URNs and ISBN numbers

Chris Weider (clw@merit.edu)
Mon, 18 Oct 93 12:15:41 -0400

Date: Mon, 18 Oct 93 12:15:41 -0400
From: "Chris Weider" <clw@merit.edu>
Message-Id: <9310181615.AA24473@merit.edu>
To: masinter@parc.xerox.com
Subject: URNs and ISBN numbers

Larry:
In a message from Saturday, you write:

>It seems short-sighted to assume that there will be only one style of
>URN; rather, subsuming the ISO object identifiers and ISBN numbers
>would be a good start.

The current version of the URN draft suggests that the ISBN numbers
(and other previously assigned, widely recognized naming conventions) can
be grandfathered into the URN scheme by assigning a naming authority scheme
which reflects that naming scheme. Something like

(Using the old clunky syntax)

URN:ISBN:[ISBN_Publisher_ID]::[Rest of ISBN number]:::

Does this allay your concerns about having one style of URN, or does this need to be different?
Chris Weider