The Bookland EAN and ISBN bar code

International Standard Book Number

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) evolved from the Standard Book Number (SBN) previously used in some English speaking countries. An SBN is converted to an ISBN by prepending a digit '0'.
The ISBN consists of 9 digits plus one check digit. To calculate the check digit you must multiply the last digit of the number by 2, the next to the last by 3 etc. and add these results. The number needed to fill this sum to the next multiple of 11 is the check digit. If it is 10, the check digit is replaced by the letter 'X' . If the ISBN is 111111111, then the check digit would be calculated as follows.

1*10 +1*9 + 1*8 + 1*7 + 1*6 + 1*5 + 1*4 + 1*3 + 1*2 = 54/11 = 4 with 9 remainder. 11 - 9 = 2 then check digit is 2.
The true ISBN consists of three parts that may be (but need not be) separated by hyphens. The first part indicates the language or country of origin. This part can vary. The second part indicates the publisher and the third part the book number. The size of each field is not fixed, for instance a very small publisher will have a large field for the publishers number and a very large publisher will have a small field, leaving much more space for book numbers. When a publisher's book number space is exhausted, the publisher will be assigned a new publishers number. A reprint will not receive a new ISBN, but a modified reprint should be assigned a new number.

The language or country codes for ISBN include the following:

0 English ) (UK, US, Australia, NZ, Canada,
1 English ) South Africa, Zimbabwe)
2 French (France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland)
3 German (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
4 Japan
5 USSR
7 China
80 Czechoslovakia
81 India (see also 93)
82 Norway
83 Poland
84 Spain
85 Brazil
86 Yugoslavia
87 Denmark
88 Italian (Italy, Switzerland)
89 South Korea
90 Dutch/Flemish
91 Sweden
92 International (Unesco)
93 India (see also 81)
950 Argentina
951 Finland
952 Finland
953 Croatia
954 Bulgaria
955 Sri Lanka
956 Chile
957 Taiwan
958 Colombia
959 Cuba
960 Greece
961 Slovenia
962 Hong Kong
963 Hungary
964 Iran
965 Israel
967 Malaysia (see also 983)
968 Mexico (see also 970)
969 Pakistan
970 Mexico (see also 968)
971 Philippines
972 Portugal
973 Romania
974 Thailand
975 Turkey
976 Carribean: AG,BS,BB,BZ,DM,GD,GY,JM,MS,KN,LC,VC,TT
977 Egypt
978 Nigeria
979 Indonesia
980 Venezuela
981 Singapore (see also 9971)
982 Pacific: CK,FJ,KI,NR,NU,SB,TK,TO,TV,VU,WS
983 Malaysia (see also 967)
984 Bangladesh
985 Belarus
987 Argentina
9960 Saudi Arabia
9963 Cyprus
9964 Ghana
9966 Kenya
9968 Costa Rica (see also 9977)
9970 Uganda
9971 Singapore (see also 981)
9972 Syria
9973 Tunisia
9974 Uruguay
9976 Tanzania (see also 9987)
9977 Costa Rica (see also 9968)
9978 Ecuador
9979 Iceland
9980 Papua New Guinea
9981 Morocco
9982 Zambia
9983 Gambia
9984 Latvia
9985 Estonia
9986 Lithuania
9987 Tanzania (see also 9976)
9988 Ghana
9989 Macedonia
99903 Mauritius
99904 Netherlands Antilles
99908 Malawi
99909 Malta
99911 Lesotho
99912 Botswana
99913 Andorra (see also 99920)
99914 Suriname
99915 Maldives
99916 Namibia
99917 Brunei
99920 Andorra (see also 99913)
99921 Qatar

If you are a new publisher and need one or more ISBNs, the agency responsible for assigning these numbers in the USA is R.R. Bowker.

Bar Code and ISBN

The barcode symbols that appear on the back of books are known as Bookland EAN bar code symbols. However, although the type of bar code is the same as others used for retailers, the numbering system used to generate the bar code is different. The EAN for normal retail products is a 13 digit number which uniquely identifies that product. However, a book already has a unique number to identify it, the ISBN. The EAN bar code for a book is generated from the ISBN for the book.

When encoded in an EAN-13 bar code, the ISBN is preceded by the digits 978 and the ISBN check-digit is not encoded. However, an EAN-13 check digit is added to the end of the bar code.

Much more information can be found at the International ISBN Agency. You can also find where to get an ISBN if you are outside the USA.

Alongside the main bar code symbol there can also be a five digit add-on bar code. If the add-on is the book's price, it will begin with a 0 for British Pounds and 5 for US Dollars. A supplemental code of 90000 indicates that the book has no suggested retail price. Supplemental numbers in the range 90001 to 98999 may be used by publishers for internal purposes. Complimentary copies of books are marked 99991. The National Association of College Stores uses 99990 to mark used books.

You can also find a list of Bookland EAN film master suppliers at the R.R. Bowker site.