Rules for Archival Description

The Rules for Archival Description (RAD) is Canada's national standard for organizing and documenting archival materials. Developed by the Bureau of Canadian Archivists and first published in 1990, RAD provides archivists with a systematic framework for creating consistent descriptions of records within archival collections. The standard is currently maintained by the Canadian Committee on Archival Description under the oversight of the Canadian Council of Archives, with the most recent revision completed in 2008.

RAD employs a hierarchical, top-down approach to description that begins with broad overviews of record collections and progresses to increasingly specific detail. The framework designates six descriptive levels, from the fonds as the broadest intellectual unit down to individual items, allowing archivists to represent the context and relationships among records as they were originally created and managed. Descriptions typically include biographical information about record creators, physical extent details, and scope notes explaining collection contents.

As a multi-level metadata standard structured similarly to cataloguing rules like AACR2, RAD establishes required elements such as title, dates, extent, and administrative history alongside optional elements for enhanced description. The standard functions as Canada's primary archival descriptive tool, complementing international standards like ISAD(G) while serving the specific needs of Canadian archival institutions and practitioners.