|
International
Standard Book Number (ISBN), referred to as ISBN, is an
international number specially designed to identify books and
other documents.
Before January 1,
2007, ISBN consisted of 10 digits and was divided into four
parts: group number (code for country, region, language),
publisher number, book serial number and check code.
Publications that
use the ISBN coding system include: books, brochures, microform
publications, Braille printed matter, etc.
ISO promulgated the
ISBN international standard in 1972 and established the
International ISBN Center at the Prussian Library in West Berlin
to implement the standard.
Starting from
January 1, 2007, a new version of the ISBN will be implemented.
The new version of the ISBN consists of 13 digits and is divided
into 5 segments.
That is, the 3-digit
EAN (European Article Number) book product code "978" is added
before the original 10 digits. ISBN can be used as a search
field in online bibliographies, thus adding a search method for
users.
The history of
the development of ISBN:
In November 1966, at
the Third International Conference on Book Market Research and
Book Trade Rationalization, the issue of formulating an
internationally accepted book numbering system was first raised.
In 1967, the British
book industry created an internationally accepted book numbering
scheme and tried it in its country.
In 1970, the
International Organization for Standardization ISO developed the
ISO 2108 International Standard Book Number.
In 1972, the
International ISBN Center was established.
In 1978 and 1992,
ISO 2108 was revised twice.
In June 2005, the
fourth edition of ISO 2108 International Standard Book Number
was promulgated and implemented worldwide on January 1, 2007.
On January 1, 2007,
the format of the International Standard Book Number was revised
from 10 digits to 13 digits. |