RDA: Resource Description and Access Executive Briefing

Meeting the challenges of strategic change

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 to help those affected get to grips with this major strategic development.

The launch of RDA will 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 make bibliographic information accessible on the web. It is expected to be adopted by the major national libraries and cataloguing agencies.

The Briefing will provide an overview of the new cataloguing code and its implications, and highlight the issues that really matter to those working at a strategic level. The first session will set the scene and examine the current state of play, while later presentations will focus on the implications of the move to RDA. 

RDA demonstration
One highlight of the Briefing will be a demonstration of the new RDA software by Alan Danskin, Manager of Data Quality at the British Library, and The British Library's 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.