Customer Service Frequently Asked Questions

What is RDA?

RDA: Resource Description Access is the new cataloging standard that will replace Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2). RDA goes beyond earlier cataloging codes in that it provides guidelines on cataloging digital resources and a stronger emphasis on helping users find, identify, select, and obtain the information they want. RDA also supports clustering of bibliographic records to show relationships between works and their creators. This important new feature makes users more aware of a work's different editions, translations, or physical formats—an exciting development. For more information on RDA see the JSC website http://www.rda-jsc.org/rda.html.

What is the difference between RDA and the RDA Toolkit?

RDA Toolkit is an integrated, browser-based, online product that allows users to interact with a collection of cataloging-related documents and resources, including RDA: Resource Description and Access.

What does the RDA Toolkit include?

RDA instructions that are searchable and browsable
AACR2 Rule Number Search of RDA instructions
Workflows, mappings: tools to customize the RDA instruction set to support organizational training and processes.
Two views of RDA content—by table of contents and by element set
What you need to evaluate and implement RDA; to make cataloging decisions based on principles; to increase efficiency; to facilitate collaboration; and to help position the community for the future by making bibliographic data accessible on the Web.
Full text of AACR2

Who develops and owns RDA?

The content of RDA was developed in a collaborative process led by the Joint Steering Committee (JSC). The project is overseen by the Committee of Principals representing American Library Association, Canadian Library Association, CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Library of Congress, Library and Archives Canada, British Library, and National Library of Australia.

Who developed the RDA Toolkit?

The RDA Toolkit is published by the Co-Publishers for RDA: American Library Association, Canadian Library Association, and Facet Publishing, the publishing arm of CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

How do I subscribe to the RDA Toolkit?

Please visit www.rdatoolkit.org/subscribe for details. Sign up to be added to a mailing list to receive announcements and updates about this and other RDA Toolkit topics.

Who do I buy the RDA Toolkit from?

The Co-Publishers (Facet Publishing [for CILIP UK] and CLA) have assigned ALA Publishing to process and manage all online subscriptions to the RDA Toolkit, from anywhere in the world. This offers customers one point of contact for: purchasing subscriptions; customer service; technical and administrative support; processing payments; renewal reminders and processing of renewals. ALA will process payments in the major currencies and will ensure access to, and support of, the electronic product.

How much will the RDA Toolkit cost?

Please visit the Pricing page for details.

What is the pricing outside the U.S.?

The Co-Publishers have committed to maintaining price parity as much as possible throughout the world given the constraints created by differences in currency and tax systems. Please visit the Pricing page for details.

Will you offer special pricing for institutions, consortia, or LIS?

Please visit the Pricing page for details.

What are the RDA Toolkit's system requirements?

The RDA Toolkit is an Internet browser-based product that does not require specific software to be installed on users' computers. For the best performance we recommend using one of the supported Internet browser versions listed below:

Internet Explorer: 7, 8
Firefox: 3.5, 3.6
Safari: 3, 4
Chrome: 4, 5

Unsupported browser versions may suffer from slow load times and may not display all RDA Toolkit content properly. Please consult your specific Internet browser's publisher for their system requirements.

Will RDA be included in any third-party software (like Cataloger's Desktop)?

The Co-Publishers (Facet Publishing [for CILIP UK] and CLA) have assigned ALA Publishing to process and manage all online subscriptions to the RDA Toolkit, from anywhere in the world.

The RDA Toolkit will not be included with the purchase or use of any third-party software. However, the Co-Publishers are working with third parties, including the Library of Congress, OCLC, and others, to make linking from third party software like Cataloger's Desktop, OCLC Connexion, and LIS vendor systems to the RDA Toolkit as seamless and user-friendly as possible. A link with Cataloger's Desktop has already been announced, and the Co-Publishers will make additional announcements as specific agreements are reached with each third-party software vendor.

What subscriber authentication methods will the RDA Toolkit support?

The RDA Toolkit supports three subscriber authentication methods.

Login & Password—This type of account has a login and password for authentication. This is the typical method for single-user accounts, but can be used for multi-user accounts as well. Multi-user accounts that use the login & password method will use one institutional login & password for subscriptions access for the entire institution in conjunction with a separate unique individual login & password for each user within that institution. Using this method, each user would have to log in twice. For single-user accounts the user would only have to log in once for access to both their subscription and profile.

To avoid double logins for their users, most institutional accounts prefer to use either IP range or referring URL authentication methods.

IP Range—This type of account avoids the institutional login and password by giving the Co-Publisher a list of IP ranges that are approved to grant access to the account. Once established, any user who accesses the RDA Toolkit from an approved IP address is allowed access and counts against the institution's purchased number of concurrent users. Once users have access they can log in to their profile by using their individual profile login & password.

Referring URL—This type of account avoids the institutional login by placing a link to the RDA Toolkit behind some type of internal authentication system, like a knowledge management system or some other type of system that authenticates approved users. The institution shares the URL where it has placed the link to the RDA Toolkit. Once established, any user who accesses the RDA Toolkit from an approved link is allowed access and counts against the institution’s purchased number of concurrent users. Once they have access, users can log in to their profile by using their individual profile login & password.

What is the difference between a registered user and a concurrent user?

The RDA Toolkit allows an unlimited number of registered users. A registered user is anyone who creates an RDA Profile account. Profile accounts can be created by anyone who at one time or another has access to the site. Profiles are used to keep track of the ownership of personalization functions (saved searches, bookmarks, workflows, etc.) Profile logins are not related in any way to granting access to the site. You must have access to the site via one of the authentication methods described above before you can log in to a profile.

How does the site calculate the number of concurrent users?

The number of concurrent users is based on the number of computers from a given institution viewing the site at the same time and is not directly related to who is logged in to their profile. A common misconception is that the number of users is directly tied to the number of people logged in to their profile; this is not the case. Once a person views the RDA Toolkit site, he or she counts as one of the concurrent users whether or not they have logged in to their profile. Even though the RDA Toolkit, like many other systems, allows some browsing of content without requiring you to log in to your profile, while viewing this content you will be using one of your institution's concurrent user licenses.

What was the RDA Toolkit Complimentary Open-Access period?

The contents of the RDA Toolkit were open at no charge for everyone to try from June 23, 2010 through August 31, 2010. If you'd like to subscribe, click here.

What support will be available for the RDA Toolkit?

While the Co-Publishers cannot offer cataloging support, technical support for the RDA Toolkit product will be available from within the support section of the RDA Toolkit site. In addition to the internal help screens and FAQs, an email-based support ticket system is included to enable users to send and track the status of specific queries. Those queries will be answered by the most appropriate members of the RDA team.

Where can I get more information about training for using RDA?

The RDA Toolkit will include aggregated information about available training offered by various groups on our Teaching and Training page. Sign up to be added to a mailing list to receive announcements and updates about this and many other RDA Toolkit topics.

What are the Entity Relationship Diagrams and Schemas and how are they used?

The RDA Toolkit is designed to reach multiple audiences. The largest audience is catalogers, but some of the functions (while still marginally useful for catalogers) were designed with educators, system developers, researchers, and the wider metadata community in mind. Entity Relationship Diagrams are visual representations of data elements (sometimes referred to as RDA Elements) defined or inferred by RDA instructions. Schemas are machine-readable representations of these same data elements. While some catalogers may find the Entity Relationship Diagrams and the Schemas useful tools, the main audiences are likely to include database developers, IT staff, library and computer education professors, and others.

When will RDA be adopted?

For more information on RDA see the JSC website http://www.rda-jsc.org/rda.html.

What are others doing about implementing RDA?

For more information on RDA see the JSC website http://www.rda-jsc.org/rda.html.

What is the U.S. National Library Testing?

In response to concerns about RDA raised by the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, the three U.S. national libraries—the Library of Congress (LC), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and the National Agricultural Library (NAL)—made a commitment to the further development and completion of RDA. These three national libraries agreed to make a joint decision on whether or not to implement RDA, based on the results of a test of both RDA and the RDA Toolkit. The goal of the test is to assure the operational, technical, and economic feasibility of RDA. Testers include the three national libraries and the broader U.S. library community.

Where can I find more information about RDA?

For more information on RDA see the JSC website http://www.rda-jsc.org/rda.html.

How can I get updates on RDA and RDA Toolkit events and announcements?

Will RDA be translated into other languages besides English?

The Co-Publishers have been approached by several groups wanting to translate RDA. As agreements become final we will announce them widely.

Tax-exempt but sales tax appeared on your order?

ALA collects sales tax on all taxable orders in Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Utah. If you are ordering from one of these areas and are NOT tax-exempt, sales tax will be automatically added to your order. If you ARE tax-exempt, and have been charged sales tax, please fax us a copy of your tax exempt form, along with your order number, and we will credit you the sales tax charge. All tax credit requests should be faxed to: (402) 323-6611 Attention: Digital River – American Library Association.

For more information visit http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/rda/index.html.

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