Transition to Official RDA

NSLA, AIATSIS, ALIA ACORD, CAUL and CAVAL announce the beginning of a project to scope collaborative solutions to the implementation of Official RDA in the Australian library context. RDA (Resource Description and Access) is a major international cataloguing standard and the preferred descriptive standard for contributions to Trove, a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of partner organisations around Australia. Official RDA replaces Original RDA, which has been a standard since 2013 and is being retired in May 2027. Official RDA is aligned with 21st-century technology and ensures that our rich data is more functional outside of library catalogues. Official RDA also enables library data that is responsive to First Nations collection description. 

 Over the next three months, a national project to understand the use, challenges, and resources of transitioning to Official RDA within the Australian library sector will be led by Melissa Parent. Melissa is an experienced cataloguer with expert knowledge of Official and Original RDA, and led the implementation of Original RDA at RMIT University in 2013. She has been engaged in RDA development since then, serving on ACORD (formerly ACOC) and ORDAC, including a term as the regional representative to the RDA Steering Group. Melissa is working with a steering group of representatives from NSLA, AIATSIS, ALIA ACORD, CAUL and CAVAL. It is expected that this work will reach the entire Australian library sector, including public, academic, school, health, law and special libraries, as well as agencies that provide metadata to libraries. 

How you can contribute?

Beginning in July, Melissa and the RDA Steering Group will begin to contact representatives and staff of most libraries in Australia, either by written survey or with a request to participate in a 60-minute consultation (online). The data gathered will help us to understand how RDA is being used nationally, and how different institutions within our sector are resourced to transition to Official RDA before May, 2027.  

To receive updates about the survey or to receive an invitation to participate in consultations, please sign up to the mailing list, below.  Updates will also be provided through the newsletters and social media channels of NSLA, AIATSIS, ALIA ACORD, CAUL, and CAVAL.

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