Bonita Pollock\u27s Practicum Paper: on RDA, ETDs, and Serials

This paper explores Resource Description and Access the new cataloging standard better known as RDA. While RDA has not been officially adopted yet by the Library of Congress, the new standards are available and many libraries have purchased a set of standards either online or in print. Some libraries have even started to implement small changes. The purpose of this paper is to provide basic information about RDA and look at the differences between RDA and AACR2 (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules) which is the current standard. The first section of the paper will explain the background RDA and discuss the foundations and principals behind it. Because RDA is based on the FRBR model, a brief look at the Fundamental Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) will also be included. The physical layout of RDA in the RDA Toolkit will be provided as well. The next section of the paper will go over the major changes in the cataloging rules brought on by RDA. RDA will be compared to AACR2 and the differences highlighted. The differences and changes in the MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) format will also be discussed. Then the paper will look at actual cataloging records and discuss the process of creating RDA records for these items. The final section of the paper will look at the how RDA relates to the Semantic Web and the future changes RDA might bring about