In 2025-26, NSLA is leading an Australia-wide project to transition the library and information sector to Official RDA. The project is a collaboration between Australian NSLA member libraries, and leverages the expertise of colleagues and practitioners across the NSLA collaboration, with the outcome of authoring the minimum critical documentation required to contextualise Official RDA for the Australian information environment in preparation for Official RDA becoming the preferred standard on May 2027.
It is expected that this work will reach and benefit the entire Australian library sector, including public, academic, school, health, law and special libraries, as well as agencies that provide metadata to libraries.
Colleagues with an interest in the project’s outcomes are encouraged to join NSLA on LinkedIn, follow the quarterly blog updates posted on our website, and sign up for project updates below.
What is Official RDA?
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.
How did this project begin?
Over three months in 2024, NSLA together with our partners AIATSIS, ALIA ACORD, CAUL and CAVAL undertook an Australia-wide consultation to understand the use, challenges, and resources of transitioning to Official RDA within the Australian library sector. The work was led by Melissa Parent, an experienced cataloguer with expert knowledge of Official and Original RDA, who led the implementation of Original RDA at RMIT University in 2013 and continues to be engaged in RDA development since, serving on ACORD (formerly ACOC) and ORDAC, including a term as the regional representative to the RDA Steering Group.
