A few weeks ago, WSP had its first career presentation at Normal Park Magnet School. Miss Hardy’s 6th-grade class was great and surprising. We had expected to mention what an ISBN was on a book before moving on to more interesting material. But before we could, half a dozen hands shot up with questions about the mysterious 13-digit code on the back of every single book. “What’s the highest ISBN there’s ever been?” “Can two books ever have the same ISBN?” “Who assigns ISBNs to books?”
These were all great questions and we only had some of the answers (kids, amirite?). So briefly, here’s a dive into the background of the aglet of the publishing industry—ISBN’s.
So, first off, ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. ISBNs as a whole are managed by the International ISBN Agency (yes, the International International Standard Book Number Agency) in London. ISBNs were first established in Britain with the rise of computerized warehouses there. By 1970, the International Organization for Standardization had adopted the British model for global use. With some adaptions, it remains essentially the same today.
As the I in ISBN suggests, ISBNs are used the world over to track and catalog published books. So how do they work?
Before December 2006, ISBNs consisted of 10-digit codes. After January 1st, 2007, they increased the number to a 13-digit code. With the 13-digit code, ISBNs are divided into five sections: the prefix, which currently always begins with either 978 or 979; the registration group element, which references the national, geographical, or linguistic origin of the piece; the registrant element, which references the specific publisher of a piece; the publication element, which is specific to the edition and format of the piece (whether it’s a hardback, paperback, ebook, audiobook, etc.); and the check digit, which is used to guard against transcription error.
So, ISBNs are used to differentiate titles, editions, publishers, and regions from each other, and to make finding books (and those with the legal rights to the book) much easier. They’re permanent and can’t be reassigned. Trying to do so can apparently cause major issues for the publisher in question.
In the U.S., R.R. Bowker serves as the regional database for assigned ISBNs and is ultimately the agency that assigns new ISBNs. They also have a cost associated with them; currently, a single ISBN in the United States costs $125, though this cost is discounted the more ISBNs you buy. If you were to self-publish a book and sell it out of the trunk of your car, an ISBN wouldn’t be necessary. But in order for it to be listed online, with wholesalers, or on the shelf of a bookstore—in short, to have any kind of public visibility—an ISBN is essential.
So there you go! A short rundown on that string of numbers on the copyright page or above the barcode. Take a look next time you pick up your favorite title and see what you can tell about it from the ISBN. Those 13 numbers actually have a lot to say.
