Cataloging archival resources with RDA

Though the April 2 Metadata Discussion Group meeting will not discuss RDA cataloging specifically, your blog hosts will be posting pertinent resources for those interested in learning more about cataloging with RDA. These posts are meant to be a brief introduction and are not intended to be exhaustive treatments of the topic. If you have other resources you’d like to share, please leave a comment!

Archival Resources

Resource Description & Access (RDA) uses the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBF) as a data abstract model. Archivists such as Alexander Thurman and Cory Nimer (see citations below) have already identified problems in applying the FRBR model to archival description. Archives are not published; they are unique, with collections growing organically, often as the result of the endeavors of a person (diaries, correspondence) or corporate body (bylaws, meeting minutes). The FRBR concept of work and the need for expression and manifestation records is not applicable to archival materials.

Nonetheless, RDA provides instructions for the description of archival collections. There has been discussion of using RDA in archives, just recently on the EAD listserv (scroll down to the topic “MARC crosswalk and RDA”). Here are some more resources on cataloging archives resources with RDA:

• Nimer, C. (2012, May 30). Archival materials: Using RDA with DACS . Retrieved from http://youtu.be/n5fY9L9zZcM
  An ALCTS webcast.
• Nimer, C. (2010). RDA and Archives. Journal of Archival Organization, 8(3-4), 227-243.
  From the abstract: “This article examines the impact of archives on RDA, and the potential impace of RDA on archives.”
• Program for Cooperative Cataloging. (2013). PCC RDA BIBCO Standard Record (BSR) Metadata Application Profile. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/scs/documents/PCC-RDA-BSR.pdf
  The PCC BIBCO document includes a section on using RDA to catalog archival materials.
• Thurman, A. C. (2007). FRBR and archival materials: Collections and context, not works and content. In A. G. Taylor (Ed.), Understanding FRBR: What it is and how it will affect our retrieval tools (pp. 99-100). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Note: at this time, the Technical Services Department in the Wells Library plans to implement DACS 2nd edition (released this summer), not RDA, as the content standard for all bibliographic records entered into IU Libraries’ catalog for archival collections. At present, all NACO work, including name authority work for archives, is being done according to RDA.