RDA Testing and Policies

We are gearing up our RDA Testing as one of the official Test Partners with LC and we wanted to share with you what we are doing. There will be more to come in the coming days and weeks, but our wonderful RDA Librarian Karen has put together what to expect right away.

If you’d like to talk to us about RDA or how we can work with you in regards to testing RDA, or what to expect on your end, please call us at 1-800-356-1852 or leave a comment here. Now, on to Karen:

The official testing period for RDA is scheduled to begin October 1st.  Organizations involved in the testing have asked that no new RDA authority records be contributed to the authority file, or RDA related elements added to existing authority records before that date.  But Oct. 1 is approaching fast, and soon RDA records will be appearing.  The following is intended to give you some idea of what to expect in authority records, and how to handle authority work during the RDA test.

RDA records, both bibliographic and authority, will be identified by a $e rda in the 040 field.

The following information is taken from the document “US RDA Test Policy for the Extra Set:  Use of Existing Authority and Bibliographic Records” found on this page:  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdatest.html See this document for more detailed information.

At least for the testing period, LC will not be changing any existing authority headings or cross references to RDA forms.  The following instructions are guidelines for how to handle the authority work for access points needed for bibliographic records created with RDA.

General instructions for authority records:

  • No existing AACR2 authority records should be changed.
  • RDA forms should be added in an appropriate 7XX (100/700, 110/710 etc.) to the existing authority record.
  • New 7XX fields should have a 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 rda (see examples).
    • NOTE: Not changing the existing AACR2 authority record will mean that the authorized access point (heading) in the bibliographic record will not match the authority record. This may be an issue for some systems using validation and automatic matching.
  • Existing AACR2 record should be left coded as aacr2.
  • New fields added for other RDA related information (046, 3XX’s etc.) may be added to any authority record (existing or new) at the cataloger’s discretion.

The following are instructions for the most common scenarios.  There are other cases discussed in the LC document found at the above link.

  • NOTE: The examples used to illustrate the following protocols are only partial records with just the fields needed to show how that particular scenario is to be handled.

If the RDA form of a heading is different from the current AACR2 form, the new RDA form is added to the existing authority record in an appropriate 7XX field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 rda.

Example:

Existing AACR2 authority record, heading not revised:

008/10      c     (AACR2)

046 __$f 19490526 [may be added by tester]

370 __$a Shreveport, La.      [may be added by tester]

100 1_$a Williams, Hank, $d 1949-

700 17$a Williams, Hank, $c Jr., $d 1949- $2 rda  [must be added by tester]

If the existing AACR2 form and the RDA form are different, and the RDA form is needed as part of another new heading (author/title, subordinate corporate unit, etc.) then create a new RDA authority record for the new entity and record the RDA form of the part on the existing AACR2 authority record in a 7XX field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 rda.

Example:

Existing AACR2 authority record, heading not revised:

008/10      c          (AACR2)

100 1_$a Brown, George, $c Rev.

700 17$a Brown, George $c (Clergyman) $2 rda        [must be added by tester]

New RDA authority record:

008/10 z        (other)

040 __$e rda

100 1_$a Brown, George $c (Clergyman). $t Poems

400 1_$a Brown, George $c (Clergyman). $t Complete poems of George Brown

If the RDA form is the same as the existing AACR2 heading, you also add the RDA form as a 7XX with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 rda, even though it is the same (1XX and 7XX will be the same).

Example:

Existing AACR2 authority record:

008/10      c          (AACR2)

110 2_$a National Agricultural Library (U.S.)

046 __$s 18620515 $v Wikipedia            [may be added by tester]

370 __$e Beltsville, Md.      [may be added by tester]

710 27$a National Agricultural Library (U.S.) $2 rda  [must be added by tester]

If the existing AACR2 form and the RDA form are the same, and the RDA form is needed as part of another new heading (author/title, subordinate corporate unit, etc.) then create a new RDA authority record for the new entity (coded $e rda in 040) and record the RDA form of the part on the existing AACR2 authority record in a 7XX field with 2nd indicator 7 and a $2 rda even though it is the same as the AACR2 form (1XXand 7XX will be the same).

Example:

Existing AACR2 authority record:

008/10      c     (AACR2)

110 2_$a National Agricultural Library (U.S.)

046 __$s 18620515 $v Wikipedia            [may be added by tester]

370 __$e Beltsville, Md.      [may be added by tester]

710 27$a National Agricultural Library (U.S.) $2 rda [must be added by tester]

New RDA authority record:

008/10      z     (other)

040 __$e rda

110 2_$a National Agricultural Library (U.S.). $b Indexing Branch

If there is no existing authority record for a heading, a new authority record is made for the RDA form of the heading.  These authority records will be coded $e rda in the 040 field.

If the new resource being cataloged is related to an existing resource (e.g., a supplement to an existing work; a revised edition, translation, or other new expression of a work already in the library’s collection; a major title change of a serial) represented only by a bibliographic record in the database (no authority record) and the RDA access point for the work/expression would be different from the AACR2 form on the bib record, then create a new RDA authority record for the heading but do not change the existing bibliographic record.  Record the AACR2 form from the existing bibliographic record on the new RDA auth record in a 7XX field with 2nd indicator 7 and $2 aacr.  Use the new RDA form in the new bibliographic record for the related work.

Example:

Existing AACR2 bibliographic record, main entry not revised:

Leader/18   a

100 1_ $a Chu, Yong-su, $c composer.

245 10 $a P’iano 5-chungju rŭl wihan “Taujing” / $c Chu Yong-su.

New RDA authority record to represent original work:

008/10      z

040 __$e rda

100 1_$a Chu, Yong-su $c (Composer). $t P’iano 5-chungju rŭl wihan “Taujing”

380 __$a Piano quintets $2 lcsh  [may be included by tester]

700 17$a Chu, Yong-su, $c composer. $t P’iano 5-chungju rŭl wihan “Taujing” $2 aacr  [must be included by tester]

New RDA bibliographic record to represent new expression:

Leader/18   i

040 __ $e rda

100 1_ $a Chu, Yong-su $c (Composer)

240 10 $a P’iano 5-chungju rŭl wihan “Taujing”. $l English

245 10 $a “Dowsing” for pianoquintet / $c Ju Yongsu.

Other guidelines:

If there would be two RDA headings for one AACR2 heading, give two 7XX fields with the RDA forms in the existing AACR2 authority record.

If two AACR2 headings would be represented by the same RDA heading, then give the same 7XX field with the new RDA form in both existing AACR2 authority records.

If the RDA form matches one of the individuals on an undifferentiated name record, do not add any 7XX fields to that record and do not make a new RDA auth record for the individual.  Just use the new RDA form in the new bibliographic record.

For those on OCLC here is a link to their guidelines to be used for the duration of the testing period:

http://www.oclc.org/us/en/rda/policy.htm

The PCC has also issued a document “RDA Testing and PCC” with instructions for NACO, BIBCO, and CONSER members.  Here’s the link:

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/RDA-Testing-PCC.pdf

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One Response to “RDA Testing and Policies”

  1. […] Since late August 2010, Library of Congress (LOC) has been distributing new RDA authority records in conjunction with AACR2 authority records that contain RDA headings.  LOC will not create an RDA authority record unless there is no equivalent AACR2 authority record that exists.  If there is an existing AACR2 authority record, then LOC will add the RDA heading to the matching AACR2 authority record in a 7XX field. […]