RFC 3187 (rfc3187) - Page 2 of 11

Using International Standard Book Numbers as Uniform Resource Names

RFC 3187                  Using ISBNs as URNs               October 2001


   The document at hand is part of a global joint venture of the
   national libraries to foster identification of electronic documents
   in general and utilisation of URNs in particular.  The document was
   written as a co-operative project between the Helsinki University
   Library and The International ISBN Agency.

   We have used the URN Namespace Identifier "ISBN" for ISBNs in
   examples below.

2. Identification vs. Resolution

   As a rule the ISBNs identify finite, manageably-sized objects, but
   these objects may still be large enough that resolution into a
   hierarchical system is appropriate.

   The materials identified by an ISBN may exist only in printed or
   other physical form, not electronically.  The best that a resolver
   will be able to offer in this case is bibliographic data from a
   national bibliography database, including information about where the
   physical resource is stored in the national library's holdings.

3. International Standard Book Numbers

3.1 Overview

   RFC 2288 [Lynch] describes the ISBN system in the following way:

      An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) identifies an edition
      of a monographic work.  The ISBN is defined by the standard
      NISO/ANSI/ISO 2108:1992 [ISO1]

      Basically, an ISBN is a ten-digit number (actually, the last digit
      can be the letter "X" as well, as described below) which is
      divided into four variable length parts usually separated by
      hyphens when printed.  The parts are as follows (in this order):

      *  a group identifier which specifies a group of publishers, based
         on national, geographic or some other criteria,

      *  the publisher identifier,

      *  the title identifier,

      *  and a modulus 11 check digit, using X instead of 10.







Hakala & Walravens           Informational