Using National Bibliography Numbers as Uniform Resource Names
RFC 3188
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(October 2001; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 8458
Obsoletes RFC 8458
Was draft-hakala-nbn (individual)
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Author | Juna Hakala | ||
Last updated | 2018-10-13 | ||
Stream | Legacy | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 3188 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group J. Hakala Request for Comments: 3188 Helsinki University Library Category: Informational October 2001 Using National Bibliography Numbers as Uniform Resource Names Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document discusses how national bibliography numbers (persistent and unique identifiers assigned by the national libraries) can be supported within the URN (Uniform Resource Names) framework and the syntax for URNs defined in RFC 2141. Much of the discussion is based on the ideas expressed in RFC 2288. 1. Introduction As part of the validation process for the development of URNs the IETF working group agreed that it is important to demonstrate that the current URN syntax proposal can accommodate existing identifiers from well established namespaces. One such infrastructure for assigning and managing names comes from the bibliographic community. Bibliographic identifiers function as names for objects that exist both in print and, increasingly, in electronic formats. RFC 2288 [Lynch] investigated the feasibility of using three identifiers (ISBN, ISSN and SICI) as URNs. This document will analyse the usage of national bibliography numbers (NBNs) as URNs. The need to extend analysis to new identifier systems was briefly discussed in RFC 2288 as well, with the following summary: "The issues involved in supporting those additional identifiers are anticipated to be broadly similar to those involved in supporting ISBNs, ISSNs, and SICIs". Hakala Informational [Page 1] RFC 3188 Using National Bibliography Numbers as URNs October 2001 A registration request for acquiring a Namespace Identifier (NID) "NBN" for national bibliography numbers has been written by the National Library of Finland on the request of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and the Conference of the European National Librarians (CENL). Chapter 5 contains a URN namespace registration request modeled according to the template in RFC 2611. The document at hand is part of a global co-operation of the national libraries to foster identification of electronic documents in general and utilisation of URNs in particular. Some national libraries, including the national libraries of Finland, Norway and Sweden, are already assigning NBN-based URNs for electronic resources. We have used the URN Namespace Identifier "NBN" for the national bibliographic numbers in examples below. 2. Identification vs. Resolution As a rule the national bibliography numbers identify finite, manageably-sized objects, but these objects may still be large enough that resolution to a hierarchical system is appropriate. The materials identified by a national bibliography number may exist only in printed or other physical form, not electronically. The best that a resolver will be able to offer in this case is bibliographic data from a national bibliography database, including information about where the physical resource is stored in a national library's holdings. 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. However, NBNs will be used for instance to identify resources in digital Web archives created by harvester robot applications. In this case, NBN will identify exactly the resource the user expects to see. 3. National bibliography numbers 3.1 Overview National Bibliography Number (NBN) is a generic name referring to a group of identifier systems utilised by the national libraries and only by them for identification of deposited publications which lack an identifier, or to descriptive metadata (cataloging) that describes the resources. In many countries legal (or voluntary) deposit is being extended to electronic publications. Hakala Informational [Page 2] RFC 3188 Using National Bibliography Numbers as URNs October 2001 Each national library uses its own NBN strings independently of other national libraries; there is no global authority which controls them. For this reason NBNs are unique only on national level. When used as URNs, NBN strings must be augmented with a controlled prefix such as country code. These prefixes guarantee uniqueness of the NBN-based URNs on the global scale.Show full document text