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BACKGROUND

The ISBN is being expanded from 10 digits to 13. The date for fully adopting ISBN 13 is January 1, 2007. The revised International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard is due to be published at the beginning of 2005. Publishers then have two years to implement ISBN 13 fully into all aspects of their businesses.

For the interim period between 2005 and 2007, publishers are encouraged to supply both an ISBN 10 and an ISBN 13 for the same manifestation, based on guidelines issued by the International ISBN Agency (IIA). In response to the desire of publishers to begin supplying ISBN 13 prior to 2005 to be included in Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data for books to be published in the interim period and beyond, the Library of Congress, after consulting with some of the largest users of the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data, will begin accommodating ISBN 13 on October 1, 2004.

Beginning in 2007 publishers will supply only ISBN 13.

PRE-2007 IMPLEMENTATION (October 1, 2004-January 1, 2007)

Prior to October 1, 2004 no 13-digit ISBNs will be added to bibliographic records issued by the Library of Congress, either through the CIP Program or the Preassigned Control Number Program (PCN), whether occurring in records used for copy cataloging, or whether printed in a book. Beginning October 1, 2004 LC will accept both an ISBN 13 and an ISBN 10 for the same manifestation, whether through the CIP Program, the PCN Program, whether occurring in records used for copy cataloging, or whether printed in a book.

For CIP records created prior to October 1, 2004, the Cataloging in Publication Division will entertain the standard pre-publication change requests to 10-digit ISBNs. It will not, however, accept requests to add 13-digit ISBNs to records created prior to that time. Publishers are encouraged to add such numbers in the CIP data they print in their books. The guidelines for doing so, issued by the IIA, call for grouping the pairs of numbers by manifestation, giving the ISBN 13 first with each number preceded by a print constant as follows:

ISBN-13: 978-1-873671-00-0

ISBN-10: 1-873671-008

Note that in cases of multiple pairs, these same guidelines call for the pairs to be printed on separate lines down the page one pair after the other. This is in contrast to the style used in CIP data (printed across the page as part of a single paragraph, each instance of an ISBN separated by a space-dash-space), which is designed to meet publishers' concerns to conserve space. At the time the bibliographic record is updated to reflect the actual book, LC staff will add any ISBN 13 printed in the book.

For CIP and other bibliographic records created after October 1, 2004 and before January 1, 2007, LC will group pairs of ISBN 13 and ISBN 10 by manifestation in repeated MARC 21 020 fields, with the ISBN 13 input preceding the ISBN 10, each number qualified as appropriate. The pair related to the manifestation represented by the bibliographic record will be given first. Although all ISBN pairs provided by publishers will be input into the bibliographic record, because of space concerns, no more than two pairs will be printed in the CIP data supplied to publishers to be printed in the book on the verso of the title page. This limitation is needed because of space concerns, since the CIP Division has agreed temporarily to follow the style for printing ISBN pairs recommended by the IIA. To indicate that additional ISBN pairs are in the bibliographic record beyond those provided in the printed CIP data, "[etc.]" will be printed on the line under the last printed ISBN.

For records that do not contain one or more pairs of ISBN 13 and ISBN 10, the CIP data supplied to publishers to be printed in the book will continue to reflect the current style, i.e., printed across the page as part of a single paragraph, each instance of an ISBN separated by a space-dash-space.

FULL IMPLEMENTATION (January 1, 2007- )

Upon full implementation of ISBN 13, LC anticipates that publishers will supply only an ISBN 13 for each manifestation and that the style for printing multiple instances will revert to the current CIP style, i.e., printed across the page as part of a single paragraph, each instance separated by space-dash-space and with the current print constant "ISBN" preceding each instance.

Questions or concerns regarding LC's implementation of the 13-Digit ISBN can be directed to:

Cataloging Policy and Support Office
Library of Congress
email: [email protected]

June 23, 2004