News & Information

With many catalogers and metadata specialists working remotely these days, some may find that they have a bit more time on their hands and have an inkling to dive into a topic that has been put off for awhile.

During this period where many, many folks are staying at home and either working remotely or just trying to be productive in some way, we have a few options to offer.

The RDA Toolkit YouTube channel has a lot to offer to RDA Toolkit subscribers and the RDA curious.

During this period of concern about the COVID-19 virus, more and more people are working at home or at some other remote location while their institution is closed.

On February 7^th a new minor release was published to the beta RDA Toolkit.

The ALA Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from January 24th to 28th, and there will be plenty of activities for those with an…

RDA Toolkit is hosting a preconference workshop at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.

RDA Online Orientation Series

RDA is bringing back the New Concept series that debuted last July.

Current Status

With the April and September 2019 releases to the RDA Toolkit beta site, the RDA text has been stabilized and the site has met project goals for accessibility and revision reporting.

One of the most important goals of the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project (commonly known as the 3R Project) was to bring the site into compliance with current accessibility standards.

The 90-minute webinar that aired on May 10th is now available in Spanish on our YouTube page.

The September 5, 2019 release to the beta RDA Toolkit included the introduction to the Revision History section of the Toolkit.This new section of the Toolkit is meant to more effectively address users' need to track and…

On September 5th a new release was published to the beta RDA Toolkit. The release features significant developments to the site in regard to accessibility and revision tracking.

On August 21 of this year, the European RDA Interest Group, along with the IFLA Cataloguing Section and the IFLA Committee on Standards, sponsored an IFLA World Library and Information Congress satellite meeting in…

Followers of RDA may be aware of the existence of the Australian RDA discussion list, rdaaust, which was set up ahead of the implementation of RDA in 2010.

RDA-L is experiencing problems and messages to the list serve are not being received. We are aware of the issue and looking into it. Thank you for your patience.

Join us on Monday, August 19th for a 90 minute workshop on Teaching RDA After 3R with Brian Dobreski.

Starting later this month, we will present bi-monthly demos of the beta site. The demos will walk users through the new beta site.

RDA Online Orientation Series

The English language version of RDA stabilized in April 2019. In July, the RDA Online Orientations, a program of educational events, will roll out.…

Citation numbering has been added to the beta site in response to a user need to reference RDA passages in print materials and other non-digital communications. 

On April 30th release to the RDA Toolkit beta site included some significant changes to the RDA…

RDA Toolkit Redesign Workshop

Friday, June 21st - 8:30 am-4:00 pm
Location: WCC - Rm 144B-C

Getting a Handle on the New RDA Toolkit

The 90-minute webinar that aired on May 10th is now available. The webinar reviewed the impact of the April 30th update to the beta site. Presenters included:

Today there will be a new release to the RDA Toolkit beta site. The release will go live in the evening in North America.…

The first ever RDA Meeting in Brazil is set to take place next month.

On Thursday, February 21^st, a new release of the RDA Toolkit beta site was posted.

At the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle last month, members of the RDA Steering Committee were able to host a three hour event titled "A Deeper Dive into RDA" The time slot and venue was generously donated to the RSC by…

This Wednesday evening (December 12th) an update to the beta site will introduce changes to the appellation elements  as well as a range of other corrections and revision to other files.

RDA Toolkit Redesign Workshop

Friday, January 25th - 8:30 am-4:00 pm
Location: WSCC - TCC - Tahoma 2

The RDA Steering Committee (RSC) met in October on the campus of McGill University in Montréal, Québec. This week the RSC posted key documents describing the events and outcomes of that meeting.

An international group of librarians met in Mexico City earlier this month to discuss RDA and its future in Latin America.

The RDA Steering Committee (RSC) met on the campus of McGill University in Montréal during the week of October 22-26 (more on this meeting to come).

This week a new release was published to the RDA Toolkit beta site.

We are pleased to provide all presentations and notes from the Diversity of Data: RDA in the international context at the National Library of Malaysia this past August.

An online event entitled What's Next for RDA and the 3R Project? was held on September 14th as part of the American Libraries Live (AL Live) series of webcasts. Panelists of the event included:

The next release to the RDA Toolkit beta site was expected to be ready in late September.

What's Next for RDA and the 3R Project?

Friday, September 14

1 p.m. Eastern | 12 p.m. Central

On Thursday, August 16, a small update was made to the RDA Toolkit beta site.

The publishers of RDA Toolkit and the RDA Steering Committee have been closely monitoring feedback on the new RDA Toolkit beta site. Based on comments provided via the online form, public forums, and various discussion…

The new beta Toolkit includes some significant differences in how the instructions are organized and arranged. Some may have trouble locating where some instructions have moved to.

We have heard from some users that examples have been few and far between. Because the RDA text is still a work in progress on the beta site, it has been difficult to write examples.

At the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans in June, the members of the RDA Steering Committee and friends organized a day-long event called "A Practical Introduction to the New RDA Toolkit".

Watch a demo of the RDA Toolkit beta site by James Hennelly, director of RDA Toolkit.

Welcome to the RDA Toolkit Beta Site

The beta site marks an important milestone in the progress of the 3R Project…

The RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project, also known as the 3R Project, will accomplish a major milestone on June 13th with

RDA Toolkit and the RDA Steering Committee will host three events at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

This is the fifth status report for the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project (3R) project.

This is the fourth status report for the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project (3R) project. Since the last status report in September the 3R Project team has accomplished the following...

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on February 13, 2018.

If you’re looking for an introduction to metadata and linked data, you may be interested in this upcoming eCourse.

Introduction to Metadata and Linked Data eCourse

Join us for a full-day event focused on introducing the new RDA Toolkit!

The hosting center that is home to RDA Toolkit and the RSC website is scheduled to be decommissioned. Because of this, RDA servers will need to move to a new facility, one just a short distance from their current home.

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on December 12, 2017. This will be the penultimate release to the current Toolkit before the rollout of the 3R Project.

RDA Toolkit and the RDA Steering Committee will host three events at the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver. We hope you are able to join us for one or all of these events.

One of the activities related to the recent RSC meeting at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid was a community outreach event entitled "Preparing for the New Toolkit".

The RDA Steering Committee (RSC) is looking to fill two key positions. Get the details at the RSC site.

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on October 10, 2017. When there is a new release for RDA Toolkit, it is typically made on the second Tuesday of the month.

Members of the RSC participated in a meeting on "Impact of the IFLA Library Reference Model on ISBD, RDA and other bibliographic standards" at Wrocław University Library on 25 August 2017, following the IFLA World Library…

Significant advancements have been made toward the completion of the 3R project (also known as the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project), and unexpected obstacles have arisen.…

This is the third status report for the RDA T

The RDA Steering Committee (RSC) will be convening at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid this October.

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on August 8, 2017. When there is a new release for RDA Toolkit, it is typically made on the second Tuesday of the month.

As work on the 3R Project progresses, we have had to make adjustments to plans for the releases in 2017.

This is the second status report for the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project.

Last month the European RDA Interest Group, also known as EURIG, met for their seventh annual meeting.

RDA Toolkit and the RDA Steering Committee will host two events at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. We hope you are able to join us for one or both of these events.

A new page on the RDA Steering Committee (RSC) website collects together presentations by RSC members and friends of RDA.

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on April 11, 2017. When there is a new release for RDA Toolkit, it is typically made on the second Tuesday of the month.

A new article by Daniel Lovins and Diane Hillmann looks at RDA and Bib frame in the context of vocabulary maintenance and repair.

The RDA Board, which is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the development of RDA, will meet next month in London.

This popular course led by Magda El-Sherbini, author of RDA: Strategies for Implementation, is returning.

The RDA Steering Committee has announced a community outreach event in Chicago on Tuesday, May 16th. It will be a day-long event that will be attended by an extended RSC group (full RSC plus working group chairs) and will…

Late last year the National Archive of the United States announced that it would adopt RDA as its standard for authority records. In a blog post dated December 20, 2016, David S.

There was a lot of discussion at midwinter about the 3R Project about the IFLA-Library Reference model. Summaries and other information about the RDA events are now available online. 

Following their November meeting in Frankfurt, the RDA Steering Committee (RSC) announced their plans for the implementation of IFLA's Library Reference Model (LRM)…

This past November the La Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) announced that it will adopt RDA as the standard for cataloging its collection. The English translation of the announcement follows.

This is the first of what will be a series of status updates on the progress of the 3R project.

Effective immediately, Keri Cascio will represent the American Library Association (ALA) on the Board of Directors for Resource, Description and Access (RDA), a unified cataloging standard designed for the global, digital

A new release of RDA Toolkit will be published on February 14, 2017. Releases typically contain updates to content and metadata, enhancements to RDA Toolkit functionality, and fixes to existing bugs.

The RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project (3R Project) will be a major focus of discussion at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Two new diagram examples of specific RDA related work relationships have been posted by the RDA Steering Committee. One example shows whole-part relationships, and the other example shows adaptations.

In 2017 the Co-Publishers of RDA and RDA Toolkit will undertake a major project to enhance the RDA Toolkit website so that it can better meet the needs of its users and play a more productive role in their work.

A new release of RDA Toolkit was published on October 18, 2016. Releases typically contain updates to content and metadata, enhancements to RDA Toolkit functionality, and fixes to existing bugs.

A new release of RDA Toolkit was published on August 9, 2016. Releases typically contain updates to content and metadata, enhancements to RDA Toolkit functionality, and fixes to existing bugs.

The RDA Board and RDA Steering Committee (RSC) are seeking a qualified library professional with expertise in RDA and cataloging to take on the role of RSC Secretary.

In the past six months two new translations (Finnish and Italian) and a new set of policy statements (Finnish SKLs) have been added to RDA Toolkit, bringing the total of toolkit translations to five and policy statements…

A new release of RDA Toolkit was published on April 12, 2016. When there is a new release for RDA Toolkit, it is typically made on the second Tuesday of the month.

On March 8th, RDA Toolkit published the Italian language translation of RDA. The new translation is accessible to all with a subscription to RDA Toolkit.

In 2014 ALA Publishing, on behalf of the RDA Co-Publishers, signed an agreement on the Italian language rights translation in RDA: Resource Description and Access with the Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of…

Inspired by the Jane-athons presented by the RDA Development Team and ALA Publishing in 2015 and earlier this year, TBLC, in cooperation with Gordon…

A new release of RDA Toolkit was published on February 10, 2016. Releases typically contain updates to content and metadata, enhancements to RDA Toolkit functionality, and fixes to existing bugs.

On December 8 RDA Toolkit published the Finnish language translation of RDA and an update to the Spanish language translation. The Finnish translation is accessible to all with a subscription to RDA Toolkit.

On December 8th a Finnish language translation of RDA will be published on RDA Toolkit. This work is the end result of an agreement reached last year between the Co-Publishers of RDA and the National Library of Finland.…

The RDA Examples have been updated to reflect changes in the RDA instructions and the MARC 21 bibliographic and authority formats.

The Thing-athon is a hackathon for metadata created using RDA: Resource Description and Access and the RDA editor RIMMF, where catalogers, developers, and vendors get together to explore RDA and its…

The second Jane-athon, also known as the Jane-In, was held this past Summer in San Francisco. the session sought to build upon the curated r-ball started at the first Jane-athon.

Last month the Committee of Principles affirmed their commitment to the internationalization of the RDA standard and stated that a transition plan for the new governance…

The Committee of Principals for RDA has issued the following statement dated 29 May 2015: RDA is a package of data elements, guidelines, and instructions for creating library and cultural heritage resource metadata that…

UPDATE: The Spanish translation of RDA is now available. All subscribers can access the Spanish translation as well as all other language versions of RDA hosted on the toolkit.

At their 2014 meeting the Committee of Principals (CoP) [now RDA Board] created a new vision and agreed four Strategic Priorities that will form the basis of their Strategic Plan 2015-2020.