Rogers' work on the diffusion of innovation can help us understand the adoption of RDA contextually. He also provides a framework for interpreting the pattern of adoption by libraries. Rogers defines diffusion as “the process in which an innovation is communicated … over time among the members of a social system. It is a special type of communication in that the messages are concerned with new ideas.”15 RDA, as an innovation in cataloguing, will be communicated in this way. The adoption of RDA will bring change to the cataloguing community: change to the rules applied in cataloguing and change to the way in which cataloguers work.