In April 2017, additions and change proposals to the current RDA Toolkit from constituents such as the AALL cataloging community were placed on moratorium. This also included any policy statements from the Library of Congress and the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). The current version of the RDA Toolkit was frozen (permanently) in favor of the RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign (3R) Project, the goals of which include aligning RDA with the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM).
Details of the Project to Date:
As of the publication of this edition, catalogers are still poised between the RDA Toolkit as it now stands and RDA3R, a new interface that includes new concepts, redefined terminology, and a number of options for describing a bibliographic resource. As of the date of this edition’s publication, these are the details known so far:
Because the text of the redesigned Toolkit is considered “stable,” CLL5 is a major revision that incorporates the relevant concepts and terms introduced by the 3R Project. There are specific introductory sections in several chapters that address RDA3R, and whenever possible, the authors discuss new terminology in the context of the old. Most of the cataloging examples, especially for ongoing (diachronic) works, have been updated or replaced. (MARC tagging is still used in these examples as the authors anticipate it will remain for some time.)
The authors decided to retain the specific RDA instruction numbers in the current text for historical purposes, and also because they will still be relevant for some time. Hyperlinks in the online version will gradually be replaced with citation numbers to the RDA Beta Toolkit.
With a few exceptions (all noted in CLL5 when applicable), the practical approaches for the cataloging of legal literature as described in this work have remained the same, despite changes in the RDA Toolkit.
For the purposes of this edition, the authors have incorporated as relevant:
In addition to covering the development of RDA, CLL5 also includes the topics covered in Technical Services Law Librarian through Volume 44, no. 4 (June 2019), and relevant LC and PCC documentation through July 2019.
Given the nature of the current cataloging climate, especially as members of the field await the official restructured RDA Toolkit, the authors and HeinOnline have enhanced the publication format to allow for frequent and timely updates. For this new edition, Hein developers have made it possible for the authors to directly edit CLL5 online, and these updates can appear almost immediately in the public interface. While there is also a print version available, users of CLL5 should check regular release notes in the online version to stay aware of new and revised content, particularly in regard to RDA and the revised RDA Toolkit.