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ISBD Review Group

Cataloguing Section

ISBD Review Group

Invitation to submit written comments to the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Monographic Publications (ISBD(M))

Invitation

In 1998, the IFLA Study Group on the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) published its Final Report after its recommendations were approved by the IFLA Section on Cataloguing's Standing Committee (available at: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.htm). The Standing Committee agreed that the ISBD Review Group should initiate a full-scale review of IFLA's "family of ISBDs" to ensure conformity between the provisions of the ISBDs and those of FRBR - in particular, to achieve consistency with FRBR's data requirements for the "basic level national bibliographic record."

In the ISBDs, national bibliographic agencies are requested to "prepare the definitive description containing all the mandatory elements set out in the relevant ISBD insofar as the information is applicable to the publication being described." To facilitate implementation of this principle, the ISBDs designate as "optional" those data elements which are not mandatory when applicable; in the case of particular ISBDs, see the Outline (0.3) to ascertain which data elements are optional. Therefore, the main task in reconciling the requirements of the existing ISBDs with the FRBR recommendations for the "basic level national bibliographic record" has entailed a review of the ISBD data elements which are mandatory to make optional any which are optional in FRBR. (In no case is a data element mandatory in FRBR but optional in the ISBDs.) As before, any data element not specifically qualified in the Outline as "optional" is to be considered mandatory. (In addition to changes reflected in the Outline, the text of the ISBDs will need to be edited to replace "is [or are] transcribed" with "may be given"in the case of any provision where treatment becomes optional as a result of reconciliation with FRBR.)

The ISBD Review Group has now concluded its review of the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Monographic Publications (ISBD(M)) , last revised in 1987. The changes which the Review Group proposes to make in the next iteration of this standard are listed below.

You are invited to submit your written comments regarding these changes to indicate your approval or your reservations by directly your comments by July 15, 2000, to:

John D. Byrum, Jr. Chair
ISBD Review Group
Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division
Library of Congress
Washington, D. C. 20540-4380
U.S.A.

If you prefer you may fax your comments to Mr. Byrum at +202-707-2824 or Email them to jbyr@loc.gov.

The ISBD Review Group appreciates your interest.

Invitation

Proposed Changes

ISBD(M):
International Standard Bibliographic Description

For Monographic Publications
Revised edition. 1987

CURRENT ISBD(M)		CHANGE TO
1.3	Parallel title	1.3	Parallel titles(s) (optional)¹
1.4	Other title information	1.4	Other title information (optional)
1.5	Statements of responsibility First statement Subsequent statement	1.5	Statements of responsibility First statement Subsequent statement (optional)
2.3	Statements of responsibility relating to the edition	2.3	Statements of responsibility relating to the edition (optional)
2.5	Statements of responsibility following an additional edition statement	2.5	Statements of responsibility following an additional edition statement (optional)
5.2	Illustration statement	5.2	Illustration statement (optional)
5.3	Dimensions	5.3	Dimensions (optional)
6.2	Parallel title of series or sub-series	6.2	Parallel title(s) of series or sub-series (optional) ²
6.4	Statements of responsibility relating to the series or sub-series	6.4	Statements of responsibility relating to the series or sub-series (optional)³
8.3	Terms of availability and/or price (optional)	8.3	Terms of availability and/or price (optional)⁴

In the Specification of Elements section of ISBD(M)

Note area		Note area
7.1.2	Notes on the nature, scope, literary form purpose or language of the publication	7.1.2	Notes on the nature, scope, literary form, purpose or language of the publication⁵
7.2	Notes on the edition area and the bibliographic history of the publication	7.2	Notes on the edition area and the bibliographic history of the publication⁶

Parallel titles should be included in the basic record to the extent that they are essential to the accurate identification of the item or are considered important to the user of the catalogue.
Parallel titles of series should be included in the basic record to the extent that they are essential to the accurate identification of the item or are considered important to the user of the catalogue.
Statement of responsibility for the series is considered a basic requirement only in cases where the series title alone is insufficient to identify the series.
A note on source for acquisition/access authorization is considered a basic requirement only in cases where the manifestation is likely to be difficult to obtain through normal trade sources.
A note is necessary only if the form of expression cannot be inferred from other elements of the description and a note on language only if the linguistic content of the expression is significant and where the language of the content cannot be inferred from other elements of the description.
Notes on preceding/succeeding works, supplements, etc., are given when the relationship is such that the use or understanding of the publication described is dependent on a knowledge of the related publication. A note on the related publication is also given when the publication described contains a revision.