Book People Archive

Re: Re: Possible conference for on-line book publishing?

Rod Hay wrote:
> There are in fact, attempts to give a unique number to older books. At
> least in English and probably in other languages. For instance you
> will see references to Wing numbers for books published in the 16th
> century. These are used by bibliographers and publishing historians.

Great!  I just learned about LCCN numbers aswell.  And I learned that
there are plans to replace ISBN numbers with the bar code system that
is used for groceries!  The American bar codes are 12 digits and
called UPC-A.  The European bar codes were designed in the mid 1970s,
based on this American system, but have 13 digits.  This system is
called EAN for European Article Numbering, but is now used in 98
countries.  All books sold in Europe (and some sold in the U.S.?) have
an EAN bar code that consists of the EAN prefix 978 followed by nine
digits from the ISBN number, followed by the trailing checksum digit
which is computed differently in EAN/UPC-A and in ISBN (EAN checksums
never become "X").

For example, my copy of "Java Servlet Programming" has ISBN
1-56592-391-X and EAN code 9781565923911.  It also has a 12 digit bar
code (UPC-A) that reads 6-36920-92491-5.

EAN code prefixes are assigned to manufacturers by EAN International
(www.ean-int.org), headquartered in Brussels, and on their website I
found information that there are plans to replace the 10 digit ISBN
numbers in 2005 with 13 digit EAN codes starting with 978 (present
ISBNs) and 979 (a whole new space).  Also, all UPC-A 12 digit bar
codes are valid 13 digit EAN codes if prefixed with a zero.  And if
prefixed with yet another zero, they all become valid 14 digit GTIN or
"Global Trade Item Numbers".

Most stores today refuse to sell products that don't have these bar
codes.  Some U.S. stores refuse to sell products that don't have 12
digit codes, because their point of sales terminals have older
equipment.  But if you are building an online store or library catalog
system today, you better design your database for those 14 digit GTIN
numbers, because they can be read with bar code from the back cover of
all future titles, including music CDs and DVDs.  In my humble opinion
it would make sense for LoC or OCLC to apply for an EAN prefix
(e.g. 977) to be used for all old books, including Wing numbers, LCCN,
and other similar systems in other countries.


--
  Lars Aronsson (lars@[redacted]
  Aronsson Datateknik
  Teknikringen 1e, SE-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
  tel +46-70-7891609
  http://aronsson.se