Dear Colleagues,
In accordance with ISO policy, an ISO ballot concerning the 5-year review of the ISSN standard, ISO 3297, is open. Jill Emery has requested input to the ALA vote by this Monday, August 29. The voting period ends on September 9. The U.S. ISSN Center and the Library of Congress support opening the standard for revision. The standard was last revised in 2007. The digital world in which the ISSN has become increasingly important has changed dramatically since 2007 and the ISSN standard should be updated to enable it to play a key identification role in the emerging linked data environment. We encourage libraries, publishers, vendors, and other ISSN users to support opening this revision.
The ISSN International Centre provided the following information about the revision:
• The ISSN International Centre is the Registration Authority for ISO 3297.
• ISO 3297 was first published in 1975 and last revised in 2007.
• In 2010-2011, the standard came under systematic revision and was confirmed.
• On April 2016, a five-month ballot on systematic revision was launched.
The ISSN International Centre considers that a revision of ISO 3297 is now justified for the
reasons detailed below:
Defining what “editions” represent in the digital world: The ISSN standard states that
“different ISSN and key titles shall be assigned to the different editions”. It may be
useful to define further what to consider a “different edition” in the context of digital
publishing.
Revising the list of mandatory and facultative [optional depending on the context]
ISSN metadata: Consistency should be ensured with other bibliographic standards.
Granularity of ISSN assignment: An ISSN currently identifies a unique title on a specific
medium, while the ISSN-L identifies a unique title whatever the medium may be. The
creation of a “meta-ISSN” identifying a same title through history and whatever the
title changes may be or the possibility to use the ISSN in the identification of subparts
of a serial, e.g. issues, could be further investigated.
Use of ISSN and ISSN-L with other identification and linking systems: The relationships
between ISSN and other identifiers or the use of ISSN in the linked data environment
may come under consideration.
The ISSN International Centre hopes that national member bodies will vote for
revision/amend in the Systematic Review ballot and include possible issues for consideration in any revision that would follow.
Regina Romano Reynolds
Director, U.S. ISSN Center
Head, ISSN Section
Library of Congress
Washington, DC
(202) 707-6379 (voice)
(202) 707-6333 (fax)