Last revised: July 2004
THE DIGITAL WORLD AND THE ONGOING
DEVELOPMENT OF ISBN
US ISBN Agency
RR
Bowker, New Providence, New Jersey, USA
The International Advisory Panel of ISBN Agencies met in October 2000 at the International ISBN Agency Berlin (www.isbn-international.org) to consider proposed updates to the ISBN standard and to the ISBN Users Manual. ISBN International has since presented a request for a standard update to the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 46, Subcommittee 9 (ISO/TC46/SC9: www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9). ISBN International has also established a Manual update committee.
For the latest information regarding the proposed ISBN revision please visit the following:
13-digit ISBN Implementation Guidelines: http://www.isbn-international.org/en/revision.html
ISO FAQ: http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/isbn.htm
NISO FAQ: http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/ISBN.html
BISAC Publishers Guide: http://www.bisg.org
The following represents the US Agency’s position on both the standard update and the manual update.
We will keep our constituency in the United States
informed of these developments and welcome your input on the further development
of these ideas. We would also like to be advised if we have neglected to
entertain any issues pertinent to this endeavor.
ISBN STANDARD UPDATE
ISBN International recommends that the ISBN ISOtc46sc9 standard be updated as follows:
ISBN PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTED & SOLD AS DIGITAL FILES
There will be no proposed change to
the basic guidelines for application of ISBN to digital
files:
1. Format/means of delivery are irrelevant in deciding whether a product requires an ISBN (if the content itself meets the requirement, it gets an ISBN, no matter what the format of the delivery system).
2. Each format of a digital publication represents a new edition and requires a separate ISBN.
The US Agency proposes to follow guidelines contained in the ONIX standard with regard to which formats apply to digital documents.
In January 2007, the ISBN standard will expand the current 10-digit string of numbers to 13. This action is being taken to increase the availability of new numbers and to make the ISBN standard compatible with European standard numbering systems. All ISBNs in the original pool of numbers will be prefaced by the prefix "978" to accomplish this increase in digits. All new ISBNs will be given a prefix "979", allowing the agency to effectively "reuse" the current pool of ISBNs.
The check digit for the 13-digit ISBN will be updated based on the research currently being carried out by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE—an official American National Standards Institute standards development body) for the ISAN standard.
Given the proliferation of the sale and distribution of discrete parts of monographic publications (chapters, etc.), the ISBN standard will allow for the assignment of ISBNs to these subsets when they are put into the supply chain by their publishers.
ISBN International also supports the use of the NISO standard Book Item and Content Identifier (BICI)
when the part of the monograph is not being referenced as an independent monograph.
For further information on the BICI, please see
The publisher, not the distributor of the files or any other entity in the supply chain, is responsible for the management of the ISBN assignment process. It should be noted that when a distributor acquires the appropriate rights it becomes a publisher.
Publishers should use all due care to ensure that distributors or other groups do not acquire ISBNs on their behalf. Only content rights holders have the right to assign ISBNs.
Metadata
The core metadata set to be collected by all ISBN Agencies (or by whatever entity collects metadata for the agencies) for each ISBN assigned will be determined by a committee of the International ISBN Agency (currently being formed).
Once an individual ISBN has been assigned to a book, the publisher should submit detailed information about this product to an ISBN agency (or to whatever entity collects the information for the agency).
A special instance of digital files includes those used for On Demand publishing.
The following are categories of On Demand
publications that have been identified jointly by the Managing Agent of Book And
Serial Industry Communications (BASIC: www.bisg.org) and the US ISBN Agency ( www.isbn.org ):
1.
A
copy of some edition of a title reproduced on demand via rudimentary photocopy,
the text of which is exactly the same as the edition copied, while physical
aspects of the book are different.
2.
A
copy of some edition of a title, reproduced on demand via the new reproduction
technology, by a publisher that has bought On Demand rights to another
publisher’s title.
3.
A
copy produced via the new technology by an organization other than the publisher
on behalf of the publisher (e.g., no rights have changed hands), where the On
Demand edition takes the place in the market of the publisher's printed edition
in the same format (e.g. trade paper to trade paper).
4.
A
copy produced via the new technology by an organization other than the publisher
on behalf of the publisher (e.g., no rights have changed hands), where the On
Demand edition takes the place in the market of the publisher's printed edition
in a different format.
5.
A
copy produced by the publisher.
6.
A
copy produced by a retailer.
Of the above, categories “1”,
“2” and "4" should be given a new ISBN. This ISBN should be applied by the
rights holder of the On Demand edition, who may or may not be the original
publisher.
It is recommended that EDItEUR,
the European book standards group, devise a subset of On Demand metadata as part
of the core ISBN activity currently underway.
As the book metadata standard process proceeds additional specific information will be announced on this web site.
THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD TEXTUAL
WORK CODE
Over the past few years the music and movie industries have been engaged in developing identifiers for "works" - "works" represent all manifestations of a particular intellectual work (e.g., each book rendition, movie, audio book, video, etc of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" would be associated by definition of one ISTC code). These codes have potential uses both in rights management processes and in e-commerce. A similar kind of work code for text creations is currently being developed by the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 46/Subcommittee 9 (ISO tc46/sc9.)
ACTIONABILITY/
RESOLVABILITY
Identifiers such as ISBNs and ISTCs become actionable when utilized in the context of resolver systems such as the Handle System and Open Names Services. The US ISBN Agency is committed to insuring that the identifiers under its stewardship remain compatible with such systems.
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Don
Riseborough