Using the New RDA Toolkit to Catalog Music

Register

A two-part webinar series taking place Wednesday, April 1 and Thursday, April 2, 2026, starting at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific each session. The sessions will both last 90 minutes.

Description

This two-part webinar will cover the MLA Best Practices for Cataloging using RDA and MARC21 in the new RDA Toolkit. The first session will explore how the MLA Best Practices and other guidance documentation interact with the new Toolkit. It will explain how to navigate and interpret the Best Practices, how they interact with LC-PCC PS, and how to use both in conjunction with the RDA instructions. The second webinar provides practical application examples of using the new Toolkit, Best Practices, and associated documentation to catalog scores and audio recordings.

Please note that this webinar can also be purchased as a part of the Fundamentals of Music Cataloging eLearning Bundle.

Learning Objectives

After this event, participants will be able to:

  • Navigate and interpret the MLA Best Practices in the new RDA Toolkit
  • Understand how the Best Practices interact with LC-PCC PS and where they differ
  • Use additional tools to quickly evaluate which RDA elements to include in a bibliographic record
  • Know where to look for supplemental guidance on music cataloging
  • Apply instructions in the new Toolkit to the cataloging of notated and recorded music

About the Presenter

Keith Knop is the head of the music cataloging section of the University of Georgia Libraries and incoming chair the MLA’s Cataloging and Metadata Committee. From 2020-2024 he was chair of the MLA Content Standards Subcommittee, which oversaw the migration of the MLA Best Practices into the new RDA Toolkit. He has previously taught workshops on cataloging audio and video materials and has taught a course in music cataloging for the University at Buffalo once every two years since 2019. Prior to coming to UGA, he was associate music cataloger at Florida State University's Warren D. Allen Music Library for ten years. In addition to an MLIS, he holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State.

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and registrants will receive access to the recording within a day after the event ends.

If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.

Register