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| 020 -- International Standard Book Number (ISBN) (R) |
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- General Information ISBNs are unique 10 and/or 13-digit numbers assigned by publishers to their books. If the final character is an X, it should be entered in uppercase. Earlier books were assigned nine-digit Standard Book Numbers (SBNs) and should be entered with a preceding zero. SBNs from countries other than the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United Kingdom should be entered in a |z.
- Processing Instructions In general, accept copy. At times, records may be imported that have multiple ISBNs strung together in a single 020. When that is the case, separate the ISBNs into their own 020s.
When copy is an exact match, but lacks an ISBN found on the item, add the ISBN from the item to the record.
When copy contains ISBN(s) not present on the item, but all else matches, accept copy and do not delete the ISBN(s).
Accept 020 fields in the form found on copy unless information is clearly wrong.
In general, do not add or embellish qualifying information. Exceptions can be made for information that is clearly wrong or missing from copy (e.g., volume numbering not present for set volumes having individual ISBNs).
13-Digit ISBNs
Follow the processing instructions above.
13-digit ISBNs began showing up on items and in copy in 2006. At one time, OCLC was inputting them in 024 fields, which we accepted. If the same 13-digit ISBN is present in both an 020 and 024 field in a record, delete the 024 with the duplicate ISBN-13.
For more information on 13-digit ISBNs, see the International ISBN Agency's ISBN Standard Revision Web site and its Implementation Guidelines (pdf).
020|b
020|b is not valid in The CAT. It will be stripped from imported records. Do not input.
020|c
020|c is valid in The CAT. Accept but do not add.
E-book ISBNs
Occasionally, copy for a hard copy of an item contains an e-book isbn in the record, in addition to the isbns actually assigned to the hard copy. If an e-book isbn is present in copy, accept it; however, do not input an e-book isbn present on the item that is not in the record.
Book Numbers with less than ten-digits (SBNs)
As stated above, SBNs will have nine digits instead of ten. If an SBN is lacking an intial zero to make a total of ten digits in an 020, add it.
020|z Invalid ISBNs
Accept an 020|z as found on copy.
020 0394502884|z0394512884