From: rdaaust-request@nla.gov.au [mailto:rdaaust-request@nla.gov.au] On Behalf Of NLA RDA
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 10:50 AM
To: rdaaust-l
Subject: [rdaaust] Statement from the CEOs of the US national libraries on the implementation of RDA

An executive summary of the report of the RDA testing conducted by US libraries has been made available, along with a statement from the CEOs of the three US national libraries.

The full report will be released sometime in the next week.

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.

Catherine Argus and Jenny Stephens

Jenny Stephens |RDA Implementation |National Library of Australia, CANBERRA ACT 2600 | fax: 61 2 6273 4322 | email: nlarda@nla.gov.au.

Find out about RDA on the ACOC website http://www.nla.gov.au/lis/stndrds/grps/acoc/rda.html