ISSN Canada

The former National Library of Canada (NLC) was designated the Canadian National Centre of the International Serials Data System (ISDS) in 1973. As a result, the Library created ISDS Canada, now known as ISSN Canada, who has been registering ISSN for Canadian serial publications since January 1974. This makes ISSN Canada one of the first national centres to join the ISSN Network, having just celebrated its 50^th anniversary in January 2024. Today, ISSN Canada is a unit within the Serials, Music, and Special Collections team of the Description Division of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and has the exclusive mandate to provide ISSN services in Canada.

ISSN Canada has a long history of active participation in the ISSN community. In 1984, Karen Franklin of the Public Services Branch of the former NLC published a Canadian version of You Name It! (Un titre s’il vous plaît in French), which is a pamphlet that acts as a working guide for editors and publishers responsible for the production of serial publications in Canada. It highlighted the importance of clear and standardized titles to help facilitate access to serial publications in catalogues. Since 2013, ISSN Canada has been participating in ROAD, the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources. In September 2014, Dorota Laska, a former librarian in ISSN Canada, became a member of the ISSN Review Group who prepared the 2014 edition of the ISSN Manual. Overall, ISSN Canada is the third most productive national centre within the ISSN Network, after France and the United States. As of January 2025, ISSN Canada managed over 175,316 ISSN records. It is thanks to the participation of clients and the collaboration from colleagues of the ISSN Network that the ISSN program is a success in Canada.