The Barcode and ISBN Business

ISBN-13: What You Need to Know

Quick Overview

• All products for sale come with a 13-digit number identifying them. This number is called an EAN.
• All books also come with a number identifying them. This identifier is known as the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
• The 10-digit format of ISBN (ISBN-10) will be changing to a 13-digit format (ISBN-13) on January 1, 2007.
• The new ISBN-13 is identical to the barcode EAN number on books. EANs specifically for books are known as Bookland EANs. The Bookland EAN and the ISBN-13 are the same 13 digits.
• The change is not expected to be implemented immediately. There will be a transitional period allowed, where entities are expected to use both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 to facilitate the change.

Introduction

Any product that is available for retail sale worldwide is assigned a 13-digit number identifying it. This identifier is called the International Article Number (EAN). Bookland EANs are EANs that refer to books. It has been used in the barcode on books since the early 1980s. The Bookland EAN uses a formula to convert all existing world-wide ISBNs into its system, giving every book a unique identifier. Currently, the ISBN format is comprised of 10 digits

After January 1, 2007, ISBNs will convert from the former 10-digit format to a new 13-digit format. How does this relate to the Bookland EAN? The new ISBN-13 will be the same 13 digits as the Bookland EAN. The only difference is that the ISBN-13 code has hyphens present in it, just like the old ISBN-10 code, whereas the Bookland EAN does not.

Example: Here is an illustration of how the ISBN-13 is the Bookland EAN, with hyphens.

ISBN-13: 978-0-940016-73-6

Bookland EAN: 9780940016736.

As you can see, the two strings of numbers are exactly identical to each other, barring the hyphens present in the ISBN-13.

The ISBN Agency is conforming itself to the pre-existing EAN standard by redefining its ISBN to become the EAN. The book industry decided to call it ISBN-13 in order to cause less confusion among booksellers. The theory is that instead of introducing a new system, the ISBN-13 is really an extension of the existing ISBN system.

Why the change?

There are a couple of reasons for making the change from ISBN-10 to ISBN-13. One main reason is to have one international standard for identifying products. The EAN is already an international standard for identifying all products, including books. Since the ISBN-13 is the same as the Bookland EAN, having the ISBN-13 in place will eliminate the need to have yet another system of identifying books (ISBN-10). Also, the Bookland EAN is already printed on most books in the form of the barcode.

Tip: You see retail barcodes on everything out there. Those little numbers underneath the barcode represent the barcode itself, in human-readable form. On books, the barcode and the actual numbers are just different forms of the EAN.

Another big reason is that the ISBN Agency has determined that some publishers will run out of numbers to assign to books. This has to do with the process of obtaining ISBNs. A publisher is assigned a chunk of ISBNs from the Agency. The publisher then assigns each specific ISBN to a book. Although it is true that some publishers have enough numbers for the next 10 years, other publishers will be running out of their allocation of ISBNs. The ISBN Agency did not parcel out blocks of numbers equally, with the result that some publishers got more than they needed while others did not.

Who is affected? What has to be done?

Everyone who deals with books in anyway will be affected. This includes entities such as publishers, retailers, and libraries, just to name a few. Publishers will have to make sure that the books will be printed with the new ISBN-13 in the proper places on the cover, and that the barcode also has the proper ISBN printed over it. In addition, the systems that a publisher uses will be affected. For example, this could include accounting, product information, production, supply systems, accounting, and contracts. Similarly, retailers and trading partners will have to update all of the ISBNs stored in their databases, and may need to review their ordering systems, stock control, and accounting. Libraries will have to take into account all of the above, but will also have to keep the old ISBN on record in the case that a patron is looking for a book by ISBN-10. This means that they must be able to support both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13.

However, this doesn’t mean that everyone has to replace all of the old ISBNs that have already been printed with the new ISBN-13. The recommended suggestion is to use dual numbering to facilitate the transition. This means including both the ISBN-10 and the ISBN-13 on books, until January 1, 2007. Then the ISBN-10 will be dropped from the covers, and only the ISBN-13 will remain. The overall attitude is that the industry will be expected to make the necessary changes in their systems at their own pace in the timeliest fashion possible. As for those publishers with chunks of ISBN-10 left unallocated, they can simply use the system to convert an ISBN-10 to an ISBN-13, thereby still getting usage out of those numbers. The ISBN and bar code do not need to be changed until a book is reprinted, because the barcode already exhibits the Bookland EAN. As noted, the Bookland EAN is identical to the new ISBN-13.