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ABOUT ISMN |
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International Standard Music
Number enhancing awareness of music published in Australia and promoting the Australian music publishing industry What is the Australian ISMN Agency? The Australian ISMN Agency is an initiative of the National Library of Australia and operates as a free service to Australian music, with the support of APRA and AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre. The Agency has sole responsibility for assigning publisher identifiers and an ISMN for all music titles published in Australia, on behalf of the International ISMN Agency located in Berlin. Details of all publishers registered with the Australian ISMN Agency are sent to the International Agency for publication in the printed Music Publishers' International ISMN Directory. The Australian Agency will support on-line searching of Australian publishers. Background In August 2000, the Director-General of the National Library of Australia, Jan Fullerton, indicated to the International ISMN Agency in Berlin that the Library was willing to host an Australian ISMN Agency. This offer was accepted in September 2000. Operation of the ISMN Agency fits the National Library's strategic objective of collecting and preserving Australian published music and cooperating with others to ensure comprehensive national coverage of music. The establishment of the Agency was announced in the October 2000 issue of the National Library of Australia Gateways. The Australian ISMN Agency became operational in November 2001 and began issuing ISMNs to publishers in December 2001. What is an ISMN? The International Standard Music Number (ISMN) is a unique number used to identify music publications. It is used to identify a particular piece of music or item, such as an instrumental or vocal part, whenever information about music publications needs to be recorded or communicated. An ISMN is for print, electronic, microform or braille formats of music publications, whether available for sale, hire, gratis, or for copyright purposes only. An ISMN is not used for stand-alone sound or video recordings or for publications about music, each ofwhich has their own international numbering system. Why should you have an ISMN? The ISMN is a quick and valuable tool for identifying and locating an exact item of music, including individual parts. For composers, publishers, libraries, performers and other users, the ISMN provides a unique way of permanently identifying different manifestations and published versions of scores and parts. For publishers and retailers, it can assist in stock control, identification, quick and efficient ordering and distribution of items. An ISMN can be easily converted to bar-codes for electronic point of sale, hire or loan systems. What music items should receive an ISMN?
What form of music publication does the ISMN cover?
How do you request an ISMN for a piece of music? Firstly you need to register as a "publisher" with the ISMN agency, whether you are a major commercial publisher, a boutique publisher or are publishing your own music. When registered, you are assigned a publisher's prefix and a block of ISMN numbers for your published works. These numbers can be used for your current, future and previously published works. As a publisher, you can allocate these ISMN numbers yourself and notify the Agency, or you can request the Agency to allocate them for you. Staff at the Agency will create a cataloguing record for these items (including Cataolguing-in-publication record if requested) on the National Bibliographic Database, to facilitate visibility and access to your publication, nationally and internationally. What does the number mean? As of 1st January 2008 the ISMN will consist of 13 digits (e.g. 979-0-2712-0234-0). The 979-0 element will replace the 'M' in the 10 digit ISMN. This reflects the Bookland barcode already in use. ISMN's allocated up until this date, will have the following format. The ISMN (e.g. M-2712-0234-0) consists of four elements comprising 10 characters:
The ISMN is printed on the actual item, usually on the back cover. How do you register as a publisher?
How do you request an ISMN for a piece or item of music?
How do you obtain further information? National Library of Australia CANBERRA ACT 2600 Tel: (02) 6262 1777 Email: ismn@nla.gov.au |