The Public Library as an (Almost) Open-Source Institution

Resource Description and Access

Even worse, though, is that the rules for cataloging things, how to properly construct records, resolve conflicts, determine what authority to use, and so forth, adopted as Resource Description and Access (RDA, originally the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules), that, you're going to have to pay for. In a subscription.

The ideas underlying that framework, including FRBR – Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records - and FRAD – Functional Requirements for Authority Data - are available for free as published specifications, but the actual RDA itself is going to cost you money.