INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) Preliminary Consolidated Edition Recommended by the ISBD Review Group Approved by the Standing Committee of the IFLA Cataloguing Section April 2007 © IFLA / K. G. Saur 2007 © IFLA / K. G. Saur 2007 ISBD 2007 CONTENTS Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. iii Preliminary notes ................................................................................................................................. 0-1 Scope, purpose and use..........................................................................................................0-1 Treatment of resources............................................................................................................0-2 Outline of the ISBD and Punctuation .....................................................................................0-10 Sources of Information...........................................................................................................0-15 Language and script of the description..................................................................................0-20 Abridgements and abbreviations ...........................................................................................0-21 Capitalization .........................................................................................................................0-22 Examples...............................................................................................................................0-23 Misprints ...............................................................................................................................0-23 Symbols, etc. .........................................................................................................................0-25 Imperfections .........................................................................................................................0-25 SPECIFICATION OF ELEMENTS.......................................................................................................1-1 1 Title and statement of responsibility area .................................................................1-1 2 Edition area ..............................................................................................................2-1 3 Material or type of resource specific area.................................................................3-1 4 Publication, production, distribution, etc., area.........................................................4-1 5 Physical description area..........................................................................................5-1 6 Series area ...............................................................................................................6-1 7 Note area..................................................................................................................7-1 8 Resource identifier and terms of availability area .....................................................8-1 APPENDICES A: Multilevel description ............................................................................................... A-1 B: Bi-directional records............................................................................................... B-1 C: Recommended General material designations and Specific material designations. C-1 D Abbreviations........................................................................................................... D-1 E: Glossary .................................................................................................................. E-1 Index .................................................................................................................................. Index-1 v © IFLA / K. G. Saur 2007 ISBD 2007 Members of the Study Group on Future Directions of the ISBDs (as of November 2006) Françoise Bourdon Bibliothèque nationale de France Elena Escolano Rodríguez Biblioteca Nacional, Spain Renate Gömpel Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Germany Lynne C. Howarth University of Toronto, Canada Agnès Manneheut (from August 2005) Agence bibliographique de l’Enseignement supérieur, France Dorothy McGarry (Chair) University of California, Los Angeles, USA (retired) Eeva Murtomaa National Library of Finland Mirna Willer National and University Library, Zagreb, Croatia John Hostage (Consultant, from August 2006) Harvard Law School, USA Members of the ISBD Review Group (as of May 2006) Françoise Bourdon Bibliothèque nationale de France John D. Byrum, Jr. (Chair through March Library of Congress, USA (retired) 2006; corresponding member from April 2006) Elena Escolano Rodríguez (Chair from April Biblioteca Nacional, Spain 2006) William Garrison Syracuse University, USA Renate Gömpel Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Germany Mauro Guerrini Università di Firenze, Italy Ton Heijligers (Corresponding member) Amsterdam, The Netherlands Lynne C. Howarth University of Toronto, Canada Philippe-Corentin Le Pape SICD des universités de Toulouse, France Cristina Magliano ICCU-Rome, Italy Dorothy McGarry University of California, Los Angeles, USA (retired) Eeva Murtomaa National Library of Finland Glenn Patton OCLC Online Computer Library Center, USA vi © IFLA / K. G. Saur 2007 ISBD 2007 Introduction The International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) is intended to serve as a principal standard to promote universal bibliographic control, to make universally and promptly available, in a form that is internationally acceptable, basic bibliographic data for all published resources in all countries. The ISBD’s main goal is, and has been since the very beginning, to offer consistency when sharing bibliographic information. The ISBD is the standard that determines the data elements to be recorded or transcribed in a specific sequence as the basis of the description of the resource being catalogued. In addition, it employs prescribed punctuation as a means of recognizing and displaying these data elements and making them understandable independently of the language of the description. Currently, a new Statement of International Cataloguing Principles is being developed by means of a series of regional IFLA Meetings of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code, in order that the principles are approved all around the world. In these principles, which replace and broaden the Paris Principles of 1961, the fourth section is devoted to bibliographic description where it is recognized that “The descriptive portion of the bibliographic record should be based on an internationally agreed standard.”1 According to this, ISBD is recognized to be the standard for the library community, as the statement of principles is intended not only for libraries but for archives, museums, and other communities. Although the development of this standard was originally pushed by the automation of bibliographic control as well as the economic necessity of sharing cataloguing, the ISBD is useful and applicable for bibliographic descriptions of all kind of bibliographic resources in any kind of catalogue, whether OPACs (Online Public Access Catalogues) or catalogues less technologically advanced. Those agencies using national and multinational cataloguing codes could apply this internationally agreed-upon standard conveniently in their catalogues. The ISBD Review Group is trying to solve some of the problems that today’s cataloguers face. The present ISBD is intended to serve as a standard for description of all types of published materials up to the present date, and to make it easier to describe resources that share characteristics of more than one format. In addition, it will facilitate the work of keeping the ISBD updated and consistent for the future. Having these goals in mind, in 2003 the ISBD Review Group decided to set up a Study Group on Future Directions of the ISBDs. This Study Group decided that consolidation of all ISBDs was feasible. The Study Group on Future Directions of the ISBDs was charged by the Review Group with the task of preparing a definitive text, resulting in this document. Its work has been guided by the following Objectives and Principles. Objectives: • To prepare a consolidated, updated ISBD from the specialized ISBDs in order to meet the needs of cataloguers and other users of bibliographic information. 1 IFLA cataloguing principles : steps towards an international cataloguing code : report from the 1st IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code, Frankfurt, 2003. – München : Saur, 2004. IFLA cataloguing principles : steps towards an international cataloguing code, 2 : report from the 2nd IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004. – München : Saur, 2005. IFLA cataloguing principles: steps towards an international cataloguing code, 3 : report from the 3rd IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code, Cairo, Egypt, 2005. – München : Saur, 2006. Also available at: http://www.d-nb.de/standardisierung/afs/imeicc_index.htm; http://www.loc.gov/loc/ifla/imeicc/imeicc2/; http://www.loc.gov/loc/ifla/imeicc/ and http://www.nl.go.kr/icc/icc/information.php vii © IFLA / K. G. Saur 2007 ISBD 2007 • To provide consistent stipulations for description of all types of resources, to the extent that uniformity is possible, and specific stipulations for specific