Library of Congress Announces Its Long-Range RDA Training Plan

On Feb. 27, 2012, LC issued a document outlining its long-range RDA training plan. It has been determined that LC's Day One for RDA implementation will be March 31, 2013. The National Agricultural Library and National Library of Medicine also intend to implement RDA within the first quarter of 2013, i.e., between January 2 and March 31, 2013. LC's training plan document is available at: http://www.loc.gov/aba/rda/pdf/RDA_Long-Range_Training_Plan.pdf.

OCLC issues discussion paper: "Incorporating RDA practices into WorldCat"

OCLC has issued a discussion paper entitled "Incorporating RDA practices into WorldCat," proposing policies and actions that may be implemented as OCLC moves toward incorporating RDA practices into WorldCat. The paper outlines specific changes that may be made to pre-RDA records to reflect RDA practice, but without changing the indication of the rules under which the catalog record was initially created (Leader/18). If approved, some of the changes allowed would include converting Latin abbreviations to their spelled-out English equivalents (e.g., "et al." could be changed to "and others;" 336, 337 and 338 fields could be added while removing GMDs; and addtional access points called for under RDA could be added to pre-RDA records. The discussion paper may be read in its entirety at: http://www.oclc.org/us/en/rda/discussion.htm. OCLC member libraries are invited to submit comments on the proposed policies and actions by April 15, 2012. Comments may be sent to: rdapolicy@oclc.org.

Transformation of Academic Library Collecting

Lewis, David W. "From Stacks to the Web: the Transformation of Academic Library Collecting." College & Research Libraries (November 2011). At: http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2012/01/09/crl-309.full.pdf+html

This particular version is a pre-print, as the article will be published on C&RL in January 2013. Lewis starts the article by reviewing current developments in academic library world, including digitization of content, print repositories, e-readers and print-on-demand publishing, and open access. Based on his observations, he offers five suggestions on academic library collecting: 1. Deconstruct legacy print collections; 2. Move from item-by-item book selection to purchase-on-demand and subscriptions; 3. Manage the transition to open access journals; 4. Curate the unique; 5. Develop new mechanisms to fund national infrastructure.

Making Good on the Promise of ERM

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announced last week, the publication of Making Good on the Promise of ERM: A Standards and Best Practices Discussion Paper. The publication is the outcome of the NISO Electronic Resource Management (ERM) Data Standards and Best Practices Project, a successor to the Digital Library Federation's Electronic Resources Management Initiative (ERMI). The project's primary goals were to perform a "gap analysis" of standards and best practices and make recommendations on the future of the ERMI Data Dictionary.

According to Tim Jewell, Chair of the ERM Data Standards and Best Practices Review Steering Committee, their analysis focused on five categories:

1. link resolvers and knowledge bases;
2. the work, manifestations, and access points;
3. cost and usage-related data;
4. license terms;
5. and data exchange using institutional identifiers.

Making Good on the Promise of ERM is available for free download from the NISO website at: www.niso.org/publications/white_papers/.

For more information, see the NISO press release at: http://www.niso.org/news/pr/view?item_key=b93c495341167780c8cbb46a007b186e652d0492

LITA/ALCTS MARC Formats Interest Group slides from Midwinter available

Slides from the LITA/ALCTS MARC Formats Interest Group presentations made last month at ALA Midwinter are available at: http://connect.ala.org/node/163477. The speakers, Kelley McGrath, Jennifer Bowen, and Diane Hillmann, addressed the topic: "What Lies Beyond MARC?" Mark Ehlert has also made available a paper on the relationship between RDA and MARC (http://connect.ala.org/files/MARCandRDA_rev.pdf).

Redefining the Academic Library

Redefining the Academic Library: Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services. Washington, DC: Education Advisory Board, 2011. At: http://www.educationadvisoryboard.com/pdf/23634-EAB-Redefining-the-Academic-Library.pdf

Hailed as a seminal report by Current Cites, a monthly annotated bibliography of literature on information technology, this report summarizes the challenges academic libraries face in the digital age, and possible responses they can make. It includes four main sections: 1. Leveraging Digital Collections (The Promise and Perils of Ebooks; Patron-Driven Acquisition; Print-on-Demand); 2. Rethinking the Scholarly Publishing Model (Centralized Licensing Structure; On-Demand Article Access; Open-Access Publishing); 3. Repurposing Library Space (Data-Driven Deselection; Collaborative Collection Management; Building the 21st Century Library); 4. Redeploying Library Staff (Externalizing Low-Impact Activity; Roles in Teaching and Learning; Roles in Research and Scholarship).

New RDA Toolkit release - January 10, 2012

A new release for the RDA Toolkit was issued on January 10, 2012. The new release includes revisions and updates to the Library of Congress Policy Statements (LCPS), revisions and updates to the Help Guide, and improved loading time for chapters. English language text buttons have been replaced by icons in order to accommodate the introduction of non-English RDA text in the future. The next RDA Toolkit release is scheduled for February 14, 2012. The complete announcement, with further details about the January release, is available at: http://www.rdatoolkit.org/content/318.