ISSN: Registering Your Blog with the Library of Congress

What is an ISSN?  Why should you bother?  It's like an ISBN for your blog. 

From the Library of Congress:

An ISBN or International Standard Book Number is the book counterpart to the ISSN. It is a national and international standard identification number for uniquely identifying books, i.e., publications that are not intended to continue indefinitely. A publication can have both an ISSN and an ISBN. This situation occurs most commonly with books in a series and with annuals or biennials. The ISBN identifies the individual book in a series or a specific year for an annual or biennial. The ISSN identifies the ongoing series, or the ongoing annual or biennial serial. ...

The ISSN can be thought of as the social security number of the serials world. Just as an individual's social security number is used in many automated systems to distinguish that person from others with the same or similar names, the ISSN distinguishes a particular serial from others with which it might be confused. The ISSN also helps library patrons, libraries, and others who handle large numbers of serials to find and identify titles in automated systems more quickly and easily. ...

There is no charge for the assignment of the ISSN, or for the use of an ISSN once assigned. (However, the Library of Congress incurs substantial costs to staff and maintain the U.S. ISSN Center. Additionally, the Library of Congress is assessed a considerable fee to belong to the ISSN Network.) ...

There is no connection between Copyright and ISSN. Having an ISSN does not confer any Copyright protection, nor does sending a serial to the Copyright office eliminate your need to send the U.S. ISSN Center a sample issue of a serial for which you were given a prepublication ISSN. ...

Getting an ISSN for a title does not confer any exclusive rights to that title. Nor can titles be copyrighted. The best way to protect a title is to register it with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

To register your blog online with the Library of Congress, go here.


One more thing:  thanks to Lynn Viehl at Paperback Writer for the head's up.

Look for My Article on Privatization Trends in the Upcoming Issue of the Florida Defender

The Florida Defender is published quarterly by the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 

I'm honored to have my article, "The Vital Necessity of the Office of the Florida Public Defender: Resisting the Temptation to Privatize," where I share a byline with Terry Lenamon, published in a periodical noted for its contributors and for its scholarly readership. 

Look for it in the Spring 2011 Issue of The Florida Defender. 

How to Cite Websites as Primary Sources: Library of Congress Provides Fast Reference to Chicago, MLA

The Library of Congress offers a fast and easy to follow reference resource for proper citation under either Chicago (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sections 17.270, 17.237) or MLA (MLA Handbook, 6th ed., section 5.9.2).

Jump from the Library's overview page to its nice, short itemization of Chicago or MLA. 

For example, from here you can find how the Chicago Manual of Style references proper citation to online legal documents and government publications as a primary source in your work (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sections 17.270, 17.270):

1.Creator’s last name, first name, middle initial (or filmographer’s name if no director is specified, but indicate role).
2.Author’s last name, first name, middle initial (if given).
3.Title of document (subsection is placed in quotes, followed by title in italics).
4.Format (omit if it is a printed page).
5.Publisher city: publishing company, copyright date (include as much information as possible such as page numbers).
6.Source (From Library of Congress in normal font), Collection name with dates (in italics).
7.Medium (software requirement needed to access source).
8.URL (use bibliographic record URL or shorter digital id if available at bottom of bib record).
9.Accessed date (in parenthesis).