Time to transition from the old 10-digit International Standard Book Number (ISBN) to the new 13-digit ISBN. January 1, 2007, was the deadline, and ISBN-13 is the new standard. Whether you get your ISBN through your publisher or have your own block of ISBNs, all new books must have a 13-digit ISBN.
OK, but what does it mean to you?
A quick refresher. The ISBN is that long hyphenated number found on the copyright page and above the bar code on the back cover of books. The bar code is called the EAN-13 bar code (EAN=European Article Number—although the acronym has not changed, it actually stands for International Article Number now). R.R. Bowker is the only agency (at least in the US) who can sell ISBNs. If you have an ISBN-10, you already have an ISBN-13 if you are using the EAN-13 bar code. The 13-digit number, starting with 978, under the bar code is the ISBN-13 without the hyphens—it’s the ISBN-10 with a 978 prefix and a different last digit (although occasionally, the last digit does not change). What about the hyphens? Go to the Library of Congress converter—just be sure to check the Hyphenate ISBNs box before clicking the Convert ISBN button.
All new ISBN blocks purchased through Bowker should be provided in ISBN-13 format. For some time, they all probably will be issued with the 978 prefix. Eventually, they will run out of 978-prefix numbers and will issue ISBNs with a 979 prefix. Those ISBNs with 979 prefixes will not be able to be back-converted to ISBN-10. But, by then, nobody will care.
Books published prior to New Year’s Day 2007 may continue to use just the ISBN-10, but the publishing powers-that-be prefer you either replace it with the ISBN-13 or add the ISBN-13 for any new print runs. The guidelines say that the ISBN-13 and/or ISBN-10 should be printed in human-readable form, nine-point or larger font, above the EAN-13 bar code. There is no change to the EAN-13 bar code itself and the EAN-13 is still displayed below (and encoded within) the bar code. If you display both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 on the back cover, you should also display them both on the copyright page (and any sell sheets or catalogs, for that matter).
You can buy your bar codes with or without the ISBN-10/ISBN-13 in human-readable form at the top. We always buy ours with the numbers since it costs the same. You can, however, add them yourself when you typeset the back cover. We plan to continue displaying both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 for our pre-2007 books until we’re sure the entire marketplace and supply chains have switched over (not yet true). By the way, you may display them in whichever order you prefer (ISBN-13 on top or ISBN-10 on top).
If you want to learn more about ISBN-13, check out the Book Industry Study Group’s “Are You Ready for ISBN-13?” page.
