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From Resource Description & Access
Welcome to the RDA Wiki!
Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.
The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA (JSC) is working towards a new standard: RDA: Resource Description and Access, scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2009. Underlying RDA are the conceptual models FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data).
The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA, is a committee comprised of:
- The American Library Association
- The Australian Committee on Cataloguing
- The British Library
- The Canadian Committee on Cataloguing
- The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
- The Library of Congress
RDA will be co-published by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association, and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.
Feedback on text design of the RDA draft
Design starts with analysis of a document to identify elements. The RDA text is a complex mix of elements, requiring an extensive design that allows these elements to interplay in many different and varying combinations. The designer of RDA identified 87 elements for treatment in the chapter design. As an example of addressing variances and combinations, the designer's codes used in InDesign address five "Body" variants, which themselves hold variants (Body2-first, Body2, Body2-after Ex). Variants, having been identified in an elements list, then undergo standardized treatment in the design. That is, the XML and the XSLT will require that every instance of every element be treated in the same way.
Nannette Naught, RDA's document manager, wrote, "It’s only when I get into the deep chapters and appendices that have it all design-wise, as well as discussion of complex and new principles, like relationships, which take time and work to grasp, that I truly appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the design and how it helps me comprehend the text, regardless of my usage (e.g., reading in sequence or jumping in with a search and scanning text for something specific)."
Before composing your feedback, please survey the full text of the Constituency Review version to get a feel for its depth and breadth. The Co-Publishers will review feedback, but must do so in consideration of the interplay of the full list of elements and the investment made in the current design.
Comment on the design of the RDA full draft.
