I've put together a cheat sheet for cataloguing a book with RDA that hopefully will make it easy for cataloguers (and other people) to follow.
Also, I noticed that the Library of Congress Policy Statements have now been integrated into the RDA Toolkit, although I don't directly use those in the cheat sheet. RDA IN 10 EASY STEPS (for cataloguing a book) 1. Look at the physical book. Record the things that help people identify the book. Generally transcribe statements as found on the book-- title proper, other title information, variant titles, statements of responsibility/edition/publication/series, date of publication, copyright date, ISBN, etc. Make notes related to any of these identifying elements as required. [Ch. 2, with Ch. 1] 2. Look at the physical book again. Record the physical characteristics that would help people in selecting this particular book. Use media type, carrier type, number of pages, dimensions, font size if appropriate, etc. Make notes on any of these characteristics as required. [Ch. 3, with Ch. 1] 3. Consider the book in terms of acquisition and access. Record the things that affect people in obtaining the book. Use price, contact information, restrictions on access, restrictions on use, URL, etc. [Ch. 4, with Ch. 1] 4. Consider the content of the book. Record the things that help people identify the content in the book. Use preferred title [formerly "uniform title"], form of work, date of work, history of the work, content type, language of expression, identifiers, etc. End with the construction of the authorized access point for the work, with the other identifying elements going into new or existing MARC bibliographic or authority fields. Construct variant access points as required. Construct authorized access points for related works, such as series, as required. [Ch. 6, with Ch. 5] NOTE. The authorized access point for a work is often in the form of: authorized access point for person + preferred title. To construct the authorized access point for a person, see Ch. 9. 5. Consider the content of the book again. Record the content characteristics that would help people in selecting this particular book. Use nature of contents, coverage of contents, intended audience, summary of content, illustrative content, details of language used to express contents, supplementary material (index, bibliography), colour content, awards, etc. [Ch. 7, with Ch. 5] 6. Consider the persons, families and corporate bodies associated with the book. Record the things that help people identify a person/family/corporate body. For a person, use name (pick a preferred name and record variant names), dates, title, fuller form of name, gender, country associated with person, place of residence, affiliation, language of the person, field of activity, profession or occupation, biographical information, etc. End with the construction of the authorized access point for the person/family/corporate body, with the other identifying elements going into new or existing MARC authority fields. Construct variant access points as required. [Chs. 8-11] NOTE. The authorized access point for person/family/corporate body will likely be needed as part of the authorized access point for a work in Ch. 6.27-6.31. 7. Show primary relationships between work, expression, manifestation and item in the book. Help people find all resources that embody the particular works and expressions in the book, and all items exemplified by the manifestation. Do this mainly by constructing the composite record as well as by identifiers and authorized access points which together show the works and expressions manifested in the book. A MARC record often cannot provide separately the authorized access point for a work or expression manifested. The core primary relationship of work manifested or expression manifested is implicit in the composite record, with 1XX + (240 or 245 title proper) equivalent to the authorized access point for the work or expression contained in the book. [Ch. 17] 8. Show relationships between work/expression/manifestation/item and persons, families, and corporate bodies. Help people find this book by determining the nature of the relationship to a particular person/family/corporate body, especially who the creator of the work is. Indicate relationships in the book to a person/family/corporate body by using identifiers, authorized access points, designators, and notes as required. [Chs. 18-22] NOTE. A person, family or corporate body is often needed to construct the authorized access point for a work in Ch. 6.27-6.31. 9. Show relationships between work/expression/manifestation/item and other works, expressions, manifestations and items. Help people find and understand works, expressions, manifestations, and items related to the book by determining the nature of the relationships. Indicate relationships by using identifiers, authorized access points, designators, structured or unstructured descriptions, numbering of part, along with source consulted notes (used in authority records) and explanations as required. Use content notes, citation/references notes, cumulative index/finding aid notes, sequential relationship notes, "see also" references in authority records for works or expressions, etc. [Chs. 24-28] 10. Show relationships between person/family/corporate body and other persons, families, and corporate bodies. Help people find and understand persons, families, and corporate bodies related to the person/family/corporate body associated with the book by determining the nature of the relationships. Indicate relationships by using "see also" references for authorized access points, along with identifiers, designators, source consulted notes, cataloguer's notes and explanations as required. [Chs. 29-32] Thomas Brenndorfer Guelph Public Library
