RDA implementation in Chile: past, present, and future

Abstract

In the year 2010, when the new cataloguing rules “Resources, Description, and Access” (RDA) were announced through the RDA Toolkit launch, in Chilean libraries, especially in the National Library of Chile and in the National Congress of Chile Library, a group of librarians decided to start studying the RDAs, since they had only been published in English. Due to this fact, the "Grupo de Interest RDA Chile (GIRCH)” [Chile Interest Group on RDA] was created, in which librarians from different institutions collaborated. This group began in 2010 the study of this standard, and different trainings were provided, firstly, to understand RDA and the related conceptual models: FRBR, FRAD, and FRSAD, but also, to start with the implementation of these new standards nationwide. Nevertheless, as the years went by, the GIRCH ceased its activities (2013), bringing that the RDA implementation at country level was stagnated, although some interested libraries in applying this standard began to work locally. When RDA Toolkit appeared, some Chilean libraries subscribed to it; however, they continued working isolatedly, without studying the new regulations or the tools as a national group, which lead to a different level of use and application of RDA in every library that decided its implementation. Nevertheless the above mentioned, this document will review the experience developed by the National Congress of Chile Library (BCN), which as of august 2012, generated a project to implement the RDA cataloging model, both in bibliographic records and in authority records. Likewise, the case of the Library System of the University of Concepción, which in 2014 also decided to apply RDA in all its bibliographic records, and a year later in its authority records, will be reviewed. Additionally, other cases in which it has been decided to implement the RDA gradually, in a hybrid way (mix of RCAA2 and RDA), will be approached. Finally, some activities being carried out today in relation to the RDA will be mentioned, as is the case of the training offered by the National Congress of Chile Library to librarians from other institutions of the country, besides the participation in IFLA on the subject of RDA, and future projects related to the training continuation, and the study of the new FRBR-LRM model and the BIBFRAME format.