An overview of the origin of international standards for bibliographic description (ISBD) in the past is given, followed by the description of particularities in terminology characteristic for the descriprion of individual types of documents. Further on three generations of Slovenian translations of ISBDs are discussed - the first two translations in 1975, additional texts in 1982-1984, and the newly revised editions translated in 1997-1999. The translators are presented and a comparative survey of the differences between the editions from the point of view of terminology is given, discussing the adequacy of some solutions and pointing out a number of dilemmas still present. The paper concludes with a short presentation of a handbook dealing with the topics, comprising definitions taken from the recent Slovenian translations of ISBDs, and a glossary of terms from Slovenian, German, French and Croat translations.