Harvard Library will join the US national libraries in implementing the Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Harvard Library to Adopt RDA

Pilot training program on new catalog code at Harvard Library to begin in November.                

October 25, 2012—The Harvard Library plans to adopt Resource Description and Access (RDA), joining the three US national libraries—Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library and peers—in implementing the new code.

RDA, the successor catalog code to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition (AACR2), is the new standard for resource description and access for the digital world. Published jointly by the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, RDA is designed to accommodate both the print and digital worlds and provide a flexible and extensible framework applicable to both analog and digital resources.

A pilot training program at Harvard will begin in November 2012, led by the Library’s Information and Technical Services team in collaboration with staff volunteers and with training materials prepared by the Library of Congress training materials.  Following the completion and assessment of the pilot, the Library will roll out a larger, phased training program.

For more information, please contact: Elizabeth Hedrick
Communications Officer
The Harvard Library
1 617 496 1519