ISSN: Transitioning to linked data

Abstract

ISSN numbers reliably identify all types of continuing resources worldwide: in 2007, the scope of the standard, originally limited to serials, was extended so as to also include ongoing integrating resources. Bibliographic records describing resources identified by an ISSN are produced by ISSN national centres – there are also in charge of their updates. ISSN records are regularly sent to the ISSN Register, a bibliographic database which currently contains more than 1.9 million records. The Register is maintained by the ISSN International Centre, which is also in charge of providing access to its bibliographic information through innovative tools and services. The ISSN International Centre sees linked data principles and tools as a prominent way to distribute information from its own Register; and more generally bibliographic information about continuing resources. It seeks also to harness the tremendous opportunities of re-using data from other organizations, belonging or not to the library world, in order to enhance its knowledge on its own data, and to propose better services. The ISSN International Centre has therefore launched several projects related to that domain. On one hand, it has participated to the development of PRESSOO, an extension of the FRBROO ontology for continuing resources. On the other hand, it has launched ROAD, the Registry of Open Access Resources, which disseminates bibliographic information on open access publications in the web of data. These two experiments have helped the ISSN International Centre to start setting up its linked data policy – or policies: various data models will be designed to fit the needs of the different users; different services and tools will be provided to free users and to customers of the ISSN Portal.