6. MPEG 21

This initiative aims at creating an interaction between individual systems, i.e. ISBN for printed and electronic books, ISMN for scores and parts, ISAN for movies, ISRC for recordings, etc. The call for proposals intends to harmonize, integrate and connect the different systems, to save costs etc. 8 parties filed proposals (you can find further information on the internet). A consortium of SC 9 identifier maintenance agencies hired a consultant from Canada, Tom Delsey, to submit a working paper.

A so-called strawman model was submitted to MPEG-21, but so far it was not satisfactorily evaluated. Nevertheless the group of representatives of bibliographic standard identifiers is willing to go on because it seems that the available theoretical and practical knowledge pooled in that group would guarantee a successful result of the project - if MPEG agreed.

A certain drawback has been the reluctance of the ISBN community to pay its modest share in the costs of answering to the call for proposals.