International ISTC Agency Announces New Registration Agency Appointment

LONDON, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The International ISTC Agency, the official Registration Authority for the International Standard Text Code (ISTC), is pleased to announce its appointment of Cercle de la Librairie in Paris, France, as the fourth official ISTC registration agency. Cercle de la Librairie is to delegate responsibility for operating their agency to Electre, the French language bibliographic data service. This means that Electre are now authorized to assign ISTCs to textual works on behalf of authors, publishers and other content owners or representatives. Although no ISTC registration agency has exclusive rights to operate within a specific domain, Electre intends to focus on works which are written in French and/or published in France.

The ISTC is an approved ISO standard (ISO 21047), providing a means of uniquely identifying textual works in information systems. It facilitates the enhancement of discovery tools, enabling them to identify and group together publications of the same textual content. The ISTC also facilitates exchange of information about such works between publishers, authors and authors associations, collective management organizations, libraries, search engines and others on an international level. More information regarding the ISTC standard is available at www.ISTC-international.org, the official web site of the International ISTC Agency.

"We are very excited to welcome Cercle de la Librairie and Electre to the ISTC community," says Julian Sowa, Chairman of the International ISTC Agency, "especially as they bring with them valuable recent experience and insight in to the process of cataloguing publications based on their content. This is an approach which directly fits the philosophy of the ISTC. With the appearance of so many new ways to consume the same content, especially in digital as well as conventional print formats, we believe that the ISTC, as a content-identifier, is becoming increasingly important. We are very pleased that there is now a dedicated ISTC registration agency for such a vibrant publishing industry as that of France."

"Our willingness to promote the ISTC standard responds particularly to the conviction, which was shared by the whole of the profession at the time of the latest Frankfurt Book Fair, that the quality of the metadata for the diffusion and sale of books is even more decisive in the digital universe than in the physical world" said Philippe Beauvillard, CEO of Electre. "The reorganization of our bibliographical system as a work driven database, which we realized in 2010, already integrates the ISTC concept. This recent realization gives us a specific competency to organize the progressive diffusion of this standard to the benefit of the professionals."

Publishers, authors, rights-holders and others interested in the ISTC are encouraged to participate with their local ISTC registration agency to exchange required metadata about their works and groupings of works that are intended for ISTC assignment. Registration of textual works on the central ISTC database is inexpensive and, in many cases, entirely free of charge. General information about the ISTC, including a list of agency contacts, can be accessed at www.ISTC-international.org.

The International ISTC Agency encourages organisations wishing to become an ISTC Registration Agency to contact the International ISTC via: James Boyd, Communication and Product Development, IFRRO at +32 2 551 08 97 or [email protected].  

About The International ISTC Agency

Formed in 2008, The International ISTC Agency is a not-for-profit company appointed by the International Standards Organisation ISO as global authority responsible for the promotion, coordination and supervision of ISO 21047 - International Standard Text Code (ISTC) standard and system.

About Cercle de la Librairie

Cercle de la Librairie is a French interprofessional organism which regroups representatives of the different steps of the book process. Since its creation in 1847, it has efficiently adapted itself to the key changes which have occurred in the book sector. Today, its commercial subsidiary, Electre, manages the Editions du Cercle de la Librairie, as well as publishes the magazine of the book trade, Livres Hebdo. Via the Electre database, it also offers to the whole of the sector's participants – editors, booksellers and libraries – the supply of professional bibliographical information and associated services. Already ensuring the management of the organism in charge, in France, of the attribution of ISBN numbers, Cercle de la Librairie is thus from now on the regional ISTC registration agency.

SOURCE The International ISTC Agency