RFC 2288 (rfc2288) - Page 3 of 10

Using Existing Bibliographic Identifiers as Uniform Resource Names

RFC 2288                Bibligraphic Identifiers           February 1998


   Many other bibliographic identifiers are in common use (for example,
   CODEN, numbers assigned by major bibliographic utilities such as OCLC
   and RLG, national library numbers such as the Library of Congress
   Control Number) or are under development.  While we do not discuss
   them in this document, many of these will also need to be supported
   within the URN framework as it moves to large scale implementation.
   The issues involved in supporting those additional identifiers are
   anticipated to be broadly similar to those involved in supporting
   ISBNs, ISSNs, and SICIs.

2. Identification vs. Resolution

   It is important to distinguish between the resource identified by a
   URN and the resources a URN resolver that can reasonably return when
   attempting to resolve an identifier.  For example, the ISSN 0040-781X
   identifies the popular magazine "Time" -- all of it, every issue for
   from the start of publication to present.  Resolving such an
   identifier should not result in the equivalent of hundreds of
   thousands of pages of text and photos being dumped to the user's
   machine.  It is more reasonable for ISSNs to resolve to a
   navigational system, such as an HTML-based search form, so the user
   may select issues or articles of interest.  ISBNs and SICIs, on the
   other hand, do identify finite, manageably-sized objects, but these
   objects may still be large enough that resolution to a hierarchical
   system is appropriate.

   In addition, the materials identified by an ISSN, ISBN or SICI may
   exist only in printed or other physical form, not electronically.
   The best that a resolver may be able to offer is information about
   where to get the physical resource, such as library holdings or a
   bookstore or publisher order form.  The URN Framework provides
   resolution services that may be used to describe any differences
   between the resource identified by a URN and the resource that would
   be returned as a result of resolving that URN.

3. International Standard Book Numbers

3.1 Overview

   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):




Lynch, et. al.               Informational