This special issue offers a wide overview on RDA, Resource Description and Access, from their making to their spreading around the world. Two authors devoted to the reconstruction of the events and factors involved in the change and innovation are written by two among the most important witnesses: Barbara B. Tillett and Tom Delsey. RDA is an ongoing text. During its development, it has aroused great interest and discussions and solicited many studies and insights. For this reason, a paper on the relationship among ISBD and RDA is offered by Elena Escolano Rodríguez, former chair of ISBD Review Group of IFLA; a contribution on RDA as a content standard by Carlo Bianchini and Mauro Guerrini, and three articles on critical positions of RDA, by Michael Gorman, the editor of AACR; by Alberto Petrucciani, the editor of REICAT – Regole italiane di catalogazione – the current Italian cataloguing rules; and, about the consultation of the Toolkit, by Agnese Galeffi and Lucia Sardo. The reader will find a wide range of different points of view by many communities represented at high level: Susan R. Morris and Beacher Wiggins for the Library of Congress; Françoise Leresche and Vincent Boulet for France; Christian Aliverti, Renate Behrens, Verena Schaffner for Switzerland, Germany, and; Simonetta Buttò for Italy. The paper by Judy Kuhagen shows how the dissemination of RDA requires a huge amount of translation work. Increasing relevance of RDA on the global stage requires deep changes in its governance. Gordon Dunsire, chair of RDA Steering Committee (RSC), carefully describes this process. Last, but not least, an essential point for RDA is its openness to other communities. So it was indispensable to include the paper of an archivist – Federico Valacchi – representing the Italian debate on RDA and its implementation in this special area.