Written at a time of transition in international cataloguing, this book provides cataloguers and students with a background in general cataloguing principles, the code (AACR2) and format (MARC 21) and the new standard (RDA). It provides library managers with an overview of the development of RDA in order to equip them to make the transition.

1. Catalogues and cataloguing standardsRanganathanCutterLubetzkyThe Paris Principles, ISBD, AACR, RDA 2. The FRBRization of the catalogueRelationships at the heart of the catalogueWorks, expressions, manifestations and itemsRelationships to people 3. Bibliographic elements Format firstIdentifying the bibliographic elementsTitle and statement of responsibility Edition areaPublication areaDate of publicationPunctuating the publication, distribution, etc areaPhysical description areaSeries areaNote areaStandard number and terms of availabilityConclusion 4. Access points and headingsWhat are access points and why do we need them?‘Every reader his book’Defining the author Defining the titleAccess points in the modern catalogue Name authority controlHeadings for corporate bodiesTitlesMultipart works and series 5. RDA: resource description and accessTimeline to change ChangesThe development of RDA and its principlesFRBR as the foundation of RDARelationships between entity groups FRBRizing the cataloguePractical cataloguing today 6. AACR and RDAIntroductionTitle proper Statement of responsibility relating to titleMedia typeIllustrative contentCreatorRelated workConclusion 7. MARC 21What is MARC 21?Catalogue format, not cataloguing codeThe structure of a MARC recordMain entries and added entries revisitedPunctuationCommon MARC 21 fieldsThe impact of RDA 8. Practical cataloguing: bringing it all together Key activities for cataloguing managersKey activities for cataloguersKey activities for the beginning cataloguer 9. The birth of RDA and the death of MARC?Testing resource description and access: final recommendations‘MARC must die’ 10. ExamplesSample records for JH Bowman Essential cataloguing. London: Facet Publishing, 2007Sample records for Derek Adams Unconcerned but not indifferent. Colchester: Ninth Arrondissement, 2006Sample records for Pascale Petit The wounded deer. Huddersfield: Smith Doorstop, 2005Sample records for Jasmine Ann Cooray Everything we don’t say. London: Tall Lighthouse, 2009Sample records for Joanna Ezekiel Centuries of skin. Snitterfield: Ragged Raven, 2010Sample records for Henry Charles Moore Noble deeds of the world’s heroines. London: Religious Tract Society, 1903Sample records for W Carew Hazlitt (ed) The essays of Michel de Montaigne. London: George Bell & Sons, 1892 Sample records for David Pearson Provenance research in book history: a handbook. London: British Library, 1998Sample records for John H Ingram The poetical works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, from 1862 to 1844.London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, [18––]Sample records for The Library of Babel, in and out of place, 25 February – 13 June 2010. London: Zabludowicz, 2010