RDA: Resource Description and Access Print

Designed for the digital world and an expanding universe of metadata users, RDA: Resource Description and Access is the new, unified cataloguing standard.

Benefits of RDA include:

A structure based on the conceptual models of FRBR (functional requirements for bibliographic data) and FRAD (functional requirements for authority data) to help catalogue users find the information they need more easilyA flexible framework for content description of digital resources that also serves the needs of libraries organizing traditional resourcesA better fit with emerging technologies, enabling institutions to introduce efficiencies in data capture and storage retrieval. The online RDA Toolkit provides a one-stop resource for evaluating and implementing RDA, and is the most effective way to interact with the new standard. It includes searchable and browseable RDA instructions; two views of RDA content, by table of contents and by element set; user-created and shareable workflows and mappings - tools to customize RDA to support your organization’s training, internal processes, and local policies; Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements (LC-PCC PS) and links to other relevant cataloguing resources; and the full text of AACR2 with links to RDA.

This full-text print version of RDA offers a snapshot that serves as an offline access point to help solo and part-time cataloguers evaluate RDA, as well as to support training and classroom use in any size institution. An index is included. The online RDA Toolkit includes PDFs, but purchasing the print version offers a convenient, time-saving option.

The 2015 RDA Print Revision contains:

A full accumulation of RDA - the revision contains a full set of all current RDA instructions. It replaces the previous version of RDA Print rather than being an update packet to that version. Numerous changes to the text of RDA have been made since the publication of the 2014 Revision. Cataloguing practice described by RDA has not altered dramatically due to these changes, but over a significant number of the pages in RDA Print were affected by the changes, making an RDA Print update packet impracticable.. The most current RDA - the revision contains all changes to RDA up to and including the 2015 RDA Update approved by the JSC. There are two types of changes to RDA that routinely take place-"Fast Track" changes and RDA Updates. The JSC periodically issues Fast Track changes to RDA to fix errors and to clarify meaning. These changes do not typically change cataloguing practice as described by RDA. An RDA Update is issued annually. In an Update process the JSC considers proposals to enhance and improve RDA as a cataloguing standard. An Update can and often does change the cataloguing process described in RDA. The 2015 Revision includes all Fast Track changes and RDA Updates since the 2014 publication of RDA in August 2014.