RDA in China

Kai Li“RDA Worldwide”, ALAMS 12

Anaheim, CaliforniaJune 24th, 2012

Questions

• How the Chinese cataloging community perceives RDA?

• What factors will influence the decision whether or not RDA will be implemented in China, and how?

• And, WILL RDA BE USED IN CHINA?

Methods

• Survey• Interviews

Survey: How Chinese librarians perceive RDA?

• The design of this survey is largely based on the one conducted in 2010 (?) by Elaine Sanchez.

• Online survey in a Chinese survey platform “Wenjuanxing” (问卷星 ).

• Date: Feb. 28- Mar. 30, 2012• 180 valid responses were received.

1 2 3 4 5

How the participants rank their knowledge of RDA?

44 57 53 22 4

How the participants rank their knowledge of the differences between RDA and AACR2

52 56 39 25 8

5

15

25

35

45

55

Participants’ general knowledge of RDA

N=180; 1 being the least famil-iar, 5 being the most familiar

Outline of the topics in this presentation

• Fragmented landscape of cataloging in China• Translation of RDA into Chinese• Localization: RDA and Chinese cataloging• RDA and the semantic web• RDA and ILS in China

Fragmented landscape of Chinese cataloging community

Different language/transcript materials are treated separately

Chinese materials Western-language materials

Cataloging rules:

Chinese Cataloging Rules

AACR2 or Descriptive Cataloguing Rules for Western Language Materials.

Format: CNMARC MARC 21

Headings: In Chinese In English or other western languages

Shelving: Materials in different languages are shelved separately in most of Chinese libraries.

Cataloging staff:

Catalogers in different groups have little communications.

NLC vs. CALIS

• As the two leading bibliographic institutions in China, cataloging policies of National Library of China and CALIS are inconsistent in many ways.

AACR2 vs. Descriptive Cataloguing Rules for Western Language Materials

• Descriptive Cataloguing Rules for Western Language Materials was developed for the community to catalog western materials.

• 1st ed., 1985; Rev. ed., 2003. • “There will be certain difficulties of using

international standard [AACR2] directly, especially in terms of how to describe Chinese personal and corporate names.”

• The translation of RDA into Chinese started in May, 2012.

• Based on a print version.• Further works to be done: RDA Toolkit,

registered vocabularies…

Translation

Used Known None above

Have you ever used or known RDA Toolkit?

17 46 116

1030507090

110130

Have the participants ever used or known RDA Toolkit?

N=179

Have sub-

scribed RDA

Toolkit

Will sub-scribe RDA

Toolkit

Will not subscribe

RDA Toolkit

Have bought

the print version of

RDA

Will buy the print

version of RDA

Will not buy the

print ver-sion of

RDA

Unknown

Have the partic-ipants' insti-tu-tions bought RDA?

3 19 34 5 14 28 115

1030507090

110130

Have the participants' institutions acquired RDA?

N=180

RDA and Chinese cataloging practices

Authorized Access Point

• The concept of main entry / authrized access point is the major obstacle of RDA’s implementation in China in terms of the cataloging practice, since this concept doesn’t exist in the Chinese cataloging system.

RDA and the Chinese MARC format

• The community is concerned about when UNIMARC will be updated according with RDA. Only after that, can CNMARC be adapted to the new cataloging rules.

RDA and the semantic web

RDA and the semantic web

• Linked data is being paid attention to by a small, yet active group of librarians in China.

• This community is generally excited about RDA for its potential to link library data to a bigger world, however, much more top-down efforts should be invested in this area.

1 2 3 4 5

How the participants rank their knowledge of the semantic web?

44 72 35 23 5

How the participants rank their knowledge of FRBR model?

50 51 37 32 10

5

25

45

65

The participants’ knowledge of SW

N=179 & 180

• Local ILS products are still dominant in the market, and will be a potential problem for RDA’s implementation in China, given the low level of awareness of RDA in the whole community.

RDA and ILS landscape in China

Other factors?

RDA’s future in China?

Scenarios

• #1 RDA be used uniformly in both Chinese cataloging and Western cataloging communities;

• #2 RDA be used in Western cataloging, while another parallel standard be developed and used in Chinese cataloging;

• #3 Localized standards (based on FRBR and ICP) be developed and used in both Chinese cataloging and Western cataloging community;

• #4 No efforts be done in this area (at least in a short time).

Thanks!

islanderee@gmail.comwww.facebook.com/kai.lee.nalsi

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