[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] RDA + Evergreen ILS

[Duimovich, George]

A couple of vendors have made promo announcements about ILS intiatives on RDA recently. Nothing too substantive IMHO, but potentially creating some confusion and/or need for reassurance from folks looking at the Evergreen community as well. So I thought I put some notes down following some queries I've had from a couple of colleagues recently about "how Evergreen is going to handle RDA"?

Not speaking for anybody else, but some points to I'd make about RDA + Evergreen ILS include:
 
Caveats:
- Many large library networks and systems have yet to decide on their commitment to RDA; also, in Karen Coyle's New Directions in Metadata [http://tinyurl.com/ybc9r8j] she alludes to reports that all vendors were experiencing a dearth of interest (as yet) in RDA requirements.
- There's still plenty of time for requirements to change and vendors & communities to respond since the test sites won't finish evaluating RDA until the spring of 2011 (9 months for training, using and then assessing RDA). Once test sites are completed, who knows how much additional time is required to "mull over" the results, make any necessary changes, consult library partners and then see whether any 'lead implementers' create a groundswell of interest and movement towards RDA in our local shops.

Functionality:
- I'm not the RDA expert, but it appears that most of the changes apply to cataloguing and data entry practices, not requiring system changes per se. Some of them can be adopted immediately (e.g. like my personal favourite: transcribing all authors, regardless of number etc.) and current Evergreen functionality appears significantly "RDA-ready" in this context.
- I've read that that any MARC changes for RDA won't be very disruptive: furthermore, both Evergreen (and other ILS's) can and do incorporate MARC changes regularly.  I'd be curious to hear from anybody familiar with RDA with any thoughts on what might actually be expected to be disruptive from the system side of things etc.?
- Evergreen's metarecord capability is similar but not the same as FRBR work sets, but demonstrates Evergreen's ability to introduce FRBR-like principles well in advance of other ILS systems.  Independent of the future direction of Evergreen's metarecord capability, you actually DO have the ability to customize, develop or improve upon your own systems MARC to FRBR mapping and other RDA implementation concerns. And Evergreen's API services offer up a kind of "future-proof warranty" unlike any other on the market IMHO. So your library's investment in any new functionality can be put to work pretty quickly with a diverse group of developers and vendors to support any RDA concerns.
- Some Evergreen libraries have already identified RDA as an official requirements area, e.g. see KCLS Requirement 1701 http://tinyurl.com/27s3mfh so community wise, the interest and commitment seems to be there to respond when and if RDA figures more prominently.

Personally, I still see a bit of gridlock in the general library community on RDA so we'll see how things progress with those directly involved in testing & evaluation. But from my surface reading of RDA, I'm feeling pretty good that any necessary changes for RDA can be made pretty responsively by the EG community when / if adoption takes hold.

George Duimovich 
NRCan Library / Bibliothèque de RNCan

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