Ground Report

You might have noticed this ten digit (now 13 digits) number and or the bar code in most of the books you read. It is the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). ISBN is used to identify the books with unique alpha-numerical digits. The publishers, book sellers, libraries and other communities identify the book universally. The barcodes are readable through barcode readers.

It all started in 1966 hen the book sellers and stationers devised the 9 digit Standard Book Number (SBN) in UK. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standardized this International Standard Book Number (ISBN) format with 10-digits the code. The ISO Standard 2108 in 1970 was published (however, 9 digit ISBN code continued in the UK till 1974).

The ISO TC 46/SC 9 is the body controls the standardization and it is entirely responsible for the standard. The made revisions since from 1^st  January 2007 and changed the structure of ISBN from 10 digits to 13 digits. The current structure is compatible with Bookland EAN-13s. The ISBN associates with book  from its production onwards.

Have you noticed the length of the components of ISBN? Notice the five parts with variable length digits and also note the puse of either space or hyphen as connecting symbol:

ISBN  978-0-571-08988-8 or  ISBN  978 0 571 08988 8

The five groups for a 13 digit ISBN include:

1. global standards (GS1) prefix: 978 or 979
2. the group identifier, the group identifier is a 1 to 5 digit number. (language-sharing country group)

0        English ) (UK, US, Australia, NZ, Canada,

1        English )  South Africa, Zimbabwe)

2        French    

3        German    

81       India (see also 93)

92       International (UNESCO and EEC)

93       India (see also 81)

3. the publisher code, Every ISBN agency at level assigns the unique publisher code.  India adopted ISBN number system since from January 1985. The National agency responsible for this task is  Raja Rammohun Roy National Agency for ISBN, India, by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Secondary & Higher Education, New Delhi.
4. the item number, and
5. a checksum character or check digit.

The number of digits in the second(group identifier), third (publisher prefix) and fourth (identifier) parts of the ISBN varies. From the number of digits in the group number and in the publisher prefix you may infer that the publisher or publisher group is planning to produce the quantum of titles. You may also notice with publishers or publisher groups with large title outputs are represented by fewer digits.

Do you know that there is a procedure to verify your ISBN? The calculation of an ISBN-13 check digit begins with the first 12 digits of the thirteen-digit ISBN (thus excluding the check digit itself). Each digit, from left to right, is alternately multiplied by 1 or 3, then those products are summed modulo 10 to give a value ranging from 0 to 9. Subtracted from 10, that leaves a result from 1 to 10. A zero (0) replaces a ten (10), so, in all cases, a single check digit results.