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+Network Working Group J. Hakala
+Request for Comments: 3187 Helsinki University Library
+Category: Informational H. Walravens
+ The International ISBN Agency
+ October 2001
+
+
+ Using International Standard Book Numbers as
+ Uniform Resource Names
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+ This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
+ not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
+ memo is unlimited.
+
+Copyright Notice
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
+
+Abstract
+
+ This document discusses how International Standard Book Numbers
+ (ISBN) can be supported within the URN (Uniform Resource Names)
+ framework and the syntax for URNs defined in RFC 2141. Much of the
+ discussion below is based on the ideas expressed in RFC 2288.
+
+1. Introduction
+
+ As part of the validation process for the development of URNs, the
+ IETF URN working group agreed that it is important to demonstrate
+ that the current URN syntax proposal can accommodate existing
+ identifiers from well established namespaces. One such
+ infrastructure for assigning and managing names comes from the
+ bibliographic community. Bibliographic identifiers function as names
+ for objects that exist both in print and, increasingly, in electronic
+ formats. RFC 2288 [Lynch, et al.] investigated the feasibility of
+ using three identifiers (ISBN, ISSN and SICI) as URNs. This document
+ will analyse the usage of ISBNs as URNs in more detail than RFC 2288.
+
+ A registration request for acquiring Namespace Identifier (NID)
+ "ISBN" for ISBNs is included in chapter 5.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 1]
+
+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 [Page 2]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ The group and publisher number assignments are managed in such a
+ way that the hyphens are not needed to parse the ISBN
+ unambiguously into its constituent parts. However, the ISBN is
+ normally transmitted and displayed with hyphens to make it easy
+ for human beings to recognize these parts without having to make
+ reference to or have knowledge of the number assignments for group
+ and publisher identifiers.
+
+ Groups usually cover only one country, but occasionally a single
+ group is used in several countries. For instance, group "3" is
+ utilised in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of
+ Switzerland. "976" is used in Caribbean community (Antigua, Bahamas,
+ Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica,
+ Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
+ Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands (Br))and "982" in
+ South Pacific (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru,
+ Niue, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu; Vanuatu, Western
+ Samoa). For each international group, the International ISBN Agency
+ has assigned ranges of publisher identifiers to individual countries.
+ These ranges are listed on the ISBN web site (http://www.isbn.spk-
+ berlin.de/html/prefix.htm). The group identifiers are listed at
+ http://www.isbn.spk-berlin.de/html/prefix/allpref.htm.
+
+ There are plans to extend the ISBN into 13 digits in order to make
+ the system more suitable for identification of electronic monographs.
+ So called Bookland ISBN will consist of a traditional ISBN preceded
+ by the 978 or 979 EAN flag.
+
+3.2 Encoding Considerations and Lexical Equivalence
+
+ RFC 2288 [Lynch] says that:
+
+ Embedding ISBNs within the URN framework presents no particular
+ encoding problems, since all of the characters that can appear in
+ an ISBN are valid in the identifier segment of the URN. %-
+ encoding, as described in [MOATS] is never needed.
+
+ Example: URN:ISBN:0-395-36341-1
+
+ For the ISBN namespace, some additional equivalence rules are
+ appropriate. Prior to comparing two ISBN URNs for equivalence, it
+ is appropriate to remove all hyphens, and to convert any
+ occurrences of the letter X to upper case.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 3]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+3.3 Resolution of ISBN-based URNs
+
+ The existing ISBN structure is suitable for URN resolution purposes.
+ The group identifier can assist in the resolver discovery process.
+ For instance, the group identifier "951" means Finland. In this
+ case, the Finnish national bibliographic database will be able to
+ resolve the URN either into bibliographic data or - if the resource
+ is available in the Internet - to the document itself.
+
+ If a group identifier does not identify a single country but a
+ language area, there are two means for locating the correct national
+ bibliography. First, it is possible to define a cascade of URN
+ resolution services - for instance, German national bibliography,
+ Austrian national bibliography and Swiss national bibliography, in
+ this order - into the DNS records describing the resolution service
+ for ISBNs starting with "3". Second, the publisher identifier ranges
+ assigned by the International ISBN Agency could be defined into the
+ DNS records. This method is better than cascading, since the correct
+ resolution service can be found immediately.
+
+ In some exceptional cases - notably in the US and in UK, where
+ international companies do a significant portion of publishing - the
+ information provided by the group identifier may not always be fully
+ reliable. For instance, some monographs published in New York by
+ international publishing companies may get an ISBN with the group
+ identifier "3". This is technically appropriate when the
+ headquarters or one of the offices of the publisher is located in
+ Germany.
+
+ Information about such a book will not be available in the German
+ national bibliography, but via the Library of Congress systems.
+ Unfortunately, the appropriate national bibliography cannot be known
+ to the resolver discovery service.
+
+ As a fall back mechanism a large union catalogue, such as WorldCat
+ maintained by OCLC (http://www.oclc.org ) could be used to complement
+ the default services provided by national bibliographies.
+
+ The problem described above may well be less severe than it looks.
+ Some international publishers (Springer, for example) give the whole
+ production to the national library of their home country as legal
+ deposit, no matter which country the book was published. Thus
+ everything published by Springer in New York with group identifier
+ "3" will be found from the German national bibliography. On the
+ other hand, when these companies give their home base also as a place
+ of publication, the "home" national library requires the legal
+ deposit.
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 4]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ Due to the intelligent structure of ISBN, group identifier or even
+ the publisher identifier can be used as a "hint". Technically, it is
+ possible to incorporate into the common structure also URN resolution
+ services maintained by publishers. For instance, "951-0" is the
+ unique ISBN publisher identifier of the largest publisher in Finland,
+ Sanoma-WSOY. If they launch their own URN resolution services,
+ resolution requests for ISBNs starting with "951-0" will be directed
+ to the publisher's server, and all other requests to the national
+ bibliography.
+
+3.4 Additional considerations
+
+ The basic guidelines for assigning ISBNs to electronic resources are
+ the following:
+
+ * Format/means of delivery is irrelevant to the decision whether a
+ product needs an ISBN or not. If the content meets the
+ requirement, it gets an ISBN, no matter what the format of the
+ delivery system.
+
+ * Each format of a digital publication should have a separate ISBN.
+
+ The definition of a new edition is normally based on one of the two
+ criteria:
+
+ * A change in the kind of packaging involved: the hard cover
+ edition, the paperback edition and the library-binding edition
+ would each get a separate ISBN. The same applies to different
+ formats of digital files.
+
+ * A change in the text, excluding packaging or minor changes such as
+ correcting a spelling error. Again, this criterion applies
+ regardless of whether the publication is in printed or in digital
+ form.
+
+ Although these rules seem very clear, their interpretation may vary.
+ As [Lynch] points out,
+
+ The choice of whether to assign a new ISBN or to reuse an existing
+ one when publishing a revised printing of an existing edition of a
+ work or even a revised edition of a work is somewhat subjective.
+ Practice varies from publisher to publisher (indeed, the
+ distinction between a revised printing and a new edition is itself
+ somewhat subjective). The use of ISBNs within the URN framework
+ simply reflects these existing practices. Note that it is likely
+ that an ISBN URN will often resolve to many instances of the work
+ (many URLs).
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 5]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ Publishers have also in some occasions re-used the same ISBN for
+ another book. This reasonably rare kind of human error does not
+ threaten or undermine the value of the ISBN system as a whole.
+ Neither do they pose a serious threat to the URN resolution service
+ based on ISBNs. An error will only lead into the retrieval of two or
+ more bibliographic records from a national bibliographic database.
+ Based on the information in the records, a user can choose the
+ correct record from the result set.
+
+ Most national bibliographies and especially the Books in Print
+ correct ISBN mistakes. The systems then provide cross references
+ ("incorrect ISBN -> correct ISBN").
+
+ Further details on the process of assigning ISBNs can be found in
+ section 5 (Namespace registration) below.
+
+4. Security Considerations
+
+ This document proposes means of encoding ISBNs within the URN
+ framework. ISBN-based URN resolution service is depicted here only in
+ a fairly generic level; thus questions of secure or authenticated
+ resolution mechanisms are excluded. It does not deal with means of
+ validating the integrity or authenticating the source or provenance
+ of URNs that contain ISBNs. Issues regarding intellectual property
+ rights associated with objects identified by the ISBNs are also
+ beyond the scope of this document, as are questions about rights to
+ the databases that might be used to construct resolvers.
+
+5. Namespace registration
+
+ URN Namespace ID Registration for the International Standard Book
+ Number (ISBN)
+
+ This registration describes how International Standard Book Numbers
+ (ISBN) can be supported within the URN framework.
+
+ Namespace ID:
+
+ ISBN
+
+ This Namespace ID is the same as the internationally known acronym
+ for the International Standard Book Number. Giving NID "ISBN" to any
+ other identifier system would cause a lot of confusion.
+
+ Registration Information:
+
+ Version: 1
+ Date: 2001-01-25
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 6]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ Declared registrant of the namespace:
+
+ Name: Hartmut Walravens
+ E-mail: hartmut.walravens@sbb.spk-berlin.de
+ Affiliation: Director, The International ISBN Agency
+ Address: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz -
+ D-10772 Berlin, Germany
+
+ Declaration of syntactic structure:
+
+ 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.
+
+ Example:
+
+ URN:ISBN:0-395-36341-1
+
+ Relevant ancillary documentation:
+
+ The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique machine-
+ readable identification number, which marks any edition of a book
+ unambiguously. This number is defined in ISO Standard 2108. The
+ number has been in use now for 30 years and has revolutionised the
+ international book-trade. 154 countries are officially ISBN members,
+ and more countries are joining the system.
+
+ The administration of the ISBN system is carried out on three levels:
+
+ International agency
+ Group agencies
+ Publisher levels
+
+ The International ISBN agency is located within the State Library
+ Berlin. The main functions of the International ISBN Agency are:
+
+ * To promote, co-ordinate and supervise the world-wide use of the
+ ISBN system.
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 7]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ * To approve the definition and structure of group agencies.
+
+ * To allocate group identifiers to group agencies.
+
+ * To advise on the establishment and functioning of group agencies.
+
+ * To advise group agencies on the allocation of international
+ publisher identifiers.
+
+ * To publish the assigned group numbers and publishers prefixes in
+ up-to-date form.
+
+ More information about ISBN usage can be found from the ISBN Users'
+ Manual. 4th edition of this document is available at
+ http://www.isbn.spk-berlin.de/html/userman.htm.
+
+ Identifier uniqueness considerations:
+
+ ISBN that has been assigned once should never be re-used.
+ Nevertheless, publishers do occasionally re-use the same number.
+ From the point of the URN resolution system proposed here, this will
+ typically cause retrieval of two bibliographic records. A user can
+ choose the correct publication using the data in the record, such as
+ the author or title.
+
+ Incorrect ISBNs are routinely corrected in national bibliographies
+ and Books in Print catalogue.
+
+ Identifier persistence considerations:
+
+ The ISBN accompanies a publication from its production onwards. It
+ is persistent; ISBN once given - if correct - will never leave the
+ publication.
+
+ Identifier assignment process:
+
+ Assignment of ISBNs is always controlled by ISBN group agencies,
+ which are often national and quite frequently located in the national
+ libraries. Publishers are usually given blocks of ISBNs, from which
+ they pick identifiers for their newly published items.
+
+ As pointed out earlier, in spite of the common rules of how to use
+ ISBNs, there is some variation between different publishers in ISBN
+ assignment. In practice these differences are so small that they do
+ not pose a threat to the usability of the ISBN system.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 8]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ Identifier resolution process:
+
+ URNs based on ISBNs will be primarily resolved via the national
+ bibliography databases. Since ISBN group agencies are as a rule
+ located in national libraries, the national bibliography databases
+ cover almost every publication which does have an ISBN.
+
+ If group identifier does not define a country but a language area
+ there may be many countries using the same group identifier. In such
+ cases, the International ISBN Agency has divided publisher
+ identifiers into ranges assigned to each country within the group.
+ The appropriate resolution service can be found by using the group
+ identifier and publisher identifier information. Alternatively a
+ cascade of national bibliographies can be defined.
+
+ Resolution carried out in national bibliography databases may be
+ complemented by so called union catalogues, which contain huge amount
+ of bibliographic data (up to 42 million records). This complementary
+ service is only needed if the ISBN group identifier information is
+ misleading. This is not common.
+
+ The International ISBN Agency maintains a list of publishers who have
+ been assigned a publisher identifier within the ISBN system. The
+ publisher identifier may be used to allow participation of resolution
+ services maintained by publishers into the URN resolution system for
+ ISBN.
+
+ Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
+
+ For the ISBN namespace, some additional equivalence rules are
+ appropriate. Prior to comparing two ISBN URNs for equivalence, it is
+ appropriate to remove all hyphens, and to convert any occurrences of
+ the letter X to upper case.
+
+ Conformance with URN Syntax:
+
+ Embedding ISBNs within the URN framework presents no particular
+ encoding problems, since all of the characters that can appear in an
+ ISBN are valid in the identifier segment of the URN %-encoding, as
+ described in [MOATS] is never needed.
+
+ Example: URN:ISBN:0-395-36341-1
+
+ Validation mechanism:
+
+ Validity of an ISBN string can be checked by modulus 11 check digit,
+ included in the ISBN. X is used instead of 10.
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 9]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+ Validity of ISBN assignments can be checked from the group agencies
+ or directly from the publisher.
+
+ Scope:
+
+ Global.
+
+6. References
+
+ [Daigle] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R. and P. Faltstrom,
+ "URN Namespace Definition Mechanisms", RFC 2611, June 1999.
+
+ [Lynch] Lynch, C., Preston, C. and R. Daniel, "Using Existing
+ Bibliographic Identifiers as Uniform Resource Names", RFC
+ 2288, February 1998.
+
+ [Moats] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.
+
+7. Authors' Addresses
+
+ Juha Hakala
+ Helsinki University Library - The National Library of Finland
+ P.O. Box 26
+ FIN-00014 Helsinki University
+ FINLAND
+
+ EMail: juha.hakala@helsinki.fi
+
+
+ Hartmut Walravens
+ The International ISBN agency
+ Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz -
+ D-10772 Berlin
+ GERMANY
+
+ EMail: hartmut.walravens@sbb.spk-berlin.de
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 10]
+
+RFC 3187 Using ISBNs as URNs October 2001
+
+
+8. Full Copyright Statement
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
+
+ This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
+ others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
+ or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
+ and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
+ kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
+ included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
+ document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
+ the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
+ Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
+ developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
+ copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
+ followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
+ English.
+
+ The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
+ revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
+
+ This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
+ "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
+ TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
+ BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
+ HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
+ MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Acknowledgement
+
+ Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
+ Internet Society.
+
+
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+Hakala & Walravens Informational [Page 11]
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