Subject: Re: need help -- ISSNs
Regina Reynolds (rrey@loc.gov)
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 09:41:25 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 09:41:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Regina Reynolds <rrey@loc.gov> To: Multiple recipients of list <arl-ejournal@arl.org> Subject: Re: need help -- ISSNs In-Reply-To: <19991029120937.10881.rocketmail@web1001.mail.yahoo.com> Message-Id: <Pine.A41.4.05.9910290925370.58476-100000@rs8.loc.gov>
On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, Joel Diedhiou <jdiedhiou@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Does somobody have any explanation what difference between
> electronic ISSN and its print versioncounterpart is? How do
> professionals manage to assign electronic journals their ISSN?
> Why is there a difference between the ISSN assigned to an
> electronic journal the one assigned to its print version
> counterpart.
Dear Joel and colleagues:
The question of how many ISSN should be assigned to serials available
in different physical formats is a difficult one, partly because of the
many uses for the ISSN and the many users of the ISSN. Some years ago,
after considerable debate, the ISSN Network established the policy that
different physical formats require different ISSN. Thus, print, CD-ROM,
and online versions of a journal are all assigned different ISSN by the
appropriate national ISSN center located in the country of publication.
Having separate ISSN for each physical format allows these different
versions to be identified for ordering, claiming, etc. Also, electronic
versions and print versions of journals are seldom 100% identical.
Even if the articles are present, often inclusion of letters to the
editor, commemorative notices, news items, etc. is different on various
versions. But much more substantial differences are emerging. Online
versions can include electronic data files, and multi-media files that
the print cannot. More or fewer articles may be present in the online
version. These versions are becoming more and more distinct
publications in their own right.
I understand well the need for one identifier for content regardless of
format. However, ISSN records include the ISSN for all related formats
on each record in field 776. Thus it is possible to pull the versions
together or to cross-reference the ISSN from one version to the other.
Further information about ISSN Online, the international database of
ISSN, can be found at www.issn.org.
One final point I wish to make is that you will see many online
journals using the ISSN of the print edition. The proliferation of
online editions has made it very difficult for ISSN centers to monitor
this use of ISSN by publishers. However, it is not ISSN policy that
the same ISSN apply to multiple formats. We are all dealing with
issues and concerns that the rapid proliferation of online serials
has raised. This is but one such issue.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you or others have further
questions.
Regina R. Reynolds
Head, National Serials Data Program
(U.S. issn center)
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
rrey@loc.gov
(202) 707-6379 (voice) (202) 707-6333 (fax)
http://lcweb.loc.gov/issn/ (U.S. ISSN center web site)
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