28th January 2006
Dear Customer,
As you may know, there is to be a global revision of the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) structure. Important changes will be made to existing and new ISBNs. As distribution companies within the Hachette Livre UK Group, Littlehampton Book Services and Bookpoint are contacting you to ensure you are aware of these changes and to inform you about their immediate and long-term impact. In addition we are advising you of the timescales both distribution facilities are working to, to enable this change.
Start of ISBN-13 Upgrade: From 3rd January 2006 both Littlehampton Books Services and Bookpoint systems will be ISBN-13 ready and this will enable us to start the full upgrade of all systems to become ISBN-13 compliant by 30th June 2006.
ISBN-13 Changes: Outlined below are changes you will see in our documents and business practices related to the adoption of the ISBN-13 standard.
- Changes to ISBNs
- The ISBN formally will change from 10 to 13 digits on 1st January 2007. From 1st January 2006 a transition year will begin where both may be used.
- Existing ISBNs will be prefixed by 978, with a changed check digit.
- The resulting 13 digit number will be identical with the EAN-13 number that is currently both printed on and encoded in the bar code.
- Following 1st January 2007, ISBNs will begin to appear with a 979 prefix. These ISBNs will not have a pre-existing ISBN-10 and transactions can only be processed using ISBN-13. Publishers' identifier prefixes are unlikely to remain the same for ISBNs using the 979 prefix.
- Order Processing: Effective 3rd January 2006, we will be able to process both manual and electronic orders using ISBN-10 or ISBN-13.
- Sales Documents: Effective 1st July 2006, documents will display both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13, including invoices, credit notes, packing lists, and despatch notes. At some date following 1st January 2007 these documents may display only ISBN-13.
- Enquiries and claims may be made using either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, except when a title is issued only with ISBN-13 and has a 979 prefix.
- Returns: Returns title documentation may use either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, except when a title is issued only with ISBN-13 and has a 979 prefix.
- Other electronic interfaces with Littlehampton Book Services and Bookpoint will show both the ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 from 1st July 2006 until further notice.
- Order forms and catalogs Order forms and catalogs produced by Publishers, for the retail and wholesale market, should display both ISBNs from 1st July 2006, with only ISBN-13 some time after 1st January 2007.
- Copyright page: It is recommended that all Publishers include the ISBN-13 on the copyright page for all new titles published and most reprints from 1st January 2006.
- Bar Codes will remain unchanged until 1st January 2007 when a transition will begin to replace the eye-readable ISBN-10 with ISBN-13. Since the line symbology will not change, existing barcodes will continue to be "scannable" following 1st January 2007.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Littlehampton Book Services & Bookpoint
