Keri Cascio Joining RDA Board
Effective immediately, Keri Cascio will represent the American Library Association (ALA) on the Board of Directors for Resource, Description and Access (RDA), a unified cataloging standard designed for the global, digital world and metadata users in many environments.
Keri Cascio is the executive director of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) , a division of the American Library Association. ALCTS continues to play a significant role in standards development through its Cataloging and Metadata Management Section, including the Cataloging: Description and Access committee and other key stakeholder groups. Keri Cascio has been executive director since January 2015. Prior to joining ALA, she was Director of Innovative Technologies and Library Resource Management at the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology in Kansas City (MO). She also held positions at the St. Charles City-County Library District (St. Peters, MO), the Missouri Library Network (St. Louis), the St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis County Library, Data Research Associations (DRA) and Sirsi Corporation.
RDA: Resource, Description and Access initially grew from AACR and AACR2 (the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules). Re-envisioned and redesigned in the 21st century as the global standard enabling discovery of content, RDA is designed for international use and is primarily but not exclusively accessed through the digital RDA Toolkit. RDA is now available in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, with another two translation agreements in place.
Copyright to the standard, since its inception, is held jointly by three national associations: The American Library Association (ALA), the Canadian Federation of Library Associations / Fédération Canadienne des associations de bibliothèques (CFLA/FCAB), the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). These three associations have permanent seats on the RDA Board of Directors. Other Association representatives on the Board include Christine Oliver (CFLA/FCAB) and Simon Berney-Edwards (CILIP).
Institutional representatives on the RDA Board include Ulrike Junger (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Germany), representing Europe; Angela Quiroz Ubierna (Library of National Congress, Chile), representing Latin American and the Caribbean; Beacher Wiggins (Library of Congress, U.S.A.), representing North America; and, Amelia McKenzie (National Library of Australia, Australia), representing Oceania. Institutional representatives are nominated by national institutions which have implemented RDA. One representative is selected from each region. Two additional individuals are remaining to aid in the transition to the new governing structure: Neil Wilson (British Library) and Diane Beattie (Library and Archives Canada). National Institutions that have implemented RDA in the African or Asian regions have been strongly encouraged to consider applying to the RDA Board of Directors. The Board is currently chaired by Simon Berney-Edwards (CILIP).
The RDA Board of Directors has final responsibility for policies and programs relating to RDA rules, the publication/dissemination of RDA and other aspects of the agreement between the three associations. The RDA Board is also responsible for subordinate groups such as the RDA Steering Committee (RSC). The Board works closely with ALA Publishing (the RDA Toolkit) and with the trustees of the RDA Fund.