BFU@NIHCU.BITNET (Roger Burns) (08/28/90)
Archive-name: issn/27-Aug-90
Original-posting-by: BFU@NIHCU.BITNET (Roger Burns)
Original-subject: ISSN for electronic magazine
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
The following is excerpted from the September 1990 issue of the
electronic magazine NETMONTH.
- Roger Burns
BFU@CU.NIH.GOV
BFU@NIHCU.BITNET
====================================================================
NetMonth is a network service publication distributed free of
charge to students and professionals in BITNET and other
networks. This magazine and its companion file, BITNET SERVERS,
are the work of the BITNET Services Library (BSL) staff and
contributors from around the network.
*********
* *** * Getting an ISSN for an Electronic Journal
* *** *
* *** * by Charles W. Bailey, Jr.
*** ***
* *** * University of Houston
* *** *
* *** * LIB3@UHUPVM1
*********
[Thanks to Ted Werntz for bringing this to my attention. - Ed.]
The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique
eight-digit number that identifies a particular serial. For
serials published in the U.S., ISSN numbers are assigned by the
National Serials Data Program (NSDP) of the Library of
Congress.
Recently, NSDP assigned an ISSN to The Public-Access Computer
Systems Review, an electronic journal that complements the
Public-Access Computer Systems Forum (PACS-L@UHUPVM1). The
PACS Forum is a moderated BITNET list that deals with all
computer systems that libraries make available to their users,
and it currently has over 1,100 subscribers in 25 countries.
The PACS Review, which is published three times a year, deals
with the same subject matter as the PACS Forum. When an issue
is published, PACS Forum users are notified by a table of
contents message, which describes that issue's article files
and provides instructions for retrieving the files.
NSDP also created a bibliographic record for the PACS Review in
the OCLC Online Union Catalog, a twenty-million-record database
that is widely used by libraries for cataloging, interlibrary
loan, reference, and other purposes. (A more powerful, user-
friendly version of the OCLC Online Union Catalog called EPIC
has just been made available for fee-based searching.) A
bibliographic record describes a serial (or other work) in a
standard machine-readable format according to established
cataloging rules.
It is noteworthy and commendable that NSDP took the initiative
to assign the PACS Review an ISSN number and to catalog it; I
never contacted them requesting that they do so. NSDP staff
learned of the PACS Review as the result of two speeches I made
about the publication at a recent national library conference.
The assignment of an ISSN number and the creation of a
bibliographic record on OCLC makes an electronic journal more
accessible to libraries and their users. Electronic publishers
are fortunate that NSDP has taken a progressive, proactive
stand on electronic journals, and it is treating them
seriously. I would urge other electronic publishers to contact
NSDP and obtain ISSN numbers for their electronic journals.
The appropriate application form is contained in a brochure
called "ISSN is for Serials," which is available from NSDP.
For further information about getting an ISSN number contact:
Library of Congress
National Serials Data Program
Washington, D.C. 20540
(202) 707-6452