Fields are given in the order of appearance on the ISNI templates.  All fields except identifier and name are optional in an ISNI record.  There is no expectation to fill in every available field.

See also ISNI field mappings.

Persons

Use the persons template also for fictitious characters.

Identifier

The identifier consists of an identifier type and an identifier number. 

Identifier type

Each contributing institution to an ISNI record has an identifier type, which is a code for the institution. Harvard's code is HARV.  The code for members of the PCC project is PCC.  When creating a new record, this identifier type is supplied by the system. When editing an existing record, clicking on the + will add the identifier type related to the login. No other changes can be made to the record without this identifier type, except when adding a General Note to communicate to the ISNI quality team.

Identifier (number)

A system number from the contributing institution for the identity.  Leave blank for Harvard and PCC contributions.

Other identifier

identifier type

For example, ORCID, IPI (Interested Party Information), or local identifier.

identifier

The identifier number or string from the service given as Identifier type.  An ORCID may be entered with or without hyphens, but not with spaces in place of the hyphens.

Name

Each contributing institution must supply a name by which the identity is known to the institution, even if it is the same name as supplied by another source.  There is no one "established" or "authorized" form of name in an ISNI record.  When editing an existing record, clicking on the + will create empty fields in which to supply a name.

The surname is a required subfield in the web version, so names without a proper surname, such as Icelandic names, should be entered in direct order in the surname field.  Name variants may be recorded with the patronymic in the surname field and the forename in the "fornames" field.  (Example: Snorri Björnsson, ISNI 0000 0000 2900 9528)

Fornames (sic)

Surname

Numeration

May include roman numerals that follow a name, such as "III," or suffixes like "Jr."

Title

May include a title associated with the name, e.g. "Dr.", "Sir", "Prince of Wales"

Dates

Record dates in the ISO 8601 extended format, i.e. YYYY-MM-DD. Dates may be truncated to a month (YYYY-MM) or a year (YYYY).

Birth

Death

Creation class

e.g. text, music, audiovisual, choreographic, software, art works (per info pop-up)
Per email from ISNI QT in June 2017, use 2 letter codes from MARC 21 leader/06 and leader/07 (http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bdleader.html), for example

• am = language material, monograph (use for books)
• gm = projected material, monograph (use for films)

Creation role

Use drop-down list.  Some terms duplicate or overlap with others.
For example, there are multiple terms beginning with "film."

Work

Title

Recording the title(s) of works created by the entity is optional.  Include initial articles if present. There is no requirement to follow cataloging conventions for transcription or the use of brackets for supplied titles.  It is not necessary to seek out additional titles; the intent is not to create a bibliography.

The system inserts a "@" before the first word of the title to be used for sorting, i.e., after an initial article. Do not insert the symbol manually.

Subtitle

Record only if available in the source used. Do not input a colon before the subtitle. The system will display a colon after the title proper automatically in the labeled display.

Instrument

Use only for musical performers. Use a code from the MARC Instruments and Voices Code List.

Contributed to or performed

Title

Use for works for which the person was not the creator but a contributor or performer, such as a journal, a film, or a musical work.

Name variant

Use for additional names for the entity.

See field information under Name.

Related person

May include co-authors, co-performers, co-directors, pseudonyms, real names, collaborators.

Fornames (sic)

Surname

Relation: Is related

Choose either "related" or "not related" from drop-down list.

Relationship type

Choose one from the drop-down list.

Relationship dates

Enter beginning and ending dates if known. Use ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD).

PPN

Pica production number of the related person in the ISNI database, if known.

Related organisation

An organization that the person is affiliated with, is a member of, or is otherwise related to.

See field information under Related person.

Language

3-letter code from ISO 639-2 Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages, e.g. "eng" for English. For languages that have two such codes, use the "bibliographic" code, e.g. use "ger" for German.

Gender

Select one term from the drop-down list.

Nationality

Enter 2-letter code from ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 e.g. "US" for United States.

External information

May be used for web pages that have more information about the person.

Information

Identification of the site being cited, e.g. "Wikipedia" or "IMDb"

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier of the web page with the information.

General note

Messages for the ISNI quality team, such as information that should be deleted from a record, records that should be split, etc.  It is not necessary to add identifier and name to the record before adding a general note.  PCC members should not use this field to request merges of records; these should be reported to the PCC ISNI Quality Team.

For example, the following message was attached to a record for a current researcher that showed a birth date of 1900.

Organizations

All fields except Identifier and Name are optional.

Identifier

See field information under Identifier.

Other identifier

See field information under Other identifier

Name

organisation

Enter the name of an independent corporate body, or, if recording a subordinate body, enter the name of the parent body.

subdivision

Enter the name of a subordinate body.  ISNI does not seem to allow for additional levels of hierarchy in the editing template, but more information can be entered in the subdivision box if necessary.  ISNI does not have the same kind of rules for entering names as in RDA.

Organisation type

Select one term from the drop-down list.  This field is optional and will appear as a parenthetical qualifier to the name.  On the template for new records it looks like a separate field, while on the template for editing existing records, it looks like a subfield of the name.

Name variant

See field information under Name.

Location

country

Enter 2-letter code from  ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 e.g. "US" for United States.

locode

Enter UN/LOCODE (United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations), which is maintained by UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). The code consists of the 2-letter country code from ISO 3166-1 followed by a space and a 3-letter code for a local place. To find a code for a local place, go to the UN/LOCODE Code List by Country, click on the name of the country to find a table of local place names in the country, then find the code for the local place. For the United States, there seems to be one big table for all places as well as 5 tables broken down by letters of the alphabet. For example, to find a code for Cambridge, Mass., click on either "United States" or "{A to E}", then find Cambridge in the table. There are 11 places named Cambridge in the list; the code for the one in Massachusetts is "US JHY".

If a code is entered in locode, the values for country, region or state, and city will be entered automatically when the record is saved.  Either enter a value in the box for locode or fill in the boxes for country, region or state, and city.  Do not do both.

region or state

Enter code derived from ISO 3166-2, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 2: Country subdivision code.  The code consists of the 2-letter country code followed by a hyphen and up to three letters representing a subdivision, such as a state. Click on the 2-letter code for the country in the Wikipedia table (not on the name of the country), then find the code for the subdivision. For example, to find the code for Massachusetts, start at the Wikipedia page for ISO 3166-2, click on "US", which brings you to ISO 3166-2:US.  The code for Massachusetts is "US-MA".  Enter only the part after the hyphen, e.g. MA, as in US postal codes..

city

Enter the name of the city or local place where the organization is located. Do not add qualifiers for larger places.

Dates

decade

Recommended: do not use this field for PCC ISNI records.  The "Dates" field corresponds to field 943 and is known as Dates of activity.  In batch loads it often designates a decade, e.g. "201." for the decade 2010-2019 and may be related to the dates of works, etc., from and about the organization.

This field appears when editing an existing record for an organization, but not when creating a new record.

Usage dates

Record dates in the ISO 8601 extended format, i.e. YYYY-MM-DD. Dates may be truncated to a month (YYYY-MM) or a year (YYYY).  Dates are not linked to any particular name in the record.  Dates in the "usage dates" field will display to the public, while those in the field labeled "Dates" do not.  The "Usage dates" field corresponds to field 970 and is known as Dates of the identity; for organizations this may be the dates a body was formed or went out of existence.

usage date from

Enter the date on which the organization began its existence. In most cases, this should be left blank.

usage date to

Enter the date on which the organization ended its existence. In most cases, this should be left blank.

Related person

A person who is related to the organization.

See field information under Related person.

Related organisation

An organization with which the organization is related.

See field information under Related person.

Work

See field information under Work.

Creation class

See field information under Creation class.

Creation role

See field information under Creation role.

Language

See field information under Language.

External information

See field information under External information.

General note

See field information under General note.