Development of Resource Description and Access (RDA): The New Cataloging Standard

Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a new standard for describing and accessing information specifically designed for the digital environment. It is a shift from Anglo American Cataloging Rules II (AACR2) and it aims to provide a more user friendly service to library users in locating information in the library online catalogs. It is also targeting to facilitate a cataloging standard which can be shared globally and be edited simultaneously by the catalogers and other users when needed. There are similarities as well as diff erences between these two cataloging standards. Since the development of RDA started in 2005, there has been a hot discussion among catalogers about the advantages and disadvantages of the two standards against each other. There are also arguments on the changes that RDA would introduce to the cataloging standards and questioning if this is the right time to move forward with these changes. This paper provides the reader an overview of the development of RDA standards and the outcome of this new standard yet to be adopted.