Search

February RDA Toolkit and Best Practices Update

The February RDA Toolkit release was published on Tuesday, February 14, 2017. The release contained corrections and Fast Track changes from the RSC as outlined in document RSC/Sec 6 available at the RSC website. Several of the Fast Track changes involved conversion of tables to lists (e.g., RDA 3.2.1.3 Media Type, RDA 6.9.1.3 Recording Content Type) and changes to glossary terms. Of particular interest in the latter category is this addition to the definition for “container”–“an insert visible through the housing is part of the container.”

Also appearing in this release are changes to element labels, definitions, scope notes, and instructions in five categories (the first four with representative examples):

  • Replacement of the wording “person, family, or corporate body” with “agent” or “agents”
    –Chapter 19 Agents Associated with a Work
  • Deletion of articles within element names and replacement of a definite article with an indefinite article preceding element names in instructions
    –RDA 2.15 Identifier for Manifestation (was Identifier for the Manifestation)
  • Replacement of “resource” with the appropriate RDA entity where extensive revision of instruction was unnecessary
    –RDA 2.0 “…attributes of manifestations and items that are most often used to identify a manifestation or item” (was “resource”)
  • Deletion of the phrase “in this order” in instructions for access points
    –RDA 6.28.1.2 “For a musical work that includes words in the form of lyrics, a libretto, text, etc. (e.g., a song, opera, musical comedy), construct the authorized access point representing the work by combining:” (no longer ends with “(in this order)”)
  • Replacement of “and/or” with “or” when appropriate.

More information about these changes can be found in document RSC/Chair/18 available at the RSC website. Several of these changes are related to the implementation of IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM). The RSC agreed at their November 2016 meeting to proceed with implementation of LRM as part of the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign (3R) Project.

Two Fast Track changes related to music include changes to the scope of RDA 6.14.3 Variant Title for Musical Work. In addition, the instruction for recording variant titles have been simplified (“Record a variant title for a musical work that is considered important for identification or access…”). A change to RDA 7.15.1.3 Recording Illustrative Content restores “music” to the fourth paragraph of the instruction as a parenthetical choice “(e.g., chart, music)” indicating the type of illustrative content.

Changes to the MLA RDA Best Practices in this release include an updated best practice for RDA 3.19.3 Encoding Format, giving guidance for MARC encoding of terms with the removal of controlled vocabulary from this instruction. The examples in the instruction and Supplement 1 have also been updated to reflect this change. Other changes to Supplement 1 include an update to base material for cylinders and the addition of “flexi discs” (aka Soundsheet, phonosheet, etc.). The Best Practices Supplement documents are available at the CMC website.

The update also included changes to several LC-PCC Policy Statements, summarized in this document available at the LC website.