A post by librarians at The Aus National Library to the AL-ANZ LIS? reveals that an executive summary of the report of the RDA testing conducted by US
libraries has now been made available, along with a statement from the CEOs of? the three US national libraries.
We learn that the full report will be released sometime in the next week.
In the meantime here’s their post and links below
The key recommendation coming out of the testing is that RDA be adopted? with certain conditions and that implementation not occur before January
2013.
The conditions include:
Re-write the RDA instructions in clear, unambiguous, plain English
Improve the structure of the RDA Toolkit
Demonstrate credible progress towards a replacement for MARC
Solicit demonstrations of prototype input and discovery systems that use the RDA element set
While yet another delay is frustrating, it was interesting to note the? following in the CEOs statement; ?We believe that the long-term benefits
of adopting RDA will be worth the short-term anxieties and costs. The Test? Coordinating Committee quite rightly noted the economic and organizational
realities that cause every librarian to ask if this is the time to make a? dramatic change in cataloging. Our collective answer is that libraries
must create linkages to all other information resources in this Web? environment. We must begin now. Indefinite delay in implementation simply
means a delay in our effective relationships with the broader information? community.?
The executive summary of the report is available at:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/RDA_report_executive_summary.pdf
The cover statement by the executives of LC, NAL, and NLM included is also? available as a PDF file at:?
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/cataloging/RDA_Executives_statement.pdf
The Australian Committee On Cataloguing (ACOC) will meet over the coming week to discuss the implications of this announcement for implementation
in Australia.
