RDA and Serials Cataloging

Reflecting the new modelling for serials introduced by IFLA’s Library Reference Model in the most recent revisions to RDA, this up-to-date resource is an important tool for day-to-day practice as well as a reference manual for unusual or difficult cases.

Serials and continuing resources present a variety of unique challenges in bibliographic management, from special issues and unnumbered supplements to recording the changes that a long-running periodical can experience over time. Of this book’s first edition, the Australian Library Journal declared, “Highly recommended for any situation – technical service departments or library students – where serials need to be cataloged using RDA protocols.” Jones, a serials authority in the field and a major contributor to the 3R Project, here updates his authoritative text. Framing the practice within the structure of the IFLA LRM conceptual model on which RDA is now based, and its new modelling of serials, his guide

• introduces the concept of diachronic work and explains how serials, as a type of diachronic work, can be described using the new attribute element extension plan;
• explores new developments after the completion of the 3R Project, with references to AACR2 as a touchstone;
• introduces the new term work group and demonstrates its usefulness in enabling relationships and supporting collocation;
• demonstrates how serials catalogers' work fits in the cooperative context of OCLC, CONSER, and NACO; and
• presents examples of how RDA records can ultimately engage with the Semantic Web.

Ed Jones (MLS, Kent State University; PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) has been active in serials cataloging during the whole of his professional career. Over this time, he has represented various institutions on the CONSER Operations Committee and has served on many CONSER and Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) committees and task groups, including as CONSER representative to the PCC Policy Committee and cochair of the PCC Standing Committee on Standards (SCS). He is currently cochair of the SCS Task Group on CONSER Policies for Official RDA in MARC. He has spoken extensively on RDA and its underlying conceptual models over the years, serving as an RDA advisor for the Original RDA Toolkit and more recently chairing the Serials Task Force of the RSC Aggregates Working Group during the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign (3R) Project. In 2019, in recognition of his professional contributions, he received the Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award from the Association for Library collections and Technical Services (ALCTS).