Norway

The Norwegian ISMN Agency has been operating since 1996. The agency is part of the bibliographic section of the National Library of Norway.The National Library of Norway consists of three organisational units: (1) The Office of the National Librarian, Oslo, established in 1994; (2) The Rana Division, located just below the Arctic Circle and established in 1989; and (3) The Oslo Division, established in 1999. The Norwegian ISMN Agency is situated at the Oslo Division.

Contact Address:

The Norwegian ISMN Agency
National Library of Norway / Nasjonalbiblioteket
Henrik Ibsens gate 110
Att.: Ms. Berit Holth
POB 2674 Solli
0203 Oslo

Tel: (+47) 232 76 057
Fax: (+47) 232 76 010
E-mail: ismn@nb.no
URL: http://www.nb.no/html/ismn.html

Statistics:

Until the end of 2002, about 5200 ISMNs have been allocated to sheet music publications.

A directory of the Norwegian music publishers using ISMNs is available on the agency's website as well as an online version of the ISMN User's Manual in Norwegian.

The electronic registration of music prints for the National Bibliography is a major source of inforrmation for the ISMN agency. It allows to get a detailed picture of the ISMN assignments of the music publishers and to discover wrong number assignments. Furthermore, it tells about new music publishers or publishers who only occassionally publish sheet music, both of which will then be informed about the ISMN system.