[uf-new] ISBN, ISSN and the case for moving forward now

[Alexander Graf]

On 18.03.2007, at 13:53, Andy Mabbett wrote:

> It's my understanding that 10-digit ISBNs (a published in millions  
> of books and journals and many thousands, if not millions, of  
> websites) are still valid. Can you provide specific a citation  
> otherwise, please?

Hi Andy,

the  citation was in my mail:

> As of January 1, 2007, all book and book-related products must  
> carry 13-digit ISBNs.
>
> All 10-digit ISBNs in circulation will have the 3-digit EAN prefix  
> "978" added (which currently represents the book industry). This 13- 
> digit ISBN is already represented, and will be identical, to  
> current EAN bar codes carrying ISBN with the "978" prefix.
>
> All 10-digit ISBNs must be converted to the 13-digit format and all  
> systems will need to accommodate its use in this format. To easily  
> convert your 10-digit ISBNs to 13-digits use a conversion utility.

http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/ISBN.html

or: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/transition.asp

Of course systems should still read 10 digit ISBNs, but only 13 digit  
ISBNs are issued.

This is not a problem for your proposed microformat per se, but I  
just wanted to make sure
everyone involved in the discussion which will start around your isbn  
format is up to date
on current ISBN standards. Also a extension which reads ISBN numbers  
should/must
automatically convert any 10 digit ISBNs to their 13 digits  
equivalent for use with other
systems.

I think disallowing 10 digit ISBNs in the microformat is not a good  
idea as there may be
websites that want to mark up their existing ISBN lists.

Best,

Alexander Graf

DERI Innsbruck
Digital Enterprise Research Institute
Leopold-Franzens-Universität
ICT Technologiepark, Technikerstrasse 21a
6020 Innsbruck, Austria

mail: alexander.graf at deri.org
web:  www.deri.at


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