International Standard Bibliographic Description

The International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) is a set of rules produced by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions is the leading international association of library organisations. It is the global voice of the library and information profession, and its annual conference provides a venue for librarians to learn from one another...

(IFLA) to describe a wide range of library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

materials within the context of a catalog

Library catalog

A library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations...

. The consolidated edition of the ISBD was published in 2007. It superseded earlier separate ISBDs that were published for monograph

Monograph

A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...

s, older monographic publications, cartographic materials, serials and other continuing resources, electronic resources, non-book materials, and printed music. IFLA's ISBD Review Group is responsible for maintaining the ISBD.

One of the original purposes of the ISBD was to provide a standard form of bibliographic description that could be used to exchange records internationally. This would support IFLA's program of universal bibliographic control

Bibliographic control

In library and information science, bibliographic control is the process by which information resources are described so that users are able to find and select that information resource. An information resource could be a book, a movie, or an image, among other things...

Structure of an ISBD record

The ISBD prescribes eight areas of description. Each area, except area 7, is composed of multiple elements with structured classifications. Elements and areas that do not apply to a particular resource are omitted from the description. Standardized punctuation (colons, semicolons, slashes, dashes, commas, and periods) is used to identify and separate the elements and areas. The order of elements and standardized punctuation make it easier to interpret bibliographic records when one does not understand the language of the description.

1: title and statement of responsibility area, with the contents of
- 1.1 Title proper
- 1.2 General material designation
- 1.3 Parallel title
- 1.4 Other title information
- 1.5 Statements of responsibility
2: edition area
3: material or type of resource specific area (for example, the scale of a map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

or the numbering of a periodical)
4: publication, production, distribution, etc., area
5: physical description area (for example: number of pages in a book or number of CDs issued as a unit)
6: series area
7: notes area
8: resource identifier (e.g. ISBN, ISSN) and terms of availability area

ISBD(A) is governing the antiquarian

Antiquarian

An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

bibliographic publications, which could apply to the ones in archeology, museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, antique auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

or canonical

Canonical

Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....

texts etc.

Meaning of common English-language physical description abbreviations

Abbreviation	Meaning	Explanation
v.	volume(s)	Some works comprise several bound books, e.g., volume 1, volume 2, etc.
lowercase roman numerals (preceding "p.")	number of pages of front matter	Front matter is usually not paginated within the Arabic-numeral pagination of the main body of the book.
p.	page(s)	Number of Arabic-numeral-numbered pages that make up the main body of the book
lowercase roman numerals (following "p.")	number of pages of back matter	Optional; back matter such as appendices and index are often paginated within the Arabic-numeral pagination of the main body of the book.
ℓ	leaf/leaves	Each sheet of paper is one leaf, which contains two pages, recto and verso. Sometimes miscellaneous nonpaginated leaves are counted using "ℓ". The script small L (ℓ) is now deprecated Deprecation In the process of authoring computer software, its standards or documentation, deprecation is a status applied to software features to indicate that they should be avoided, typically because they have been superseded... in favor of spelling out "leaf"/"leaves". Script small L has usually been encoded as Unicode Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems... U+2113.
ill. or illus.	illustration Illustration An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric... (s)
ports.	portrait Portrait thumb\|250px\|right\|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,... (s)	The number of illustrations that are portraits is sometimes given.
cm	height of book in centimeters	Height is measured in centimeters from bottom of book cover to top, i.e., how tall the book is when shelved on the library shelf.
s.l.	sine loco (Latin for "without a place")	Used in bibliographies to indicate that the place of publication of a document is unknown.
s.n.	sine nomine (Latin for "without a name")	Used in bibliographies to indicate that the publisher of a document is unknown.

Example

A typical ISBD record looks like this:

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations : Chicago style for students and researchers / Kate L. Turabian ; revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and University of Chicago Press editorial staff. — 7th ed. — Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007. — xviii, 466 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. — (Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing). — Includes bibliographical references (p. 409-435) and index. — ISBN 978-0-226-82336-2 (cloth : alk. paper) : USD35.00. — ISBN 978-0-226-82337-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) : USD17.00

Structure of an ISBD record

Meaning of common English-language physical description abbreviations

Example

See also