The Resource Description and Access (RDA) Forum took place at the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting on Saturday, February 10. Approximately 90 people attended.
James Hennelly, director of ALA Digital Reference, provided a sneak preview of the new RDA Toolkit design. The English-language version of the new Toolkit will be released on June 13, 2018, possibly with a single set of policy statements. The September 2018 release will include multiple language versions and multiple sets of policy statements.
After the September release, ALA Publishing will consult with the RDA Board and the RDA Steering Committee (RSC) to determine the official completion date of the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign (3R) Project. The completion date will be announced, and the old Toolkit site will remain accessible for year after the announced completion date. The old Toolkit site will not be updated, so its RDA content will be instantly outdated by that of the new Toolkit.
Kathy Glennan, ALA representative to the RSC (among other hats), gave an update on the committee’s activities. Her talk focused on highlights from the October 2017 meeting of the RSC in Madrid, information about proposed guidance chapters in the new Toolkit, and developments in the governance transition for the North America region. The North American RDA Committee (NARDAC), a lightweight umbrella committee, has been formed and will begin meeting after the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting. NARDAC will serve as an information conduit between the RSC and the North American cataloging communities. Slides from Kathy’s presentation [PDF] are available on the RSC website.
