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You may be aware of the far-reaching changes to the ISBN that will come into force on 1st Jan 2007. You may already be well advanced in planning and implementing the required changes to meet this date.
The bullet points listed below are designed to remind and/or advise you of what will change, why does it need to change, what needs to be done and the potential systems involved. The list is not exhaustive and you will need to check that your own systems are compliant.
In addition, at the end of this section, you will find useful web site links and e-mail addresses where more information will be available.
What will change?
- The ISBN will change from 10 to 13 digits on 1st Jan 2007.
All existing ISBN's will be prefixed by 978 and the check digit re-calculated.
- The resulting 13-digit number will be identical with the EAN-13 number used in the bar code.
- The 979 prefix will be introduced when the current stock of numbers is exhausted.
- Publishers' identifiers are not likely to remain the same for ISBN's under the 979 prefix.
- Orders and other commercial transactions, both paper and EDI, will use 13-digit ISBN's by 1st Jan 2007.
- After 1st Jan 2007, bar codes will carry the 13-digit ISBN with hyphenation above the barcode and the same number in EAN-13 format (as a numerical string, without hyphens or spaces) below.
Why does it need to change?
- The numbering capacity of the ISBN system needs to be increased.
- This solution will make the ISBN totally compatible with the EAN-13 used for other products and supply chains.
What needs to be done?
- Publishers must convert all ISBN's in active use as of Jan 2007 (including backlist)
- New publications after 1st Jan 2007 should be assigned only 13-digit ISBN's
- All orders and other commercial transactions should carry both the 10-digit ISBN and the corresponding 13-digit EAN number from 1st Jan 2006.
- 10-digit ISBN's should not be used after 1st Jan 2007.
- Publishers may print both 10 and 13-digit versions of the ISBN on the title verso at any time. The 10 digit should be dropped after 1st Jan 2007.
- All organizations should share their implementation plans and timetables with their trading partners and ensure those partners are taking similar implementation measures.
- Publishers and booksellers should review all existing systems - manual and electronic - as soon as possible to assess the implications of moving to the 13-digit ISBN.
- Catalogs and advertisements referring to books published in the winter of 2006/2007 should carry both 10 and 13-digit ISBN's.
What publishing systems might be involved?
- ISBN allocation
- Product information management
- Editorial management
- Production systems
- E-books supply systems
- Order fulfilment / warehouse management
- Accounting / financial systems
- Rights and contracts
- Rights management and royalty systems
- Internet ordering systems
What bookselling systems are involved?
- Ordering system
- Stock control
- Returns
- Point of sale systems
- Accounting system
- Internet ordering systems
What library systems are involved?
- Acquisition systems including transaction messages with trading partners
- Cataloguing and other bibliographic data entry systems
- Inter-library loan systems
- Bibliographic record importing routines
- Barcode scanners
- Local catalogues
- Information portal / metasearch systems.
Useful URL's and e-mails
Littlehampton Book Services have appointed Alan Rakes, Inventory Director at LBS, as ISBN-13 Project Director and Sue Whitcombe, IT Manager at LBS, as ICT Project Manager.
If you have any issues concerning the transition to ISBN-13 and would like more information or would like to discuss the project please e-mail Alan or Sue.
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