Serials identification and the electronic environment

F. Pellé, ISSN IC

Cairo, October 2001

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ISSN : International Standard Serial Number

• An identification system for serial publications

…..today « continuing resources »

• An international network– 73 member countries– 1 regional Centre for South-East Asia– the International Centre

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The identification system

• An international standard : ISO 3297• The ISSN number : a unique « dumb » number

– structure : 9999-999X• 9 = digits (0 to 9)• X = control digit (0 to 9 and X)

– Example : 1050-124X• linked to the identification data

– titles (title proper, key title, etc…), bibliographic address, publishing date(s), etc….

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• Uniqueness

– An ISSN is assigned to only one publication– a publication is identified by one (and only one)

ISSN

• Persistence

– Once assigned, an ISSN is never re-assigned – All assigned ISSN are registered : ISSN

Register ( 1,022,388 records on 1/10/2001)

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What is the ISSN for ?

• Unique and reliable identification of an object

• Identification shared by all actors interested in this object

– dealing with the right object

– processing the right object

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The ISSN is used :

• By the information producers and distributors – publishers, press distributors, postal

services, subscription agents,...– Often through bar-codes (EAN, UCC)

• by the actors of the information chain– data base producers, libraries, union

catalogues,...

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The ISSN is used :

• By other identification systems (articles : SICI)

• On the Internet, as a persistent identifier

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Changes in publishing practices

• Relatively few publications will move completely electronic

• Complex relationhips between print and electronic editions

• Dominant model : Web site, continuously/regularly updated

• Serial in the electronic world : more than an object

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Evolution of the concepts

• Seriality : the core concept

• Form of issuance– successive parts– integrating

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AACR Type of Publication Model

M o no g ra p hs

C o m p le te

M u lt ip a rtsS u pp lem en tedm o no g ra p hs

S u ccess ive ly is su ed

R e v ise d e -te x tsS o m e loo se-le a f

In teg ra ting

In com ple te

F in ite

S e ria ls(in c l. se riesa n d e -jo u rn a ls)

S u ccess ive ly is su ed

M o s t lose -le a fD a ta b asesW e b s ites

In teg ra ting

C o n tin u ing

B ib lio g ra p h ic re sou rces

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Definitions

- Bibliographic resource : a manifestation of a work that forms the basis for bibliographic description. A bibliographic resource may be in any medium or combination of media and may be tangible or intangible.

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Definitions (2)

- Continuing resource : a bibliographic resource that is issued over time with no predetermined conclusion. Continuing resources include serials and ongoing integrating resources.

- Integrating resource : a bibliographic resource that is added to or changed by means of updates that do not remain discrete and are integrated into the whole. Examples of integrating resources include updating loose-leafs and updating Web sites.

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Definitions (3)

– Serial : a continuing resource issued in a succession of discrete parts, usually bearing numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion. Examples of serials include journals, magazines, electronic journals, continuing directories, annual reports, newspapers and monographic series.

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ISSN Strategic Plan

• New scope– from serials to continuing resources

• serials (whatever the medium) : exhaustivity

• integrating resources : selectivity

• New functions– from identification to access– ISSN : a piece of the information infrastructure

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Harmonization : ISBD, AACR and ISSN

• Revision of the cataloguing codes

• Main aim : re-use of existing records

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The ISST project

• International Standard Serial Title

• IFLA ISBD (CR) WG

• Objective : to increase record sharing and bibliographic control

• By unifying the purposes of the key title and uniform title

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The ISST project (2)

• Title proper + qualifier (when needed)

• Would accompany the ISSN number

• Provisional form created by all cataloguers (not only ISSN NCs)

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The ISST project : challenges

• Data flows

• Access to the whole set of ISSTs

• Corporate bodies

• Etc…

• Work in progress

End of the 1rst part of the presentation

URN / ISSN PROJECT

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Persistent identification on the Internet

• Problem : – longevity of links broken links

• Solution : – Uniform Resource Name (URN) : framework

defined by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/urn-charter.html

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Uniform Resource Name

• persistent identifier for a resource

• independent of information such as protocol, host, port, etc.

• mapped to a set of URLs, that are the current locations of the resource

• divided into "namespaces" (collections of identifiers related through some relationship, e.g. NBN, ISBN, SICI, ISSN,...)

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The ISSN system

• provides persistent identifiers for continuing resources

• is independent of information such as protocol etc.

• maps identifiers to URLs

• is a "Name Space"

=> ISSN, a URN Name Space Identifier (NID)

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To retrieve the serial entitled«Annual report - Unesco Cairo Office (Online)»(ISSN 1564-2348)

instead of typing in the browser command line

http://unesco-cairo.org/Publications/news.htm

type

urn:issn:1564-2348

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Plug in freely available :

http://www.issn.org/urn/

for Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Explorer

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Other persistent naming systems / projects

• Basic principle

– huge amount of information to be identified

– not manageable by only one system co-operation

• Other URN-NIDs (ISBN, NBN, SICI) :

– no technical problem

– SICI : being experimented (DIEPER Project)– Others : to be discussed and established

• DOI and other projects : under discussion

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THANK YOU

http://www.issn.org

issnic@issn.org