Update on Standards from a Global Perspective

Citation

Paul, S.K. (2001), "Update on Standards from a Global Perspective", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918gaf.001

Update on Standards from a Global Perspective

This short article provides an update, as of mid-2001, on standards of interest to librarians, publishers, intermediaries of all sorts, and those concerned with the general area of intellectual property. The author welcomes input from those more actively involved than she if any of this information is outdated by more current events!

Identifiers

For several years we have been discussing the 13-digit International Standard Book Number (ISBN), which was approved at the October 2000 ISBN International Panel meeting and should be a reality on January 1, 2005. I am still asked, when the topic arises, if that means throwing out the ISBNs assigned to currently available publications and the answer is, of course, no. However, the 978 prefix now used in creating the Bookland EAN bar code will be required to identify those titles once the 13 digits are in use; that will change the last (check) digit in the string. Since the ISBN is an ISO standard, the change to 13 digits must be approved by ISO and it is hoped that the process of doing so will be starting this summer or fall at the latest.

One of the reasons for moving to 13 digits was to double the number of ISBNs available to allow for the unique identification of each format of an e-book (just as the current ISBNs uniquely identify the hardback vs the trade paperback vs the mass market paperback edition of the same book). However, the determination of the standard numbering system for e-books is still under discussion. The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) has approved an Identifiers Work Group, chaired by Stephen Mooney (representing Baker & Taylor) to look into this matter. Steve also chairs the International Digital Object Identifier Foundation (IDF) inquiry on eBooks ­ DOI-EB (see www.idf.org).

The other major ISO standard coming to our community is the International Standard Textual work Code (ISTC). Almost ready for ISO ballot as this is written, the ISTC will provide for the text world what is now available to the music world through the International Standard Work Code (ISWC). As Beethoven's 5th may be played by many orchestras and recorded in many different times and places, it is always Beethoven's 5th and those recordings ­ called manifestations ­ of the work can be linked to each other through the ISWC. The same will be true of the ISTC for manifestations that appear as newspaper and journal articles or as print, spoken or electronic books. A Request For Proposals for the ISTC Maintenance Agency is currently available from ISO Technical Committee 46 and the final version of the standard will identify this organization, which will be responsible for administration and publicity of this important new standard. See www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/istc.htm for more information on this standard.

In the world of "old" standards, the American National Standard Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI) is coming up for its second five year review (required of every ANSI and ISO Standard) and the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is reviewing its use in the trade. Publishers, subscription agents, librarians and others currently making use of this standard are urged to convey to NISO (www.NISO.org) its importance and/or suggested changes to it.

Metadata

The most exciting standard to come along for some time in the area of discovery metadata is Online Information eXchange ­ ONIX International. Available to describe printed books since last fall, this set of internationally agreed XML tags is accepted (and welcomed) by Amazon.com, barnes&noble.com, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Bowker, and others in the US and UK retail, e-tail, and bibliographic communities. Providing the ability to tag jacket art, author biographies, flap copy, promotional plans and reviews, as well as bibliographic data, the ONIX International standard has been adopted in the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Argentina and is under consideration by Russia and many other countries. The standard, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, the Data Type Definition -- DTD -- used to verify the XML tagging and links to the mapping of this standard to MARC 21 and U.K. MARC are available free of charge from www.EDItEUR.org/onix.html

Before the end of July 2001, ONIX International Release 2.0. This Release provides the capability of using ONIX to describe e-books as well as p-books (or tree-books, a term I think I prefer) and takes into account the German use of "series" which differs from that described in previous releases. Slightly different in structure from previous Releases, this release forms the basis for providing metadata about various forms of multi-media intellectual property and is intended as the baseline for international standard metadata in this area.

In a situation not unlike that of identifiers for e-books, the OeBF has yet to endorse the ONIX International standard as their recommendation for e-book. Instead they have approved the formation of a Metadata Working Group, chaired by Liisa McCloy-Kelley of Random House, an individual who has worked tirelessly on the ONIX standard throughout its development.

Experiments are currently under way in the US using ONIX International for providing information about videos and consideration is being given to various applications in the world of journals and rights. It is expected that the revised ISBN standard discussed previously in this article will include the use of ONIX-based descriptors to be filed at the time an ISBN is registered, as will be the case with the metadata provided with the ISTC as well.

Electronic Data Interchange

The Book Industry Systems Advisory Committee (BISAC) and its successor organization, BASIC (Book And Serial Industry Communications) formats for EDI are generally in use in the book trade. Two recent announcements indicate partnerships that will offer wider use of these standards in the library community. There is no move afoot to replace these standards for use by major organizations, but there is a new standard that should provide the same capabilities to small- and medium-sized businesses. Called ebXML (electronic business XML), it was developed by the UN/CEFACT organization (which maintains the international EDI standard, EDIFACT) and OASIS, a consortium of major businesses. It is expected that a variety of industries (including the world of intellectual property) will model their business transactions and select from the ebXML repository those objects of use in transacting that business. The ebXML work is available at www.ebXML.com. or www.ebXML.org the BISAC/BASIC standards at www.bisg.org/BASIC.html.

Sandra K. Paul (Sandy@SKPAssociates.com) is President of SKP Associates, New York, NY, USA.