[DCRM-L] RBMS Policy Statements published in Official RDA Toolkit

[Lauren Reno]

Congrats and appreciation to the current and former members of the editorial group on this huge accomplishment!

Lauren Reno (she/her)
Section Head, Rare Materials Cataloging
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library | Duke University

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Jessie Sherwood via DCRM-L
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 4:30 PM
To: dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu
Cc: Jessie Sherwood <jcsherwood at law.berkeley.edu>
Subject: [DCRM-L] RBMS Policy Statements published in Official RDA Toolkit

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the publication of the RBMS Policy Statements in the Official RDA Toolkit<https://access.rdatoolkit.org/>. The RBMS Policy Statements are maintained by the RBMS RDA Editorial Group, a subgroup of the Bibliographic Standards Committee (BSC)<https://rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/> of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). The statements provide guidance on the description of rare materials typically found in rare book, manuscript, and special collections repositories.


The RBMS Policy Statements are based on Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (DCRMR)<https://bsc.rbms.info/DCRMR/>, an open-source, integrating resource that will be updated over time. DCRMR is an RDA-aligned revision of a suite of manuals published as Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (DCRM)<https://rbms.info/dcrm/>, which cover various formats of rare materials. The current version of DCRMR includes instructions for the description of rare books only. As instructions for additional formats (e.g., rare graphics) are incorporated into DCRMR from the original DCRM suite, the scope of the RBMS Policy Statements will expand accordingly. For information on the application of RDA and the DCRM manuals, consult the BSC's statement on DCRM and RDA<https://rbms.info/dcrm/rda/>.


Most of the RBMS Policy Statements are brief, concise statements that provide guidance on the application of options in the RDA Toolkit. All of the statements include hyperlinked citations to relevant instructions in DCRMR for further information. Although the text of the RBMS Policy Statements is available without a subscription via a landing page in the RDA Toolkit<https://access.rdatoolkit.org/PolicyStatement/Index?externalId=en-US_rbms_landing>, a subscription to the Toolkit is required to view them in context with RDA instructions.


We sincerely thank all current and past members of the RBMS RDA Editorial Group, previous DCRM and policy statement editorial groups, and the Bibliographic Standards Committee, as well as the larger rare materials cataloging community, for their contributions to writing, editing, and reviewing the RBMS Policy Statements. We are grateful for your collegiality, dedication, and good humor.


Best,

RBMS RDA Editorial Group


--
Jessie Sherwood
Associate Librarian
The Robbins Collection and Research Center
University of California Berkeley, School of Law
Tel: 510.643.1236
jcsherwood at law.berkeley.edu<mailto:jcsherwood at law.berkeley.edu>

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