Manchester City Library

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) concept was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1967 and came to the United States in 1968. Originally the coding for ISBNs was composed of only 10 digits; now they have 13 digits. This new standard became effective in 2007. The breakdown of the numbers
in the ISBN-13 coding includes (in order) the 978 prefix identifying it as an ISBN-13, group or country identifier, particular publisher identifier, title and/or edition identifier and the last digit is a check digit. The check digit is a double-check to make sure the coding for the whole ISBN is correct.

ISBNs assign a unique number for each edition of a book produced by a specific publisher. A title does not always have a single ISBN for all copies and editions. If more than one publisher published a book, than a title could have two or more ISBNs for the same title. If a title was republished with updated information or adapted with an editor’s comments or analysis, it will probably have a different ISBN than the original version. There are other reasons why a title could have other ISBNs connected with the book; the previous examples are only a sample of the several different possible reasons.

More information about ISBNs can be found at www.isbn.org.

from the latest edition of MCL Notes.