Use of ISNI Is Growing Fast Among Authors, Says New Bowker Analysis
NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ, May 7, 2014 – A new analysis of Bowker® Books In Print shows that a full 33 percent of its contributors have the ISO-certified International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) connected with their names and in use in the database. ISNI was created just over two years ago and has topped 8 million assignments, 2.33 million of which are represented in Books In Print, showing rapid uptake by authors and other contributors.
Published in early 2012, the standard applies a unique 16-digit code to public identities, providing a single identifier that can be leveraged across many applications, syncing alternate or disparate spellings of the same name, and eliminating confusion when names are alike. ISNIs are in use by organizations such as Wikipedia, Digital Science, ORCID, and many others. Bowker, an affiliated business of ProQuest and a registration agency for the standard, tracks assignments and usage of ISNIs.
“This extraordinary growth in use in just two years reveals the standard’s ability to simplify the process of identification,” said Beat Barblan, Bowker’s Director of Identifier Services and Treasurer of the ISNI International Agency. “Information about authors and other contributors to books is found in many locations – from research databases to organizations paying royalties. The ISNI is a simple, effective way to ensure accuracy. With an ISNI, we know we are referring to the correct Dan Brown or Stephen King.”
The ISNI International Agency – a worldwide group of organizations that serves researchers, rights management organizations, authors, musicians, and other public contributors – created the standard to disambiguate names. Once an ISNI is assigned by a registration agency, it is shared across the global digital information industry, enabling organizations to apply it to content held in their databases by or about that party. The ISNI then acts as a link for data.
Users tapping into any of the organizations that use ISNIs will need only a name and just enough background data (such as a birth date or book title) to zero in on the correct identity. ISNIs are especially critical for rights management, accurate royalty payments, and cross-domain linking.
Organizations and individuals can apply for an ISNI for any public identity – real or fictional – through a registration agency, such as Bowker. To apply for ISNIs through Bowker or obtain more information, contact Laura Dawson, Product Manager for Identifier Services, at laura.dawson@bowker.com. Use ISNI’s free lookup interface at http://www.isni.org/search.
About the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI)
The International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) is an ISO Standard (ISO 27729:2012) whose scope is the identification of public identities across multiple fields of creative activities. ISNI streamlines content distribution chains, disambiguating natural, legal and fictional parties that might otherwise be confused.
ISNI is a creation of the ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA) founded by CISAC, the Conference of European National Librarians (represented by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the British Library), IFRRO, OCLC, ProQuest, SCAPR. The founding members include consortia representing more than 26,000 major world libraries, 300 rights management societies and research information giants OCLC and ProQuest, along with its business unit Bowker.
Bowker is the world's leading provider of bibliographic information and management solutions designed to help publishers, booksellers, and libraries better serve their customers. Creators of products and services that make books easier for people to discover, evaluate, order, and experience, Bowker is the official ISBN Agency for the United States and its territories. A ProQuest affiliate, Bowker is headquartered in New Providence, New Jersey with additional operations in England and Australia.
About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)
ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company’s products are a gateway to the world’s knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.
The company’s cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest®, Bowker®, Dialog®, EBL®, ebrary® and Serials Solutions® businesses – and notable research tools such as the Summon® discovery service, Flow™, Pivot™ and the Intota™ library services platform. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.