Re: ISSN for RFC Series under Consideration

Hi all:

In a former life I published a Theatre Technology newsletter; we got an
ISSN for it, as a result two libraries asked for copies of each issue so
that they could archive them.  That was the only effect.

So, I agree with Melinda - it's worth getting an ISSN, and recognition
from the Library world, but it's unlikely to have any other effect.

Cheers, Nevil

---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Nevil Brownlee                    Computer Science Department | ITS
  Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x88941             The University of Auckland
  FAX: +64 9 373 7453   Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

On 22/05/2008, at 9:52 AM, Melinda Shore wrote:

> On 5/21/08 5:39 PM, "Brian E Carpenter"  
> <brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Possibly not, but there is still a crusty old world of academic
>> publications with traditional reference styles out there, and an ISSN
>> will make it much more straightforward to cite RFCs in peer-reviewed
>> publications. +1 that it's a no-brainer.
>
> Hi - I'm really not trying to be a contrarian, just trying to
> sort through the actual issues here.  I don't think I've ever seen
> a reference that included an ISSN.  I've also never seen one
> used as a subject header (index term) in cataloging.  The only
> time I've personally seen them used is as *descriptive* information
> in a  catalog (library catalog, publisher's catalog, etc.).  I'm
> sure someone will be happy to dig up a counterexample but
> I do think they're pretty unusual.  Really, what are the odds
> that someone knows the ISSN but not the title or the author or
> the publisher or ... ?
>
> The practical benefit I see here is getting the Library of
> Congress (and who knows?  maybe the British Library, etc.)
> to catalog the series as a series, but again I'm unclear on
> the practical benefit, since RFCs are incredibly easy to find
> *as* RFCs; that is to say, by the information by which the
> series will be cataloged and classified.
>
> I don't see any disadvantage to doing it, it's just that I
> can't see much advantage, either.  I figure we should just
> go ahead and do it and not have any expectations that the
> RFCs will be any more accessible, any more searchable, etc.
> More like a change in status than a change in substance.
>
> Melinda
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