Working Group for Reviewing Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Chair: Robina Clayphan
The British Library, UK
RDA Liaison: Matthew Beacom
Yale University
Members: Tom Baker - DCMI
Brad Eden - University of Nevada, USA
Corey Harper - University of Oregon, USA
Christine Frodl - Die Deutsche Bibliothek, Germany
Jane Greenberg - University of North Carolina, USA
Robin Wendler - Harvard University, USA
John Chapman - University of Minnesota, USA
Marty Kurth - Cornell University, USA
Dr. RSR Varalakshmi - Andhra University, India
Cassandra Armstrong - Library Associates, USA
Douglas King - University of South Carolina, USA
Leif Andresen - Danish National Library Authority, Denmark
Anchalee (Joy) Panigabutra-Roberts - St Cloud University, MN, USA
Susan Pyzynski - Harvard, USA
Description: This working group -- a task force of the DCMI Libraries Working Group -- has been formed to review drafts of the new content standard "Resource Description and Access" (RDA) and to offer input into the drafting process from a Dublin Core™ perspective.

Context

Rules for creating the content of metadata descriptions constitute an important aspect of interoperability. Content-level agreements exist within specific communities but interpretation of the content can become problematic when data is moved between domains.

"Resource Description and Access" (RDA) is a new content standard for resource description being developed on the foundations of library cataloguing practice established in the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR).

The Joint Steering Committee intends that RDA will provide a comprehensive set of guidelines and instructions covering all types of content and media. To achieve this, consultations are being undertaken with other communities in an effort to attain an effective level of alignment between RDA and the metadata standards used in those other communities. DCMI has thus been approached and this working group has been formed to review drafts as they are produced and to offer any other relevant input from a DC perspective.

Timeline

  • Comments on Draft of Part 1 due on 1 March 2006
  • Committee meets 24-28 April to consider comments and launch Part 2
  • Completion and Review of Part 2, May - September 2006
  • Completion and Review of Part 3, October - April 2007
  • Completion of Introduction, Appendices, Glossary May - September 2007
  • Publication in 2008

It is planned to produce a Web version of the standard and a beta release may be ready for testing in mid-2007.

Mailing-list archive

An archive of the closed-membership DC-RDA mailing list may be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/dc-rda.html.

Developments (reverse-chronological order)

2006-02-06 Diane Hillmann report from ALA, San Antonio
-- http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind0602&L=dc-general&P=56

2005-10-21 Comments from Die Deutsche Bibliothek
-- http://dublincore.org/groups/libraries/files/2005-11-14.Comments_Prospectus_DDB.pdf

2005-10-15 Invitation to join group
-- http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind0510&L=dc-libraries&P=179

2005-09-15 Matthew Beacom presentation, DC-2005 in Madrid
-- http://www.britishlibrary.net/RDAandDCMI.ppt

2005-09-15 dc-libraries meeting report
-- http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/DC-LIBRARIES/DC_Libraries_-_meeting_report_2.doc

2005-05-31 Reports from earlier AACR3 activities
-- http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind0505&L=dc-libraries&P=53
-- http://dublincore.org/groups/libraries/files/aacr3-part1-DCMI-response.doc
-- http://dublincore.org/groups/libraries/files/aacr3-part1-DeutscheBibliothek.doc
-- Details of the JSC decisions can be found at
   http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/0504out.html