Many students and book lovers have seen or heard of the acronym ISBN but a great number of them may not know what it stands for or how to use it. When it comes to researching or finding books and related media, ISBN or the International Standard Book Numbers can be the key to finding exactly what you are looking for. In the following article, we will cover what it is, how it came about, the difference between the 10-digit and 13-digit ISBNs and how to use them.
What is ISBN? ISBN Book Search
International Standard Book Number or ISBN is a unique number assigned to a book purely for its identification. With billions of books in publication, it will be difficult to find books without such a system. It is a standard system used by publishers, booksellers, libraries, book buyers and other book-related organizations all over the world. Each ISBN has five parts as in the example below:
ISBN 978-0-85775-264-2
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The first group of numbers (978) indicates it is an ISBN.
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The second (0) shows the country or language.
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The third (85775) represents the publisher.
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The fourth (264) is the title and format.
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The fifth (2) is a check digit (validates the other digits were entered correctly).
The ISBN codes are usually found on the back cover of the book, or on the bar code, or copyright page.
Origin of ISBN
The ISBN system was first developed in the United Kingdom (UK) in the early 1970s to help booksellers, publishers and others identify the growing number of books quickly. It was later adopted globally in the late 1970s. The first ISBN was assigned in 1974.
Difference between 10-digit ISBN and 13-digit ISBN
Originally, there was only 10-digits. In 2007, the ISBN system was revised to include 13-digit ISBNs. The 10-digit ISBNs used prior to this revision remains valid today, but the 13-digit ISBNs are now the standard. The difference between the two is that the 13-digit ISBN includes a 3-digit number which identifies the country or language group in which a book was published.
How to use ISBN to lookup books? Find ISBN on Book
Using an ISBN to find a book is quite straight forward. Locate the ISBN number of the book you are looking for, and key or paste the 10- or 13-digit number in the search box and press enter and the book and it’s information will be displayed accordingly.
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