Page 50 - DLIS103_LIBRARY_CLASSIFICATION_AND_CATALOGUING_THEORY

Unit 6: Concept of Call Number

6.3 Book Number Notes

(a) The International Standard Book Number (ISBN): The International Standard Book Num-
ber is a unique numeric commercial book identifier-based upon the 9-digit Standard Book
Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trin-
ity College, Dublin , for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966. The
10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO 2108. (However, the 9-digit
SBN code was used in the United Kingdom until 1974.) Currently, the ISO’s TC 46/SC 9 is
responsible for the ISBN. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978. Since 1 January
200; ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Book land EAN-13s.
Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the
author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure; however, this is usually later rectified A
similar numeric identifier, the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), identifies
periodical publications such as magazines.
R.R. Bowker is the U.S. Agency of the International Standard Book Numbering Convention,
as approved by the International Organization for Standardization. As such, it is the origina-
tor of ISBNs for U.S.-based publishers. Authors of self-published books can purchase an ISBN
for $125.00. Publishers in other countries can only obtain ISBNs from their local ISBN Agency,
a directory of which can be found on the International ISBN Agency website.
(b) Group identifier: The group identifier is a 1 to 5 digit number. The single digit group
identifiers are: 0 or 1 for English-speaking countries; 2 for French -speaking countries; 3 for
German-speaking countries; 4 for Japan; 5 for Russian-speaking countries, 7 for People’s
Republic of China. An example 5 digit group identifier is 99936, for Bhutan.
The allocated groups IDs are: 0-5, 600-617, 7, 80-94, 950-989, 9927-9989, and 99901-99967.
Some catalogs include books that were published with no ISBN but add a non-standard
number with an as-yet unallocated 5-digit group such as 99985; this practice is not part of
the standard. Books published in rare languages typically have longer group identifiers.
The original standard book number (SBN) had no group identifier, but affixing a zero (0) as
prefix to a 9-digit SBN creates a valid 10-digit ISBN. Group identifiers form a prefix code;
compare with country calling codes.
(c) Publisher code: The national ISBN agency assigns the publisher number (cf. the category:
ISBN agencies;) the publisher selects the item number. Generally, a book publisher is not
required to assign an ISBN, nor is it necessary for a book to display its number. However,
most book stores only handle ISBN-bearing merchandise.
A listing of all the 628,000 assigned publisher codes is published, and can be ordered in
book form (558, US$ 915.46). The web site of the ISBN agency does not offer any free
method of looking up publisher codes. Partial lists have been compiled (from library
catalogs) for the English-language groups: identifier 0 and identifier 1. Publishers receive
blocks of ISBNs, with larger blocks allotted to publishers expecting to need them; a small
publisher may receive ISBNs of one or more digits for the group identifier code, several
digits for the publisher, and a single digit for the individual items. Once that block of ISBNs
is used, the publisher may receive another block of ISBNs, with a different publisher
number. Consequently, a publisher may have different allotted publisher numbers. There
also may be more than one group identifier used in a country. This might occur if a popular
identifier has used up all of its numbers. The cited list of identifiers shows this has hap-
pened in China and in more than a dozen other countries.
By using variable block lengths, a large publisher will have few digits allocated for the publisher
number and many digits allocated for titles; likewise countries publishing much will have few
allocated digits for the group identifier, and many for the publishers and titles.

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