The International Standard Name Identifier: extending identity management across the global metadata supply chain

Abstract

This article describes how ISNI is being adopted as a common identifier across disparate sectors of publishing. Whether publishing and distributing recorded music, film or text ISNI is making good identity management a staple element in the global metadata supply chain. As the content creation industries become more engaged with the value of embedding good metadata from the point of publication libraries can look forward to benefitting from a truly global revolution in the metadata supply flow. A case study describes how a British Library project has taken ISNIs already in the British National Bibliography and cross-matched them with data from UK publishers’ own databases to embed ISNIs into the book supply chain. It also describes plans for ongoing publisher engagement through implementation of ISNI assignment into its cataloguing-in-publication workflows for UK legal deposit.