ISBN code
The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is an international number that uniquely identifies each published book. It is intended to simplify the IT management of books: libraries, booksellers, distributors, etc.
More information on ISBN codes
You can find more detailed information in Wikipedia
or on the BNF website how to obtain an ISBN.
The history of the ISBN code
The ISBN originally had 10 digits in 1972. Since 2007, the number has grown to 13 digits. The change from 10 to 13 digits is automatic.
ISBN-10
ISBN-10 has 4 segments A - B - C - D separated by dashes. Example: ISBN 2-226-06417-6
- A: from one to five characters to designate the geographical area or the country. 0 or 1 for the English-speaking area, 2 for the French-speaking area, 3 for the German-speaking area.
The full list is here. - B: from one to seven characters depending on the number of publications to identify the publisher.
- C: from one to six characters to identify the work at the publisher. It indicates the title, binding or edition of a title if the work consists of more than one volume or edition. This number can consist of six, five, four, three, two digits or a single one, according to the number of digits composing the prefix of the publisher which precedes it. This zone is completed with zeros if necessary to arrive at 10 characters.
- D: A one-digit verification key code that can take the values 0 to 9 or X for ten. In fact, it is the remainder of a division by 11 of a calculation made with the other digits.
ISBN-13 and barcode EAN-13
Since January 2007, each book must include a bar code to the EAN-13 standard which contains an ISBN-13 code without the dashes.
EAN (European Article Numbering) is a global system for the unambiguous recognition of objects. It is managed by GS1.
The ISBN-13 code uses the first 9 digits of the ISBN-10 code preceded by 978 for all books published before the end of 2006. New publishers can receive codes which also begin with 979 and which do not have an ISBN equivalent. -10. The last digit is a control code from 0 to 9 calculated on the first 12 digits.
