Canadian Council of Archives

Rules for Archival Description

Rules for Archival Description, along with the general introduction and frontmatter (table of contents, preface, etc.), is available for free download in PDF format. You may download RAD in its entirety or chapter by chapter. Rule revisions approved to date have been incorporated into the chapters.

The whole manual including the appendices may be ordered from the CCA office (see publications order form).

These documents are in PDF format. To read documents in PDF format, you will need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Download RAD (Complete copy)

Download individual chapters of Part I of RAD:
- Front Matter: Table of Contents; Committees and Working Groups; Foreword; Preface (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Statement of Principles (July 2008)
- General Introduction (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 1: General Rules for Description (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 2: Multiple Media Fonds (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 3: Textual Records (Revised Version – August 2001)
- Chapter 4: Graphic Materials (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 5: Cartographic Materials (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 6: Architectural and Technical Drawings (Revised Version – March 2008)
- Chapter 7: Moving Images (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 8: Sound Recordings (Revised Version – March 2008)
- Chapter 9: Records in Electronic Form (Revised Version – March 2008)
- Chapter 10: Records on Microform (Revised Version – August 2001)
- Chapter 11: Objects (December 2002)
- Chapter 12: Philatelic Records (Revised Version – March 2008)
- Chapter 13: Discrete Items (July 2008)

Download individual chapters of Part II of RAD:
- Part II Introduction (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 21: Choice of Access Points (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 22: Headings for Persons (Revised Version – March 2008)
- Chapter 23: Geographical Names (Revised Version – May 2003)
- Chapter 24: Headings for Corporate Bodies (Revised Version – July 2008)
- Chapter 26: References (Revised Version – May 2003)

Download RAD Appendices
- Appendix A: Capitalization (Revised Version – 2001)
- Appendix B: Abbreviations (Revised Version – 1999-2000)
- Appendix C: Numerals (Revised Version – April 2004)
- Appendix D: Glossary (Revised Version – July 2008)

Download the Index (November 2007)