Changing the Cataloging Rules: Replacing the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR) with the Resource Description and Access (RDA)

Modern library catalogs are not just a simple listing of information sources to show the location of library resources, rather, catalogs are expected to facilitate research for library users. Accordingly, current library catalogs formed based on AACR2 are unable to respond to the user's needs for accessing digital full text resources in the new environments. In order to overcome mismatch problems of AACR with digital and networked environments, the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) decided to develop and publish a new standard named "Resource Description and Access (RDA). This standard is in coordination with AACR and formed two IFLA conceptual models named "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)" and "Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD)". According to decisions of the international community of information organizations for changing cataloging rules, it is necessary to prepare the essential basis for replacing AACR with RDA.