Appointments: ISBD Review Group Committee Member

Term: August 2023-August 2027

Appointments will be made by the Advisory Committee on Standards 13 March – 12 April 2023

Overview

The IFLA ISBD Review Group oversees the production, management and promotion of IFLA’s International Standard Bibliographic description and provides a central coordinating body to which any IFLA ISBD-related issues can be directed. The ISBD RG reports to the IFLA Advisory Committee on Standards and is linked with the IFLA Cataloguing Section.

The International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) is intended to serve as a principal standard to promote universal bibliographic control, that is, to make universally and promptly available, in a form that is internationally acceptable, basic bibliographic data for all published and unpublished bibliographic resources in all countries. The main goal of the ISBD is to provide consistency when sharing bibliographic information.

The ISBD is the only freely accessible and open standard maintained by IFLA that determines the data elements to be transcribed and recorded as the basis of the description of the resource being catalogued. Its existence corresponds to the IFLA objective of providing accessible and open standards and tools for all countries and types of libraries.

The ISBD Review Group reports to the IFLA Committee on Standards and is linked with the IFLA Cataloguing Section. Read more about the Group.

Who can stand for this position?

Anyone can stand. Candidates do not have to be an IFLA Member or Affiliate and if elected, are elected in their own right and not as the representative of their employer or nominator.

ISBD Review Group Members require a skill set specific to the work, to be successful. New members will be selected primarily on the basis of their expertise. In appointing members we will be seeking a mix of skills among the Review Group members according to the requirements of the Group.

What is the term of office?

Review Group Committee members complete four-year terms renewable through re-election. Individuals may be a member of only one Review Group but may serve as a liaison to multiple groups.

What are the roles and responsibilities for this position?

Individuals involved in this committee can expect to:

  • Promote the use, translation into various languages and implementation of the ISBD in library systems and services. It is anticipated that national or international committees responsible for preparing codes of cataloguing rules will use the ISBD as the basis for their rules on description of library materials to describe all aspects of each resource, including its content, its carrier, and its mode of issuance.
  • Prepare documentation for any revisions of the standard;
  • Monitor developments in the publishing and other relevant communities that have impact on the content form, media type, and mode of issuance of library resources;
  • Explore and further develop the representation of the ISBD in the W3C RDF standard to enhance the portability of bibliographic data in the Semantic Web environment, and the interoperability of the ISBD with other content standards;
  • Take part in activities regarding alignment of ISBD data elements with IFLA’s bibliographic conceptual models;
  • Continue activities on harmonization of the ISBD, ISSN, RDA and other national and international cataloguing rules;
  • Co-ordinate other activities regarding ISBD user communities requirements concerning development of the ISBD.

What skills and attributes do I need for this position?

Candidates for this position should be able to demonstrate:

  • Previous experience connected with the ISBD or with one or more other IFLA standards (drafting, managing, or contributing to an IFLA standard), or knowledge about and experience with the development of library standards and quality of data control in general which might be applicable in the IFLA context;
  • Expertise in cataloguing, knowledge of cataloguing rules or guidelines, metadata management and library-related conceptual models;
  • Ability and willingness to contribute regularly, collaboratively, and actively to the work of the ISBD Review Group both during meetings and virtually, during the year, between meetings. Members should also recognise the importance of multiple cultures and diversity, prioritising user needs, and acting with a spirit of negotiation to reach consensus.
  • A reasonable expectation of being able to attend (without cost to IFLA) the physical business and professional meetings of the ISBD Review Group. The meetings are usually held during the IFLA World Library and Information Congress.
  • A working knowledge of at least one of the working languages of IFLA (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish). Since the business meetings of IFLA are generally conducted in English, reasonable fluency in this language is necessary to be able to fully participate as a member of an IFLA Review Group.

How many nominations do I need?

Each candidate requires one (1) nomination for this position.

Who can be a nominator?

IFLA Members can nominate individuals for this position. They have received an election email containing information describing how they can submit a nomination.

How many candidates can each Member nominate for this position?

Each Member can nominate six (6) candidates for this position.

How do I find a nominator?

Check the list of IFLA Members. You may contact them asking to be nominated.

How do I submit my nominee form?

Those wishing to stand as a candidate will need to submit a nominee form for this position. This should be done once a nominator has been found. In this form you will also be asked to provide a statement of up to 200 words describing how you demonstrate the skills and attributes required.

A nomination only becomes valid when there is a match between the number of required nominations and a completed nominee form.

More information

Consult the ISBD website to learn more about the remit of this Review Group.