The ISBN has succeeded because it serves an extremely useful purpose in the book trade. Similarly, the DOI has experienced a modicum of success as a persistent identifier of scholarly articles, etc., because the major players have determined that the benefit justifies the cost, providing a necessary critical mass. The ISTC may eventually achieve such success (for new works) if it is widely adopted by copyright agencies and other intellectual property registration agencies, but the jury is out. On the positive side, the ONIX for ISTC looks very well thought out. http://www.editeur.org/files/ONIX%20for%20ISTC/ONIX-ISTC%20overview%20v1.0.pdf. However, no identifier scheme--not even the ISBN--is anywhere near universal.
We should recall that libraries "piggy-back" on these schemes. They are designed for other purposes, and libraries co-opt them (or not) because they are "good enough" for our own distinct purposes. Ed Jones -----Original Message----- From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bernhard Eversberg Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 1:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Question about RDA relationships (App. J) Weinheimer Jim wrote: > > I have a feeling that when they say "work" they mean something more like (in > FRBR-speak) "expression" since I doubt there is much use in the world for a > unique number for the entirety of Homer's Odyssey (except strictly for > librarians) and they are thinking of specific translations or other versions > of the Odyssey. Still, I may be wrong since the whole ISTC is confusing for > me in the abstract and I would like to see something practical. In any case, > it does seem as if people are addressing your concerns, and it's even an ISO > standard. > There's the rub. As soon as we leave the level of the physical object, it is essential that all parties agree on what they are talking about. Statements made elsewhere may not, I'm afraid, all be referring to FRBR entities. We might end up with mashups in the sense of hotchpotch. B.Eversberg
