Making RDA truly global: advancing engagement, adoption and implementation in African library communities

RDA is an international metadata standard providing structured entities, elements and guidance for creating interoperable, user-focused resource descriptions aligned with linked data models (ALA Digital Reference, 2019-); however, adoption remains uneven, as many African libraries continue to rely on AACR2 or hybrid practices due to resource limitations, infrastructure challenges, limited training and reduced participation in standards governance (Aboyade and Eluwole, 2018; Ahonsi, 2014; Xaba and Shongwe, 2025; Yeboah, Onyancha and Mhlongo, 2023). This article draws on three sources of evidence: a review of African empirical studies on RDA adoption, analysis of the 2026 African RDA Engagement Survey (109 respondents from 16 countries) conducted by the author as Wider Community Engagement Officer (WCEO) and field observations from professional engagement and a hybrid metadata workshop held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa Library in Addis Ababa on February 12th 2026, providing qualitative insight into conceptual understanding and cataloguing practice in contexts with limited access to the RDA Toolkit. Survey findings show that 33.3% of institutions report using RDA, only 11.2% have subscription access to the Official RDA Toolkit, and 75% of self-reported RDA users lack Toolkit access. Despite these constraints, 82.6% of respondents express willingness to coordinate national or regional engagement. With the Original Toolkit retiring in 2027, targeted intervention is urgent. The paper positions the WCEO as an operational mediator between global governance and local implementation, aligning modular training, Train-the-Trainer pathways, viable Toolkit access models, and structured representation in RSC processes to support equitable and sustainable RDA adoption