# RE: Adding ISSNs

Rebecca Guenther (rgue@seq1.loc.gov)
Fri, 22 Oct 93 16:08:25 -0400

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    Date: Fri, 22 Oct 93 16:08:25 -0400

    From: rgue@seq1.loc.gov (Rebecca Guenther)

    Message-Id: <9310222008.AA29094@seq1.loc.gov>

    To: uri@bunyip.com, wweems@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu

    Subject: RE: Adding ISSNs

The following was written by Regina Reynolds, Head, National
Serials Data Program, Library of Congress:

Although I am not a member of the list, recent messages have been
forwarded to me requesting input from librarians about ISSNs and
URNs. As head of the U.S. ISSN center, (NSDP, the National
Serials Data Program at the Library of Congress) I want to
indicate my interest and that of others in our office about this
potential use of the ISSN.

Let me first provide some information about the ISSN, especially
how it is issued and used, and how it differs from the ISBN. The
ISSN has no publisher prefix, as does the ISBN. The ISSN's
digits contain no intelligence, as do those of the ISBN, other
than the fact that the eighth digit is a check digit. ISSN are
assigned by designated centers (often part of a national library)
in some 55 countries throughout the world. ISSN for countries
which have no centers are assigned by the ISSN International
Centre located in Paris. So, the publisher does not assign ISSN
at all. The ISSN centers, following procedures in the _ISDS
Manual_ determine what serials qualify for an ISSN and how many
ISSN are needed.

The question of "sameness" is one that the directors of ISSN
centers have been grappling with for some time. We will take up
the subject once again next week at our annual directors meeting.
At that meeting I will try to communicate some of the issues raised
in the messages that were forwarded to me. Up to a year ago,
serials in different formats but with the same title and same
intellectual content were assigned the same ISSN. As of
approximately last October, serials in different formats began to
be assigned different ISSN, unless they were considered to be
"reproductions," such as a library might make for preservation
purposes, or, by extension such as a supplier like University
Microfilms might provide. So, current practice is that serials
*with exactly the same titles* but in different formats, such as
print and electronic versions, would be assigned separate ISSNs.
The question of whether ASCII vs Postscript versions of an
electronic serial get different ISSN has not been resolved
internationally yet but NSDP has not been assigning separate ISSN
in this cases.
Bill Weems and I talked yesterday and kicked around some possible
solutions to the linking problem different ISSNs for different
formats might pose. A thought I've had is that the print ISSN
could be used as a sort of "master" ISSN and that the specific
ISSN assigned to different formats could be used in other
contexts such as ordering or claiming from agents.

Answers to a few other questions I saw raised: the ISSN only
changes if the title changes. It does not change if the
publisher or country of publication changes. We do assign ISSN
to ceased serials, upon request. Also NISO standard Z39.56 does
provide for adding coded issue and article-specific information
to the ISSN to produce a SICI (Serial Item and Contribution
Identifier).

I hope this information is helpful. Since I am not on the list,
please reply directly to me, noting that I will be away from my
office from Oct. 25 - 29.

Regina R. Reynolds
Head, National Serials Data Program
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 20540
(202) 707-6379
rrey@seq1.loc.gov

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