The International ISBN Agency

Easily recognisable as the identifier for all kinds of books, the International Standard Book Number is key to an efficient and effective book supply chain.

The International ISBN Agency is the registration authority for the Standard on a global basis. 

Focus on

  • New Edition of the ISBN Standard is Published
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    The fifth and latest edition of the ISBN Standard has now been published by ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

    The new Standard has been developed by an international working group of 41 experts from 14 countries who were involved with the project for three years, providing advice, feedback and discussion points as the work progressed. The International ISBN Agency was also represented on the working group.

    While ISBN remains the key identifier for books in the supply chain and will retain its current 13-digit structure, there are...

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  • Translations of the new users' manual are now available
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    Following the release of the new users' manual at the turn of the year, the International ISBN Agency is beginning to make translations of the new document available for download.

    At the time of writing we are pleased to advise that translations of the current, seventh edition ISBN users' manual are available in French, German and Polish. We kindly thank AFNIL, MVB and Biblioteka Narodowa respectively for their hard work in producing the translated manuals.

    You can view and download the ISBN users' manual in English and in all translated languages by visiting the dedicated...

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