The British Library, Library of Congress, National Library of Australia and Library and Archives Canada will synchronise their practices, in applying the new Resource Description and Access (RDA) classification system. Designed specifically for organising and retrieving library materials in a digitised age, the RDA system replaces the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules.

It is expected the transition process will be put into practice at the close of 2009, during the run up to this period, any training, documentation or national application decisions made will be shared with the other three partner institutions.

The new joint initiative means good news for librarians, cataloguers and researchers; the system’s key features are a big increase of flexibility in cataloguing new media information. Such features of RDA mean that as it’s an online resource, the presentation of information will help cataloguers be far more flexible in their description of digital content, including compatibility with existing online catalogue material.

By utilising the RDA framework, any information added will abide by its own set of independent regulations, meaning that how that data is displayed elsewhere can be different. This ensures that there is flexibility in presenting records in a variety of online platforms. Ultimately, this should mean data generated into the system will be more malleable to up-and-coming database technologies as well as the viewing platform.