The new entity CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR-NIScPR) was inaugurated with a new Vision on 14 January 2021 by the Union Science and Technology Minister of India, Dr Harsh Vardhan. The new Institute has been established after the merger of two prestigious institutes of CSIR namely, CSIR-NISCAIR and CSIR-NISTADS. The merger will combine strength of two institutes in a synergistic way with a vision to become a globally respected Think Tank and Resource Centre for understanding Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) Policy Research and Communication. CSIR-NISCAIR manages the largest and oldest National Science Library and also distributes International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for Indian continuing resources. It has been the custodian of the National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC) which facilitates access to more than 5,000 e-journals of all major publishers, patents, standards, citations, and bibliographic databases.

Gaëlle Béquet will give a presentation on the production of ISO international standards at the conference organized by AFNOR, the French standardization agency, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Quai Branly Museum and Sorbonne University. This conference will take place on the occasion of the publication of ISO 21110 – Emergency preparedness and response in libraries, archives and museums. Registration is free of charge.​ Program available here.

The ISSN Review Group will present two proposals to update MARC to the MARC Advisory Committee (MAC) on January 26th, 2021. The proposals can be read on the MAC website here: https://www.loc.gov/marc/mac/mw2021_age.html

Gaëlle Béquet, ISSN IC Director, will attend the online conference PIDapalooza -The Open Festival of Persistent Identifiers on 27 January 2021. The program is available.

The ISSN Register was created by UNESCO and France in the 1970s to index and identify analogue and digital serial publications. The ISSN database was available only to Member States and subscribers until 2013, when the ROAD database of open access scientific resources was made available on the web. This movement to free up ISSN data has accelerated under the impetus of a new management and thanks to the support of member countries, leading to the opening of the ISSN Portal in 2018. Today, the ISSN Portal offers a suite of services to libraries, publishers and the information industry that aims to trace as accurately as possible the trajectory of serial publications from their birth to their long-term preservation.

This presentation is intended to provide an overview of the progress made since the opening of ROAD in 2013 and an outline of the 2024 strategy.

On 23 November 2020, the Library of Congress’s U.S. ISSN Center launched ISSN Uplink, a new  application and tracking system for International Standard Serial Numbers. Publishers and other users such as  Program for Cooperative Cataloging’s CONSER members will be able to apply online for ISSN, create accounts that include team members, track the status of their applications, communicate with ISSN staff members, and be able to see a history of all their applications, communications, and ISSN assigned. The applications submission history and record of communications in Uplink will allow ISSN staff to provide better service to users during the ISSN assignment process and for future inquiries. For further information, please review the ISSN Uplink Fast FAQs.

Regina Romano Reynolds, Director of the  U.S. ISSN Center, Library of Congress, and Karen E. A. Ross authored an article published in Serials Librarian about ISSN and grey literature.

This article discusses and provides examples of the types of grey literature in scope for ISSN and describes the bibliographic metadata about these resources created to support each ISSN assignment. Benefits to the originators of grey literature that result from ISSN assignments are highlighted, especially the valuable exposure that the resources gain from the bibliographic records that are created to document ISSN assignments and are included in multiple international databases. Benefits that accrue to the ISSN Network from the inclusion of grey literature will also be covered.

The Supervisory Board of Europeana Foundation has just approved the appointment of Gaëlle Béquet as member of the newly created Europeana Foundation Advisory Board to which she will bring her expertise in the field of digital strategies and her experience and knowledge of the cultural sector.

DOAJ, the CLOCKSS Archive, Internet Archive, Keepers Registry/ISSN International Centre and Public Knowledge Project (PKP) have agreed to partner to provide an alternative pathway for the preservation of small-scale, APC-free, Open Access journals. The recent study, authored by M. Laakso, L. Matthias, and N. Jahn, has revived academia’s concern over the disappearance of the scholarly record disseminated in Open Access (OA) journals. DOAJ will act as a single interface with CLOCKSS, PKP and Internet Archive and facilitate a connection to these services for interested journals.

Reports regarding the effective preservation of the journals’ content will be aggregated by the ISSN International Centre (ISSN IC) and published in the Keepers Registry. Gaëlle Béquet, ISSN IC Director, commented: “As the operator of the Keepers Registry service, the ISSN International Centre receives inquiries from journal publishers looking for archiving solutions. This project is a new step in the development of our service to meet this need in a transparent and diverse way involving all our partners.”

The Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) has been licensed by ISNI International Agency since 1 October 2020 as an International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) registration agency for Belgian public identities active in a creative sector, such as the publishing world.
ISNI International Agency is responsible for the creation and dissemination of identifiers, as well as the administration of the database. It promotes and leads the adoption of ISNI identification worldwide.