Not having seen much of this yet on the Internet, I wrote up a cheat sheet for cataloging a book that will hopefully capture the basics of RDA in a way that people can quickly grasp. There are new categories to put data elements under, which are otherwise scattered across MARC bibliographic and authority fields. Perhaps the most challenging concepts are the construction of the authorized access points for works, and the recording of primary relationships in a resource, since existing MARC fields (1XX + 240/245 in particular) have to take on multiple roles to indicate these relationships. How future library systems handle those relationships (otherwise commonly known as "FRBRizing") would be something to watch for. 1. Look at the physical book. Record the things that help people identify the book (generally transcribe statements as found-- title proper, statements of responsibility/edition/publisher/series, ISBN, etc.). [Ch. 2] 2. Look at the physical book again. Record the physical characteristics that would help people in selecting this particular book (use carrier type, number of pages, dimensions, font size if appropriate, etc.). [Ch. 3] 3. Consider the book in terms of acquisition and access. Record the things that affect how people can obtain the book (use price, contact information, restrictions on use, URL, etc.). [Ch. 4] 4. Consider the content of the book. Record the things that help people identify the content in the book (use preferred title [formerly "uniform title"], form of work, date of work, content type, identifiers, etc.). End with the construction of the authorized access point for the work, with the other identifying elements going into new or existing MARC bibliographic or authority fields. [Ch. 6] 5. Consider the content of the book again. Record the content characteristics that would help people in selecting this particular book (use intended audience, summary of content, illustrations, color, language, supplementary material, etc.). [Ch. 7] 6. Consider the persons, families and corporate bodies associated with the book. Record the things that help people identify a person/family/corporate body (use names, dates, titles, country, place, field of activity, etc.). Pick a preferred name. End with the construction of the authorized access point for the person/family/corporate body, with the other identifying elements going into new or existing MARC authority fields. [Note: authorized access point for person/family/corporate body will likely be needed to create the authorized access point for a work in Ch. 6]. [Chs. 9-11] 7. Show primary relationships between work, expression, manifestation and item in the book. Help people find all resources that embody the particular works and expressions in the book, and all items exemplified by the manifestation. Do this mainly by constructing the composite record, as well as by identifiers and authorized access points. A typical MARC record has implicit primary relationships, with the 1XX + (240 or 245 title proper) often doing double duty as indicating the work contained in the book. [Ch. 17] 8. Show relationships between work/expression/manifestation/item and persons, families, and corporate bodies. Help people find this book by determining the nature of the relationship to a particular person/family/corporate body, especially who the creator of the work is. [Note: the creator is also needed in constructing the authorized access point for a work in Ch. 6]. Indicate relationships in the book to a person/family/corporate body by using identifiers, authorized access points, designators, and notes as required. [Chs. 18-22] 9. Show relationships between work/expression/manifestation/item and other works, expressions, manifestations and items. Help people find and understand works, expressions, manifestations, and items related to the book by determining the nature of the relationships. Indicate relationships using identifiers, authorized access points, and structured or unstructured descriptions, with designators and explanations as required (use content notes, part numbering, continuations and other notes, "see also" references, etc.). [Chs. 24-28] 10. Show relationships between person/family/corporate body and other persons, families, and corporate bodies. Help people find and understand persons, families, and corporate bodies related to the person/family/corporate body associated with the book by determining the nature of the relationships. Use "see also" references for authorized access points, along with identifiers, designators and explanations as required. [ch. 29-32] Thomas Brenndorfer Guelph Public Library Ontario, Canada
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