
Answer: Yes, full record examples of RDA cataloging in MARC can be found on our site at http://rdatoolkit.org/examples/MARC.

Getting Ready for RDA without Panicking

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 - 12:13 pm e — jhennelly

Day One for RDA implementation is March 31, 2013. Scary, I know. The date sounds so definitive and dread-inducing, as if the stroke of midnight that day will bring chaotic change and the end of AACR2! Of course, this is not the case at all. Many libraries, including the Library of Congress, have been creating RDA records for many months, and after March 31st there will be plenty of libraries that still do AACR2 cataloging. The March 31 date really means that the Library of Congress and a few other major libraries will be cataloging exclusively (or nearly exclusively) in RDA, so you will be seeing a lot more RDA records.

RDA Toolkit Outcomes from the 2012 JSC Meeting

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 - 10:09 pm e — jhennelly

The Committee of Principals (COP) and the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (JSC) held independent and joint meetings last week in Chicago. The outcomes of the JSC and COP meetings will be published on the JSC website in the coming weeks. The JSC considered over 50 proposals for revisions to RDA. Approved proposals will be added to RDA and released to RDA Toolkit in April 2013.

Questions from the 9.19 RDA Toolkit Essentials webinar

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 - 9:49 am e — jhennelly

Yesterday's RDA Toolkit Essentials webinar generated quite a few questions and there were several that we were not able to address within the allotted time. So we are using the blog to both share the questions and our answers.

SirsiDynix joins RDA Toolkit's roster of Linking Partners

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 - 2:12 pm e — jhennelly

This week SirsiDynix rolled out the Symphony 3.4.1 Service pack 2 which included enhancements to make the popular ILS more compatible with RDA cataloging. Of particular note is that this updated version of Symphony now allows context-sensitive linking to RDA instructions for those users with RDA Toolkit subscriptions. With this update, SirsiDynix joins our growing list of linking partners.

A few words on the Advanced Search improvement

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 - 9:54 am e — jhennelly

The August release is now live on the site. You can get a detailed description of the release on the Development blog, but there one element of the release that could use a bit more clarification.

Agreement reached on Chinese translation of RDA

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 - 1:50 pm e — jhennelly

Today, ALA Publishing (on behalf of the Co-Publishers of RDA) announced the collaboration between themselves and the National Library of China Publishing House on the translation of RDA: Resource Description and Access into the Chinese (Mandarin) language. Read the entire press release.

The Chinese translation will be distributed in print only for the primary purpose of research and evaluation for use in Chinese libraries.

Report from Anaheim - Saturday, June 23

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 - 11:39 am e — jhennelly

The ALA Annual Conference is underway, and this morning the RDA Update Forum contained plenty of good information for RDA catalogers. The panel included representatives of Machine Readable Bibliographic Information committee (MARBI), the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC), OCLC, the U.S. RDA Test Coordinating Committee, and ALA Publishing. A brief summary of the proceedings follows. Slides and handouts of the presentations will be made available on ALA Connect.

MARC Report now supports MARC Linking to RDA Toolkit

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 - 5:07 pm e — jhennelly

Here is some more good news for those of you cataloging in RDA or training in RDA, this time from Deborah and Richard Fritz, authors of MARC21 for Everyone (ALA, 2003), and co-owners of The MARC of Quality (TMQ). They have informed us that MARC Report, their error checking software for MARC records, now includes:

  • Hot-key linking, via RDA Toolkit's MARC Linking Service, to easily locate the appropriate RDA instructions for each specific MARC element in a record; and

An RDA Guide to 2012 ALA Annual Conference

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 - 11:07 am e — jhennelly

The 2012 ALA Annual Conference is a week away. Library folk from across the country and the world will assemble in Anaheim, California, from June 21 through June 25, and there will be plenty of events for those with RDA on their mind. Below is our guide to the best of the RDA -related goings-on. Between events be sure to visit the RDA Toolkit booth (#1823, near the ALA Store) for a demo of our product or answers to any RDA questions you might have.

What Are These Licenses All About?

Wed, 09 May 2012 - 1:58 pm e — jhennelly

The May release introduced a requirement to select a Creative Commons license for each new workflow or map that you create in RDA Toolkit. This might surprise many and stir a bit of concern for a few. Why is a license needed? Why is this being introduced now? What do each of these types of licenses mean? We're happy to answer all these questions.

Why is a license needed?

Things You Should Know About RDA Updates

Mon, 07 May 2012 - 11:29 am e — jhennelly

Last month the first update to RDA instructions was published to RDA Toolkit. The release of the updated content was accompanied by the unveiling of the RDA Update History section to RDA Toolkit. This new section, located beneath the RDA Table of Contents browse in the RDA tab, is a major step forward in the quality of user interaction with the new code. And so it seems that a full explanation of these new and significant additions to RDA Toolkit is in order so that users may fully benefit from them.