Know & Go: New MARC 21 Authority Format Fields for Encoding RDA Authority Data

Many libraries may be familiar with many of the new fields in MARC 21 Bibliographic introduced because of RDA, many new fields have also been added to the Authority format. While AACR2 provided instructions for constructing headings for persons, corporate bodies and uniform titles, the corresponding chapters in RDA provide instructions for creating authority data in addition to creating access points. This know & go will provide a brief overview of the RDA instructions for authority data and introduce the new MARC 21 Authority fields. We will also discuss the expanded role of RDA authority data in "recording attributes" (read describing) of works and expressions, persons, families and corporate bodies.