Make sure you’re ready for Resource Description and Access
Library managers face major challenges and key decisions in the lead up to the implementation of RDA: Resource Description and Access. Its launch in June 2010 will be one of the biggest changes in standards for bibliographic data management and access since MARC21 a decade ago. Because of its importance, CILIP is holding a new Executive Briefing in London on 23 March to help those affected get to grips with this major strategic development.
RDA’s launch is expected to transform cataloguing standards that have been virtually unchanged for 30 years. Existing standards, as laid out in the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules, have struggled to keep pace with new publishing formats and new publishing practices. RDA will provide a more flexible framework for resource description and access, and make bibliographic information accessible on the web.
CILIP has secured leading experts from across the library and information community for the Executive Briefing; titled RDA: Meeting the challenges of strategic change. It will look at the new cataloguing code and its implications and highlight issues that really matter to those working at a strategic level. The programme has been developed by Anne Welsh, Lecturer in Library and Information Studies, University College London, and it includes an insight into the development of the new code from Ann Chapman, Research Officer UKOLN and Chair of the joint CILIP-British Library (BL) Committee on RDA.
RDA demonstration
One highlight of the Briefing will be an exclusive demonstration of the new RDA software by Alan Danskin, Manager of Data Quality at the BL, and their representative to the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA. He will also provide insight into the BL’s rationale for planning its adoption of RDA.
Speakers will consider the potential impact of the introduction of RDA on librarians, and assess why international cataloguing standards are changing. They will also address the staffing and staff training implications and the bottom-line costs of adopting RDA and of failing to adopt it. A special video presentation introducing RDA will be given by Shawne Miksa, Associate Professor, Department of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Texas, USA, and there will also be a supplier’s perspective.
The Briefing will be of real value to those involved in determining organisational strategy, and provide a thorough briefing to equip delegates with questions to ask before their cataloguing and technical services teams embark on an overhaul of the catalogue.
CILIP’s Executive Briefings have established a reputation for the quality of their topical subjects, authoritative programmes, expert speakers and opportunities for discussion and debate. Average rating from delegates in 2009 was more than 90% Good to Excellent. For more information and online booking visit www.cilip.org.uk/rda2010.
RDA Toolkit
An RDA Toolkit is being published by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and CILIP, via its publishing imprint Facet Publishing, to provide a one-stop resource for those implementing RDA. More details and updates prior to the launch in June are online at www.facetpublishing.co.uk/rda.
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Press contact:
John Woolley, Managing Director of CILIP Enterprises
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0694
Email: john.woolley@cilip.org.uk
Notes to editors:
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. It forms a community of around 36,000 people engaged in library and information work, of whom around 21,000 are CILIP members and around 15,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises. Visit www.cilip.org.uk for more information about CILIP.