The information environment is complex. And, as a result, the cataloguing rules that guide the
description of resources found in this environment are equally complex. This is nothing new. The
library profession has lived with this situation for years, successfully applying the Anglo-American
Cataloguing Rules (AACR2) and meeting the challenges necessary to describe and provide access to
information resources. Since its implementation in 1981, AACR2 has been evolving, adapting and
reacting to the changes in the information environment. However, by relying on a format-based
approach to resource description that emphasizes the description of a physical item,2 AACR2 reveals
deep roots, firmly planted in an information environment based on print resources. In a digital world,
where the physical object has lost its primacy, an approach that can quickly capture descriptive
information for any resource in the information environment becomes necessary.3 That new approach
is RDA: Resource Description and Access.4 This paper will look briefly at the origins of RDA,
provide a high level overview of RDA, and then discuss some of the major differences cataloguers and
library users can expect to find between RDA and AACR2.
The information environment is complex. And, as a result, the cataloguing rules that guide thedescription of resources found in this environment are equally complex. This is nothing new. Thelibrary profession has lived with this situation for years, successfully applying the Anglo-AmericanCataloguing Rules (AACR2) and meeting the challenges necessary to describe and provide access toinformation resources. Since its implementation in 1981, AACR2 has been evolving, adapting andreacting to the changes in the information environment. However, by relying on a format-basedapproach to resource description that emphasizes the description of a physical item,2 AACR2 revealsdeep roots, firmly planted in an information environment based on print resources. In a digital world,where the physical object has lost its primacy, an approach that can quickly capture descriptiveinformation for any resource in the information environment becomes necessary.3 That new approachis RDA: Resource Description and Access.4 This paper will look briefly at the origins of RDA,provide a high level overview of RDA, and then discuss some of the major differences cataloguers andlibrary users can expect to find between RDA and AACR2.
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