International Standard Book Number (ISBN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One for the geeks... everything you ever wanted to know about ISBNs but were too sensible to ask. The Quick Answer An ISBN is a code that uniquely identifies a book, giving information on country of origin and publisher, as well as providing error checking. On BookLore ISBNs are given with the following codes:
The Long Answer An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation (except reprints) of a book. The ISBN is 13 digits long (ISBN-13) if assigned after 1st January 2007, and 10 digits long (ISBN-10) if assigned before 2007. The International Standard Book Number has been a remarkable success story since its inception in 1968 as the 'Standard Book Number' (SBN) in the United Kingdom. Within a year the SBN was transformed into the International SBN, and was extended from a nine-digit to a ten-digit number. From 1st January 2007 ISBNs consist of a thirteen-digit number. Since its ratification by ISO as International Standard 2108 in 1970, the international coordination of the ISBN system has been the responsibility of the International ISBN Agency in Berlin, a unit within the Berlin State Library. At present, 166 countries are members of the ISBN system. ISBNs that consist of 13 digits comprise the following five elements:
When printed, the ISBN is always preceded by the letters 'ISBN'. The five elements must each be separated clearly by hyphens or spaces when displayed in human readable form, for example:
Note: The use of hyphens or spaces has no lexical significance and is purely to enhance readability. [1] Prefix Element - Fixed Length The first element of the ISBN is a three-digit number that is made available by EAN International. Prefixes that have already been made available by EAN International are 978 and 979, but there may be a further prefix allocation made in the future as required to ensure the continued capacity of the ISBN system, for example:
[2] Registration Group Element - Variable Length The second element of the ISBN identifies the country, geographical region, or language area participating in the ISBN system. Some members of the ISBN system form language areas (e.g., registration group number 3 = German language group); others form regional units (e.g., registration group number 982 = South Pacific). The length of this element varies and may comprise up to 5 digits. Registration group elements are allocated by the International ISBN Agency. For example:
A list of country codes are included at the end of this article for those that are interested. [3] Registrant Element - Variable Length The third element of the ISBN identifies a particular publisher or imprint within a registration group. The length of this element varies in direct relationship to the anticipated output of the publisher and may comprise up to 7 digits. Publishers with the largest expected title outputs are assigned the shortest registrant elements or block size and vice versa. For example:
Potential registrants apply to the ISBN group agency responsible for the management of the ISBN system within the country, region, or language group where they are based in order to be assigned registrant elements that are unique to them. Once they have exhausted the allocation of ISBNs that is linked to their registrant element, they may be assigned an additional registrant element providing further allocations of ISBNs. [4] Publication Element - Variable Length The fourth element of the ISBN identifies a specific edition of a publication by a specific publisher. The length of this element varies in direct relationship to the anticipated output of the publisher concerned and may comprise up to 6 digits. Publishers with the largest expected title outputs are assigned the longest publication elements and vice versa. To ensure that the correct length of the ISBN is maintained, blank digits are represented by leading zeros. For example:
[5] Check Digit - Fixed Length The fifth element of the ISBN is the check digit. This is calculated using a modulus 10 algorithm. Each of the first 12 digits of the ISBN is alternately multiplied by 1 and 3. The check digit is equal to 10 minus the remainder resulting from dividing the sum of the weighted products of the first 12 digits by 10 with one exception. If this calculation results in an apparent check digit of 10, the check digit is 0. For example:
For a full mathematical explanation of the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 check digits and examples see: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ISBN.html Positioning of Hyphens /Spaces For English publications the Hyphens or Spaces are positioned as follows, ignoring the ISBN-13 Prefix Element:
Uses of ISBNs The ISBN is used in all branches of the book supply chain. The ISBN in publishing houses is used for:
Publication identification in publishers' catalogues and advertisements Listing in printed and electronic directories and on Internet sites Stock control Management of royalties Ordering Accounting and billing Monitoring sales data Producing statistics Handling of returns The ISBN in bibliographic data services, distribution centres, and wholesalers is used for:
Generating bibliographic products and catalogues from these databases of publications for the book trade Ordering services based on electronic communication systems such as EDI (electronic data interchange) or via the Internet Stock control Monitoring internal logistic processes Accounting and billing Producing sales data Returns administration Producing subject lists and catalogues The ISBN in centralised service organisations for libraries (producing ready-to-borrow copies) is used for:
Processing orders from libraries Stock control Monitoring internal logistic processes Accounting and billing Administration of rebinding processes The ISBN in bookshops is used for:
Tracing addresses of publishers or distributors Ordering and reordering processes based on electronic communication systems such as EDI (electronic data interchange) or via the Internet Stock administration Accounting and billing the end consumer Electronic point-of-sale system (EPOS) The ISBN in libraries is used for:
Ordering Copy-cataloguing Lending statistics National lending right Inter-library loans ISBN Country Codes The following list gives the group/country identifier for each country: 0/1 English - (UK, US, Australia, NZ, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe)
[Ireland, Puerto Rico, Swaziland] We gratefully acknowledge the following Websites as sources for this article: The International ISBN Agency Wikipedia Weisstein, Eric W. "ISBN." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ISBN.html XML Schema simple Type Definition of an ISBN. Authors: Roger Costello
and Roger Sperberg Nigel - 22nd March 2008 |
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