How to use the ISNI web portal

Versions of the web portal

We have access to two versions of the web portal:

1. ACCEPT is the test database. Training and experimenting should be done here.
2. PRODUCTION is the live ISNI database. Work performed here affects real records.

Logging in

See ISNI web links (restricted access)

First time use: brings you to a screen that most likely will present with browser security warning. This can be ignored. Go to Advanced/make exception in browser settings (you should only have to do this once for each computer that you use)

How to change passwords

July 24, 2017: At this time it is possible to change passwords in the WinIBW client only, it is not possible to change passwords in the web interface. Apologies for the confusion.

The initial passwords given to us by OCLC are the same for each user for PRODUCTION (live) and for ACCEPT (test). However, changing the password in one doesn't automatically change it in the other.

1. Launch the web interface.
2. Connect to the ISNI ACCEPT system: ISNI web links (restricted access).
3. Log in.
4. Once logged in, type edit password on the command line, then follow prompts to change the password.
5. Write down new password. 
6. Repeat steps 2-5 on the ISNI PRODUCTION system: ISNI web links (restricted access).

The instructions say that the password must be 0-16 characters long and can only contain characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9.

Searching

Documents Related to Database Enquiry: See file: ISNI search guidelines.pdf

See also ISNI documentation

Editing a record

Click "edit record" on left.
If (your institution (XXXX)) is not already a source on the record, it must be added before any further editing of the record. (An exception is when you add a General Note on the External Information and Notes tab to send information to the ISNI quality team about errors, records to merge or split, etc.)
 

Click the + beside "Add Identifier"
"XXXX" is automatically added as identifier type; identifier can be left blank
Your institution's form of the name must also be added to the record, even if the form is already in the record.
 

Click the + beside "Add Name"
Add the form of name found in the (your institution's) source in the boxes.
It is not necessary to click "Save changes" before going to one of the other tabs at the top of the record, e.g. "Personal Details," "Associations," etc.
 

Under Personal Details, you can add Dates, Language, Gender, or Nationality.  All are optional.
Dates should be entered in ISO 8601 extended format, e.g. 2017-04-15.  Dates can be truncated to a month (2017-04) or a year (2017).
Languages are entered with ISO 3-character codes, e.g. eng. (Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages)
Nationalities are entered with 2-letter codes, e.g. US. (ISO Online Browsing Platform; click Country codes button) or use this Wikipedia page.
 

Under Associations, you can add relationships to other persons and organizations.  You may see a box labeled "PPN."  This stands for Pica Production Number, the system number in the ISNI database.  To see the PPN for a particular record, click on "marc21" in the band above the record and copy the number from the 000 field.  On records without an assigned ISNI, this is also the number that appears in the labels display as "Record no." 

Under Works, you can add titles of works created by the person.

Under Class and Role, you can add a "Creation class", which is similar to RDA's content type.  It represents the kinds of works a person has created.  When creating a new ISNI record, the interface gives some examples of creation classes (text, music, audiovisual, choreographic, software, art works), but not when editing an existing record. Existing records have codes like “txt”.  According to the ISNI data element values document, this element is still to be defined, and the default is "cre".  In any case, it's optional.

There is a drop-down list for creation roles.  In addition to "director," there are various terms beginning with "film," including "film director" and "filmmaker."

Under External Information and Notes, you can add outside sources, such as a website where important information was found. In the box marked "Information," enter an indication of the kind of source, such as "Wikipedia." In the URL box, give the URL for the source. For an IMDb page, enter "IMDb" in the Information box and the URL for the person in the URL box.  Remove the parts of the URL that begin with a question mark, e.g. change "http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825821/?ref_=rvi_nm" to "http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825821/"

When you have made your additions, click "Save record."  
Clicking "Cancel" will send you back to the login screen.

You cannot change information entered by another source (sources other than HARV).

New records

To enter a record for an identity that is new to ISNI, click "Webcat" at the top of the screen.

Click one of the two links, either for organizations (corporate bodies) or persons.  This opens a one-page template that contains the fields found under various tabs when editing an existing record.

For more, see ISNI documentation