Library of Congress Issues Joint RDA Statement

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 5/13/2008 6:57:00 AM

• LC joined by National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Medicine
• Libraries will make recommendation on standard as a group
• Will complete a “systematic review of RDA” before further decisions

The Library of Congress, the National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Medicine have issued a joint statement on their consideration of Resource Description and Access (RDA), agreeing to make their recommendation on the new standard as a group and committing to collectively undertaking steps to complete a “systematic review of RDA” before making any further decisions.

While nearly all agree that an update to AACR2 is long overdue, RDA has not been without its detractors. The implementation of RDA has been a point of contention in the cataloging and technical services world since it was first proposed in 2005, with many catalogers saying that the new standard does not reach far enough in its revisions, or that it is the wrong strategy entirely for a revision of the cataloging code in an age that is so far removed from the card catalog model of the past.