RFC 2288 (rfc2288) - Page 2 of 10

Using Existing Bibliographic Identifiers as Uniform Resource Names

RFC 2288                Bibligraphic Identifiers           February 1998


   representative bibliographic identifiers within the currently
   proposed URN framework and syntax.

   Note that this document does not purport to define the "official"
   standard way of moving these bibliographic identifiers into URNs; it
   merely demonstrates feasibility.  It has not been developed in
   consultation with these standards bodies and maintenance agencies
   that oversee the existing bibliographic identifiers.  Any actual
   Internet standard for encoding these bibliographic identifiers as
   URNs will need to be developed in consultation with the responsible
   standards bodies and maintenance agencies.

   In addition, there are several open questions with regard to the
   management and registry of Namespace Identifiers (NIDs) for URNs.
   For purposes of illustration, we have used the three NIDs "ISBN",
   "ISSN" and "SICI" for the three corresponding bibliographic
   identifiers discussed in this document.  While we believe this to be
   the most appropriate choice, it is not the only one.  The NIDs could
   be based on the standards body and standard number (e.g.  "US-ANSI-
   NISO-Z39.56-1997" rather than "SICI").  Alternatively, one could lump
   all bibliographic identifiers into a single "BIBLIOGRAPHIC" name
   space, and structure the namespace-specific string to specify which
   identifier is being used.  Any final resolution of this must wait for
   the outcome of namespace management discussions in the working group
   and the broader IETF community.

   For the purposes of this document, we have selected three major
   bibliographic identifiers (national and international) to fit within
   the URN framework.  These are the International Standard Book Number
   (ISBN) [ISO1], the International Standard Serials Number (ISSN)
   [NISO1,ISO2, ISO3], and the Serial Item and Contribution Identifier
   (SICI) [NISO2].  An ISBN is used to identify a monograph (book).  An
   ISSN is used to identify serial publications (journals, newspapers)
   as a whole.   A SICI augments the ISSN in order to identify
   individual issues of serial publications, or components within those
   issues (such as an individual article, or the table of contents of a
   given issue).  The ISBN and ISSN are defined in the United States by
   standards issued by the National Information Standards Organization
   (NISO) and also by parallel international standards issued under the
   auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
   NISO is the ANSI-accredited standards body serving libraries,
   publishers and information services.  The SICI code is defined by a
   NISO document in the United States and does not have a parallel
   international standards document at present.







Lynch, et. al.               Informational