Book Geekery: 10 Geeky Facts About…ISBNs

• ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number
• The ISBN is an unique international identifier for a specific edition of a book
• The ISBN became an international standard in 1970. A book printed before 1970 will not have an ISBN
• An ISBN contains 13 digits (10 digits up until 2007)
• 13-digit ISBNs are made up of 5 elements: prefix, group or country identifier, publisher identifier, title/edition identifier and check digit
• The prefix and group identifier for Bermuda is 978-0 (the 0 representing an English speaking country)
• The International ISBN Agency is the registration authority for the ISBN standard worldwide. It is based in the UK.
• The issue of ISBNs is controlled by more than 150 national and regional agencies in over 200 countries and territories
• The ISBN number is usually found on the back cover of a book next to the barcode. Alternatively, it will be alongside the copyright and publisher information.
• Where an ISBN ends in ‘X’ this indicates the check digit is ten.

Source: https://www.isbn-international.org/