In order to adequately describe the specific audiovisual work to which an ISAN is assigned, registrants must supply the ISAN Registration Agency with a specified amount of descriptive information about the audiovisual work being registered, as shown below.

The ISAN International Agency is responsible for storing the ISAN as well as this descriptive information in a centralized repository.

The ISAN Central Repository can be accessed by the following:

General Public

Queries can be made by title or by ISAN on the public website and results will provide a limited list of matches only displaying the original title of the work.

Registered Users

These users can access the ISAN Central Repository through their Registration Agency - after having completed registration.
At this level, we can distinguish two types of users:

• Readers

These users have the capacity to query the ISAN Central Repository and get complete work description.
Every organization or person can be registered as a reader in a Registration Agency.


• Registrants

The ISAN registrants have the same privileges as ISAN Readers plus the right to register new ISANs.

Here is a list of the descriptive information provided during the registration of a work.

Audiovisual work descriptive information

Descriptive information with a (*) is optional, other information is mandatory.

• Title of audiovisual work
  Using the form in which it appears in the work.
  
  
• Original language(s) of audiovisual work
  Using categories represented by ISO 639-2 language codes.
  
  
• Alternate title(s) in the original language
  
  
  
• Title(s) of other language version(s) (*)
  
  
  
• Year of reference
  Using the year which appears in the work, where applicable.
  
  
• Year of first publication or communication to the public (*)
  
  
  
• Full name of main producer (*)
  Include surname and forename, if known and applicable.
  
  
• Main production company (*)
  
  
  
• Full name(s) of principal director(s)
  Including surname and forename, if known and applicable.
  
  
• Full name(s) of principal cast member(s) or participant(s)
  Minimum of three principal cast members, if applicable and available.
  
  
• Full name(s) of script writer(s) (*)
  Include surname and forename, if known and applicable.
  
  
• Other language version(s) (*)
  Using categories represented by ISO 639-2 language codes.
  
  
• Approximate duration (in minutes and/or seconds)
  This element may be subject to variation if there is more than one version of a work. It provides a general indication for comparison purposes but is not intended as a precise measurement. The duration is not required for non-linear (e.g. interactive) audiovisual works.
  
  
• Type of work
  For example: feature film; series; commercial; recording of a live event, etc. Using categories specified by the International ISAN Agency.
  
  
• Live action or animation
  Specify whether the work is animated or live action, or a combination of both.
  
  
• Is this a co-production? (*)
  
  
  
• Is this a composite audiovisual work?
  A composite work is an audiovisual work which contains one or more other audiovisual works or parts of audiovisual works.
  Examples of composite works are:
  • a feature film which contains parts of animated cartoons or other film clips;
  • a television program that contains footage from previously produced feature films;
  • a television episode that contains footage from episodes of other television series.
  
  In the case of composite, supply the title and ISAN of each component part, if applicable and available.
  
  
• Country (or countries) of reference (*)
  Specify whether country of production or of location of shoot.