EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2007
Triskaideka
Triskaideka is an Ancient Greek term for the number 13. According to the
Wiktionary the number 13 is defined as
"The cardinal number occurring after twelve and before
fourteen, and represented in Roman numerals as XIII and in Arabic numerals as
13." In Spanish it is "trece," in French "trieze," and Romanians say
"treisprezece." It's also the number of colonies there were when the United States was first
founded and the number of stars on the
first United States flag
. Some people even have
triskaidekaphobia
which is a fear of the number 13.
Why am I telling you about the number 13.
Because it has an impact on you; for example, when you order textbooks for your students
or you order a book for yourself at your favorite bookshop. That ISBN (International Standard Book
Number) which uniquely identifies the specific book you want now has 13 digits. As
of January 1, 2007 every book is assigned a 13 digit ISBN (ISBN-13) which you need
to use. The use of the current 10-digit ISBN (ISBN-10) will be phased out over time though
for a short while most books will have both ISBNs. This change affects everyone who uses
ISBNs throughout the entire world.
Why the change?
For the last 35 years we've used 10-digit ISBN's, but they are running out of numbers. Also
the change will better conform to the worldwide product numbering systems, like that UPC code on
the back of the book. More accurately for books and media material that number is the 13-digit
EAN.UCC (European Article Numbering--Uniford Code Council) system. Think of this change as being
similar to that of the recent phone system changes where we now have to dial additional numbers to
get to the same person.
For now all ISBN-10s are being issued a 13-digit ISBN beginning with the prefix "978." By the
time the 978 is used up 10-digit ISBNs will no longer exist. As each ISBN Agency uses up their
supply of 10-digit ISBN's this prefix number will change.
When will the 13 digit ISBN be available.
This change has been in the works since 2004 so they are already available. Publishers are
including the ISBN-13 in the books they are publishing. Publishers' websites and databases and
places such as
Library of Congress and
Worldcat are including them on all book records. You'll even find them on the
bibliographic records for all new books in our local library catalog.
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How do they convert the ISBN-10 to ISBN-13?
All current 10-digit ISBN's can be converted into ISBN-13 by adding 978 at the beginning,
then using the old first nine digits of the 10-digit number, then the last digit, which is a check
digit, is recalculated. Okay, so now you're thinking how do I do that, aren't you? Well, you don't
have to do that. The best way to recalculate that check digit is to let the publisher, a book
database such as
Worldcat, or an ISBN-13 Online Converter do the work for you.
What does the new ISBN look like?
For a sample of the ISBN-13 let us use the following book:
Community mental health : challenges for the 21st century
edited by Jessica Rosenberg and Samuel Rosenberg (New York : Routledge,
2006).
ISBN-10: 0415950104 (or 0-415-95010-4)
ISBN-13: 9780415950107 (or 978-0-415-95010-7)
Click on the book title above to see what the ISBN-13 looks like and where the
ISBN-13 is in the Library Catalog record.
Read more about ISBN-13.
For more information:
ISBN-13 Online Converter
Are You Ready for ISBN-13?
By The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG).
Want more help?
If you have any problems identifying the 13-digit ISBN or converting an ISBN-10 to ISBN-13
just ask a
Harris Library Librarian
for assistance. We will be happy to assist you.
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