A Study on the Applicability of the Resource Description and Access (RDA) in Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament

This study investigated the applicability of the Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard in the Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament.Methodology/Approach: This study was a descriptive survey which employed an evaluation checklist to collect the data. The sample for the study included 156 elements of the listing worksheet of historical documents of the Document Center of Iran Parliament. It was established that only 56 of the descriptive elements included in the worksheet were based on the expert's views. The data of the study was analyzed using descriptive statistics. There was 22.1 % correspondence between the listing worksheet and the elements of Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard. In other words, only 27 elements of the worksheet correspond to the 122 elements of the RDA standard. The findings of the study showed that the listing worksheet of the Document Center of Iran Parliament attends to analytic and systemic elements, but descriptive elements are less attended to. Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard is more applicable for the descriptive listing of archival sources. It is suggested that the document center of Iran parliament include the proposed 49 elements which are based on the core elements of RDA standard in their worksheet to improve the description and organization of their databases.