RDA future directions and how to keep up

Authors

Keywords:

RDA, RSC, RDA Steering Committee

Abstract

In this article, the Chair Elect of the RDA Steering Committee shares his views on the future of the standard under his chairmanship, which begins in January 2027, and the RSC Secretary provides information on how to keep up with what is happening and get involved.

Author Biographies

  • Robert L. Maxwell, RDA Steering Committee

    Robert L. Maxwell is Chair Elect of the RDA Steering Committee and will take up the post of RSC Chair in January 2027. He is a long-standing member of staff at Brigham Young University. His publications include Maxwell's Handbook for RDA and he is the recipient of several awards, including the ALA's Margaret Mann Citation. 

  • Anne Welsh, RDA Steering Committee

    Anne Welsh is the Secretary of the RDA Steering Committee. She is active in UK cataloguing as Honorary Secretary of the Metadata and Discovery Group (MDG) and a co-opted member of the UK Committee on RDA. After several years as a co-opted member of the BIC Library Metadata Group, she is currently its Liaison to the MDG.

References

Alemu, G. (2026) 'Making RDA truly global: advancing engagement, adoption and implementation in African library communities', Catalogue & Index 215, pp. 6-14. Available at: https://journals.cilip.org.uk/catalogue-and-index/article/view/949 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Behrens, R (2025) RSC/Operations/1/2025 - Policies and Procedures for RSC Operations. RDA Steering Committee. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11213/22840 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Behrens, R. and J. Hennelly (2026) 'RDA and the RDA Toolkit', Catalogue & Index 215, pp. 63-69. Available at: https://journals.cilip.org.uk/catalogue-and-index/article/view/959 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Cohen, A. and C. Chou (2026) 'Intelligence, artificial and otherwise: governance, standards, and the Joint RDA Board / RSC Working Group on Artificial Intelligence', Catalogue & Index 215, pp. 56-62. Available at: https://journals.cilip.org.uk/catalogue-and-index/article/view/962 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Cohen, A. et al. (2024) 'Survey for AI in Cataloguing Open for Contributions', in RDA News, 29 May. Available at: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/news/rsc/AIsurvey_2024_May [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Cohen, A. et al. (2025) RSC/Papers/2025/1 - Considering AI in the growth of RDA. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11213/22898 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Board (2023) RDA Strategic Plan 2023-2025. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/11213/20993 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Board (2026a) Board Members. Available at https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rdaboard/board-members [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Board (2026b) RDA Strategic Plan. Available at: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rdaboard/strategicplan [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Board (2026c) RDA Strategic Plan, 2026-2028. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11213/24442 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Steering Committee (2026a) RSC/Chair/2026/2 - RSC Action Plan 2026-2028. RDA Steering Committee. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11213/23922 [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Steering Committee (2026b) Chair Documents. Available at: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rsc/chair-documents [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

RDA Steering Committee (2026c) RSC Members. Available at: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/rsc/rsc-members [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

Welsh, A. (2025) 'A Warm Welcome to Our New Latin America and the Caribbean Representative', in RDA News, 14 July. Available at: https://www.rdatoolkit.org/news/rsc/welcomefelipe [Accessed: 20 June 2026]

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Published

2026-06-23

Issue

Vol. 215 (2026)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Robert L. Maxwell, Anne Welsh

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.