Keeping libraries relevant in the Semantic Web with resource description and access (RDA)

Cataloging is not just building a catalog, but about providing users with timely access to information relevant to their needs. The task of identifying resources collected by libraries, archives and museums results in rich metadata that can be reused for many purposes. It involves describing resources and showing their relationships to persons, families, corporate bodies and other resources, thereby enabling users to navigate through surrogates to more quickly get information they need. The metadata constructed throughout the life cycle of a resource is especially valuable to many types of users, from creators of resources to publishers, subscription agents, book vendors, resource aggregators, system vendors, libraries and other cultural institutions, and end users. The new international cataloging code, RDA (resource description and access), is designed to meet fundamental user tasks in a way that produces wellformed, interconnected metadata for the digital environment.