RDA and Serials Cataloguing

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. Easing cataloguers through the RDA: Resource Description and Access transition by showing the continuity with past practice, serials cataloguing expert Jones frames the practice within the structure of the FRBR and FRAD conceptual models on which RDA is based. With serials’ special considerations in mind, he: explains the familiarities and differences between AACR2 and RDA; demonstrates how serials cataloguers’ work fits in the cooperative context of OCLC, CONSER and NACO; presents examples of how RDA records can ultimately engage with the Semantic Web. Occasional serials cataloguers and specialists alike will find useful advice here as they explore the structure of the new cataloguing framework.

Author Biography

Ed Jones has been cataloguing serials, on and off, since 1976, and over the years has authored several scholarly papers and made numerous presentations on serials cataloguing, the FRBR and FRAD conceptual models, and RDA. He has been a member of the CONSER Operations Committee, on and off, since 1981, and recently served as an RDA advisor. In 1995, he received his doctorate in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He is currently associate director for assessment and technical services at National University in San Diego.