Are You Preparing for the 13-Digit ISBN?

On January 1, 2007, the length of the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) will officially change from 10 to 13 digits. This change will affect everyone in the book business. To help ensure that bookstores are prepared for the transition to the new ISBN, the American Booksellers Association recommends that booksellers take the following steps:

The Book Industry Study Group's ISBN-13 Task Force, in which ABA participates, has developed comprehensive resources about the new ISBN and what industry participants should be doing to prepare for the transition. These resources, which are available through BISG's web site, include:

• A general ISBN-13 information page with links to other resources.
  
  
• An information page specifically for retailers, which includes an FAQ for booksellers.
  
  
• An ISBN-13 For Dummies Guide that can be downloaded and printed.
  
  
• A webinar called "Are You Ready for ISBN-13?" , which explains how and why the change to 13 digits is happening.
  
  
• An ISBN-13 readiness directory that contains checklists detailing the transition plans of individual companies throughout the industry, including POS vendors.
  

Booksellers should pay attention not just to the vendor's answers, but also to the questions on the checklist, as these provide a good indication of the key issues that the ISBN-13 Task Force believes POS vendors should be addressing. The checklists also provide the appropriate ISBN-13 contact person at each company.

(These checklists are intended to serve as a general guide to each vendor's plans. They are not a substitute for speaking with the vendor. ABA recommends that booksellers use the checklists to get an overview of their POS vendor's plans, as well as the key issues involved.)

For any bookstore that uses a POS system, it's likely that the system will require some changes in order to accommodate the 13-digit ISBN. (Unfortunately, there are older versions of some POS systems that will not be able to be changed. Bookstores that have one of these systems will need to upgrade to a newer system.)

In addition to discussing what parts of the POS system will need to be changed and when the vendor plans to makes those changes, ABA recommends that booksellers address the following issues with their POS vendor:

• Bookstore systems must be capable of storing 13-digit ISBNs, not just converting 10 digits to 13 and vice versa.
  
  Ten-digit ISBNs can be converted to 13 digits by simply adding a prefix of 978 and changing the "check digit" (the last digit of the ISBN). For example: 0-7645-4051-3, Bookselling for Dummies, becomes 978-0-7645-4051-6. Likewise, a 13-digit ISBN with a prefix of 978 can be converted back to 10 digits by removing the 978 prefix and changing the check digit.
  
  However, sometime in 2007 (nobody knows yet exactly when), the agencies that issue ISBNs will run out of 10-digit numbers and start to issue 13-digit ISBNs. These 13-digit ISBNs, which will have a prefix of 979, will have no 10-digit equivalent, and cannot be converted back to 10 digits.
  
  So, if booksellers' systems providers plan to continue to store ISBNs as 10-digit numbers and convert them to 13-digits only when required (for example, when generating a purchase order) and then convert 13-digit ISBNs back to 10 digits, that plan will only work until the "true" 13-digit ISBNs (those with a prefix of 979) start to appear. At some point in the near future, the system must be capable of storing 13-digit ISBNs.
  
  
• Systems must maintain "dual" capabilities during the transition to the new ISBN.
  
  Although the official date for changing to the 13-digit ISBN is January 1, 2007, there is no "master switch" that will be thrown to convert the entire industry on that date; rather, industry participants will be converting their systems on different timeframes -- hopefully, most will be able to complete their conversions before January 1 (many already have), but some may require more time.
  
  During the transition period while everyone is converting their systems, booksellers' systems must be able to handle both 13-digit and 10-digit ISBNs. (The "transition period" is likely to last quite some time: booksellers may well be receiving some books with 10-digit ISBNs on the covers for several years to come, and their systems must be capable of taking those 10-digit numbers and converting them to 13 digits.)
  
  
• Systems should accommodate at least 14 digits, not just 13.
  
  In addition to moving to a 13-digit ISBN, the book industry is adopting another number called the Global Trade Identification Number, or GTIN.
  
  The GTIN has 14 digits: the 13-digit ISBN that identifies the book, plus a leading digit that indicates the packaging level of the book. A leading digit of zero indicates a single copy of a book. Use of leading digits other than zero has not yet been defined, but it is likely that publishers will use one digit to indicate a carton quantity, another to indicate a skid quantity, and so on.
  
  Although a bookseller may infrequently order in carton quantities (and possibly never in skid quantities), they should still be concerned about the GTIN. The key reason is that many people in the industry believe that the 14-digit GTIN, not the 13-digit ISBN, will become the standard number for electronic ordering and other electronic transactions (publishers are already receiving some orders in 14-digits.) If the GTIN does become the standard, bookstores that are not able to communicate in 14 digits may not be able to order electronically from some publishers, or even if they can place electronic orders using only 13-digit ISBNs, their orders may take longer to process.
  
  

POS vendors should provide bookstores with the capability to handle 14, not just 13, digits. Booksellers don't want to upgrade to 13-digit capability now, and then -- in another year or two -- find themselves having to go through another upgrade so their system can accommodate 14 digits.

In addition to their POS system, booksellers may have other systems that use ISBNs -- such as website software. These systems will also need to be changed to accommodate 13 digits. (Booksellers with BookSense.com websites need not worry, however, as their sites are already capable of handling 13 digits.)

It's likely that booksellers also use printed documents (such as special order forms and purchase orders) that contain spaces for ISBNs, and some of these may need to be changed too.

Booksellers with questions about the transition should contact David Walker at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6612, or via e-mail at [email protected].