This paper can best be described as a report “from the trenches”. Standards for bibliographical data have changed significantly through unprecedented change processes since the turn of the century; change processes that are ongoing. The new rules and standards were developed through a far reaching dialogue process. A new data model, new cataloguing principles and rules were developed as a response to the then new digital environment. The aim was to provide standards that transcend any specific data format and could be applied globally not only in libraries but in any context where bibliographic data is of relevance. Such adaptability entails that each community that implements these new rules and guidelines has to decide how to correlate them with what has been tradition thus far. Much has been written about the deficiencies and benefits of, for example, RDA. Yet, not only the results of the changes provide crucial insights but equally the continuing processes associated with them. The Austrian Library Network will implement RDA by 2016 and is in the middle of a change process in the form of training the trainers; thus receiving immediate feedback on contradictions and unresolved issues. This paper, in a first section, traces the change processes that brought about new standards. It does not purport to be a concise history but aims at delineating the dynamics of change. The second section focuses on issues and questions that arose from the dialogue process in train the trainer sessions organised by the Austrian Library Network when practitioners responded and questioned the new rules and standards. These issues are reflected in regard to the respective differences in cataloguing rules, standards and traditions.