Implementing RDA

The RDA Update Forum on Saturday morning provided additional insight into the JSC's plans for implementation.

Beacher Wiggins, Director of Cataloging at the Library of Congress, discussed RDA implementation from the point of view as an administrator of a major cataloging department. He was concerned about the resources that will be required to transition to RDA, and he emphasized that the implementation time line needs to go according to schedule: the longer it lasts, the more painful the transition will be. He hopes the implementation will not be as challenging as the transition to AACR2.

Marjorie Bloss, RDA Project Manager, discussed implementation in terms of project management. Her goals are to deliver RDA on time and under budget, to meet the stakeholder needs, and to manage outreach. RDA will primarily be an online product, with a "suite" of different versions developed later. A demonstration version of RDA is available online at www.rdaonline.org. There is a lot of discussion about how training for RDA will be developed and provided. At this time it is hard to say how training will be handled until it is finished. She believes that Part A (Description) will require more training for experienced catalogers than Part B (Access Point Control). Trainees should become familiar with the FRBR and FRAD models prior to training.