IS YOUR COPY OF RAD UP TO DATE?

The Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards has completed its task, and the ten-year process of writing and revising Rules for Archival Description (RAD) is now complete. Or is it? The PCDS has been succeeded by the Canadian Committee on Archival Description (CCAD), which has announced that chapters 3 and 4 of RAD will be revised in the fall of 1997 to include instructions on describing textual records and graphic materials in electronic form and on microform.

Because of the expense of production, and the likelihood of further revisions, a bound edition of RAD will probably not be produced for several years. Meanwhile, presenters of RAD workshops have observed that many archivists are using incomplete or outdated looseleaf editions. To help determine whether you need to update your copy, the following checklist, based on one compiled by Rosaleen Hill of the Archives Association of B.C., indicates the titles of the various parts, the page numbers, and how to determine whether you have the revised version.

Title	Page numbers	Revision notes
Contents	v to ix	indicates revised on lower left
Foreword, Preface	ix to xvii	not revised
General Introduction, Introduction	0-1 to 0-9	not revised
Chapter 1 - General Rules for Description	1-1 to 1-64	revised version has rules 1.0A2 on page 1-3
Chapter 2 - Multiple Media Fonds	1 unnumbered page	indicates revised on lower left
Chapter 3 - Textual records	3-1 to 3-30	not revised
Chapter 4 - Graphic Materials	4-1 to 4-40	not revised
Chapters 5 through 10	various pagings	none revised
Chapter 21 - Choice of Access Points	21-1 to 21-9	indicates revised on lower left
Chapter 22 - Headings for Persons	22-1 to 22-69	indicates revised on pages 22-68 & 22-69
Chapters 23, 24 & 26	various pagings	none revised
Appendices A through E	various pagings	none revised

If you have already received earlier parts of RAD, you are probably entitled to receive the updates for free. To request missing bits, write to:

Canadian Council of Archives
344 Wellington Street, Room 1009
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N3

or call 613-995-0210, ask for Lucy.

The cost of a complete RAD is $30.00.