Overview
ISO 5426-2:1996 - "Information and documentation - Extension of the Latin alphabet coded character set for bibliographic information interchange - Part 2" defines a supplemental coded character set of 70 graphic characters. It provides a code table and a legend (graphic, use and name) intended primarily for the interchange of bibliographic information among data processing systems and message transmission systems. The set supplements ISO 5426 and covers Latin characters used in minor European languages and obsolete typography, including contraction marks, binding-signature symbols and combining (non‑spacing) diacritical marks.
Key topics
- Scope and content
- Specifies a set of 70 characters with coded representations, examples and explanatory notes.
- Targets less-common languages (Anglo‑Saxon, Greenlandic, Sami/Lappish, historic Latin, older Latvian forms, Maltese) and archaic printing conventions.
- Code table & legend
- Table maps code positions to graphics, names and typical uses (paragraph marks, binding signature marks, contraction symbols).
- Several positions are reserved or explicitly not for international interchange.
- Combining (non‑spacing) marks
- Positions 0x40–0x4C include non‑spacing combining marks. These are encoded before the base character and may be stacked in the order they appear (left-to-right or top-to-bottom).
- The BACKSPACE control must not be used to simulate non‑spacing behaviour.
- Implementation and identification
- Intended to be used as a G2 set to the 7‑bit set per ISO/IEC 2022 and identified by an escape sequence (to be assigned).
- Rendering guidance clarifies that glyph shapes are for identification; typographic variants are not prescriptive.
- Naming
Applications
ISO 5426-2 is practical for:
- Libraries, archives and bibliographic services - accurate encoding of historic and rare book records, reproducing obsolete typography and printer’s marks in catalogues.
- Metadata and cataloguing systems - interoperability when exchanging bibliographic records between systems.
- Digitization and OCR correction - mapping unusual glyphs and contractions found in historical texts to standardized codes.
- Software developers and standards implementers - building character-encoding support in bibliographic databases, conversion tools and message transmission systems.
- Digital humanities and scholarly editors - preserving linguistic and typographic fidelity in editions of older works.
Keywords: ISO 5426-2, Latin alphabet coded character set, bibliographic information interchange, extended Latin characters, combining marks, contraction marks, obsolete typography, character encoding.
Related standards
- ISO 5426 (1983) - Part 1 / extended Latin alphabet for bibliographic use
- ISO/IEC 646 - 7-bit coded character set for information interchange
- ISO/IEC 2022 - character code structure and extension techniques
- ISO/IEC 10646-1 - Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (nomenclature alignment)
- ISO 2375 - registration of escape sequences (informative references in ISO 5426-2)
