Maxwell’s Handbook for RDA: Explaining and Illustrating RDA: Resource Description and Access Using MARC21, Second Edition

This title will be available Fall 2026. You may place an order and the item will be shipped when it becomes available. For UK or EU purchases, contact Facet Publishing to order. For all other purchases outside the United States, please consult our International Orders page.

ALA Member
$116.99
Price
$129.99
Item Number
978-0-8389-1773-2
Published
2026
Publisher
ALA Editions
Pages
944
Width
7"
Height
10"
Format
Softcover
AP Categories
A
C
I

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  • Description
  • About the author
  • Reviews

Winner of several prestigious honors, including the 2014 ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature, the first edition of this clear and comprehensive handbook has become an essential resource for catalogers, LIS students, and cataloging instructors. Now, in this second edition, Maxwell explains the changes to RDA: Resource Description and Access brought about by 3R, and brings his handbook fully in line with all the new developments. Designed to interpret and explain RDA, this resource illustrates the cataloging standard for every type of information format. From books to electronic materials to music and beyond, Maxwell

  • explains the alignment of the new RDA with the IFLA’s Library Reference Model (LRM), offering value to library and cultural heritage communities;
  • incorporates the changes made to the RDA Toolkit after the completion of the 3R Project that allow for greater personalization and accessibility;
  • addresses the new structural changes to RDA that allow for greater flexibility and reuse;
  • explores the new emphasis on relationships between entities and what it means for RDA users; and
  • provides abundant sample records to illustrate RDA principles.

This up-to-date, guided tour will help users navigate RDA smoothly and find the information they need efficiently.

Robert L. Maxwell

Robert L. Maxwell is a Senior Librarian at the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, where he has chaired the Special Collections and Formats Catalog Department. He is the author of Maxwell’s Handbook for RDA (ALA Editions, 2013), which won the 2014 ABC-CLIO Award for Best Book in Library Literature and the ALCTS 2015 Outstanding Publication Award. He also won the ALA Highsmith Library Literature Award for 2002 for the book Maxwell’s Guide to Authority Work (ALA Editions, 2002) and is the author of a number of other books on cataloging published by the American Library Association. He has taught cataloging at Brigham Young University and the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science and has chaired the Bibliographic Standards Committee of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). He has been a voting member of the ALCTS Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access, the body responsible for developing official ALA positions on additions to and revisions of RDA, and currently is the liaison between that committee and ALA’s Subject Analysis Committee. In addition to an M.L.S. from the University of Arizona, he holds a J.D. from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in classical languages and literatures from the University of Toronto. Maxwell was awarded the 2024 Margaret Mann Citation, sponsored by OCLC and Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures.

Praise for the first edition:

Winner of the 2014 ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature

Winner of the 2015 Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) Outstanding Publication Award

"Both seasoned and new catalogers alike should purchase this source. It is an indispensable resource as the community becomes more immersed in RDA cataloging."
— Technical Services Quarterly

"The text unmistakably shows the hand of an experienced educator who knows what kind of help practicing catalogers will need … RDA would be in a better state if every cataloging department had a copy of this book."
— Technicalities