Dear MIG colleagues,
The North America RDA Committee (NARDAC) has requested comments on drafts of two RDA revision proposals that it plans to submit, both attached to this post. Please send me your comments by end of day on 8 April so that I can forward them to NARDAC.
- RSC/NARDAC/2025/2, Inconsistency in the transcribed manifestation elements related to source of information: This proposal seeks to make instructions relating to transcribed elements which describe manifestations clearer and more consistent. As such, this proposal is fairly broad ranging but does not involve any major changes to RDA itself. The most sweeping change in the proposal is the addition of a condition option to relevant manifestation elements (i.e. those that may be transcribed from a source of information) that points to the relevant RDA guidance chapter section that contains guidance on choosing a source of information for transcribing the element value. This has been a known issue with the text of Official RDA, and this change would likely make it easier for catalogers to find this important guidance. The second change outlined in the proposal involves making the instructions on some manifestation elements more consistent, so that a condition option is present which allows catalogers to use a source of information outside the manifestation itself where applicable. This condition option is not always present where it could be applied, for a couple of reasons, but adding it would make the instructions more user-friendly for catalogers.
- RSC/NARDAC/2025/3, Revision of two sets of condition and condition options for Corporate Body: variant access point for corporate body: This proposal is more technical in nature, and chiefly advocates for restructuring the order of instructions for the element Corporate Body: variant access point for corporate body, along with some fairly moderate edits to the text of the affected instructions. The authors contend that the instructions in question, which are currently listed under "Additional elements and designations in variant access points for corporate body," would be better accommodated under "Format of base variant access points for corporate body," as they concern the base of the variant access point. The proposed restructuring would also bring the instructions for corporate body variant access points in line with the instructions for person variant access points.
In general, I support both of the proposals. I might, however, add a comment regarding RSC/NARDAC/2025/3 to the effect that recommendation 2 should retain both of the original condition options, rather than deleting one of them. I think that keeping both options would be more in the spirit of supporting practices of different international communities, rather than preferring the practices of the Anglo-American community.
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Timothy Ryan Mendenhall (he/him)
Metadata Librarian, Columbia University
CORE Metadata Interest Group Liaison to CC:DA
trm2151@columbia.edu------------------------------