ISBNs and Identifiers: Standards Basics for the Independent Publishing Community, featuring Phil Madans, Executive Director of Digital Publishing Technology at Hachette Book Group
What are identifiers? What purpose do they serve in the book industry?
According to BISG's Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products, an identifier is generally a sequence of alpha-numeric characters that unambiguosly differentiates one thing from another in a particular context.
But while that answer may seem straightforward enough, the fact is there's a lot more to identifiers than one might think.
The book industry employs numerous identifiers for different reasons in its day-to-day operations. This webcast will cover identifiers basics—what they are, how they are developed, and how and why they are used. Special focus will be given to the venerable ISBN and its use in today's digital marketplace, and the difference between the ISBN and proprietary product identifiers.
In this session, Phil Madans, Executive Director Digital Publishing Technology for Hachette Book Group, will discuss how to correctly use identifiers to ensure your books reach the hands of happy readers.
This is the second in a three-part series, co-produced by IBPA and hosted by BISG, aimed at demystifying several of the core book industry standards through "101"-style sessions presented by experts in the field.
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ISBNs and Identifiers: Standards Basics for the Independent Publishing Community, featuring Phil Madans, Executive Director of Digital Publishing Technology at Hachette Book Group
2. 2Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Agenda
• Identifiers
• Publishing Identifiers
• ISBN
• Identifiers for Digital Products
• GTINs and Bar Codes
• DOI
• ISNI
• ISTC
• Resources
3. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 3
Username + Password +
Identifiers in Everyday Life
―An identifier, generally a sequence of alpha-numeric characters,
unambiguously differentiates one thing from another in a particular context.‖
–BISG Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products
4. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 4
Index Standard Book Industry Identifiers
• Product Identifiers
– ISBN – International Standard Book Number
• http://www.isbn.org
– GTIN – Global Trade Item Number
• http://barcodes.gs1us.org/Default.aspx?tabid=81
• EAN – International Article Number
• UPC – Uniform Product Code
– EPC – Electronic Product Code
• http://www.epcglobalus.org/
– ISMN – International Standard Music Number
• http://www.ismn-international.org/
– ISSN – Intl Standard Serial Number
• http://www.issn.org/
– OCLC Control Number
• http://oclc.org/en-US/
• Contributor Identifiers
– ISNI – International Standard Name Identifier
• www.isni.org
– IPI – Interested Party Identifier (Music)
• http://www.cisac.org/
– ORCID – Open Researcher and Contributor ID
• https://orcid.org
• Assembly Identifiers
– ISTC – Intl Standard Text Code
• http://www.istc-international.org/
– LC Number – Library of Congress Number
• http://www.loc.gov/catdir
• Expression Identifiers
– ISRC – Intl Standard Recording Code
• http://www.ifpi.org/isrc
• Hybrid Identifiers
– DOI – Digital Object Identifier
• http://www.doi.org/ ,
http://www.crossref.org/
• Distribution Identifiers
– GLN -- Global Location Number
• http://barcodes.gs1us.org/Default.aspx?tabi
d=81
– SAN – Standard Address Number
• http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/us
/san/
5. 5Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Identifiers in Publishing
Standard Identifier
– Provide unambiguous communication
among trading partners
– Regulated by Standards Organization
ISBN
Publisher
Distributor
Bookseller
Customer
Standard Identifier
6. 6Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Identifiers in Publishing
ASIN
Order
Processing
Accounting
Warehouse
Fulfillment
Proprietary Identifier
– Increase efficiencies within companies
– Unregulated and not for public
communication
A proprietary identifier is a
unique identifier for a
product that is maintained
by a participant in the
supply chain for internal
use only.
Proprietary Identifier
7. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 7
Disambiguation
8. 8Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Identifiers and Metadata
Identifiers have associated Metadata.
Identifier
Customer
Metadata
9. 9Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
ISBN
ISBN: 0-001-00001-1
Seems like it’s
been around
forever…
10. 10Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
ISBN – International Standard Book Number
• ISO Standard created in 1970
– Currently a 13-digit number, currently under revision
• Provides a unique product identifier for books
– Enables discovery, standardized processing and distribution of books
throughout the global supply chain
– Made machine readable and represented on physical products by an
EAN-13 barcode
• ISBNs are appropriate for books, chapters, maps, audio books
– ISBNs should not be assigned to: Greeting cards, updatable databases,
web pages, games or music
– Substantial change of content requires a new ISBN—rule of thumb = 20%
The ISBN is a unique international identifier for monographic
publications… --ISBN User’s Manual, Sixth Edition
11. 11Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
ISBN Elements
ISBN 978-0-571-08989-5
Country, ge
ographic
region or
language
area: 0/1 =
English
ISBN is
equivalent
to GS1
GTIN-
13, formerl
y EAN-13
Not
ISBN-13
Registration
Prefix
Registrant
Publisher or
imprint
within a
registration
group
Publication
Specific
Edition by
a specific
publisher
CheckDigit
Calculated
using Mod
10 algorithm
12. 12Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
As a standard unique identifier, the ISBN
ensures accurate transmission of metadata
ISBNTitle
Author
Price
Description
Subject
The identifier is the anchor for metadata
13. 13Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Identifiers and Digital Products
“A publisher should always assign a unique ISBN to serve as the
identifier of each unique digital book it releases into the supply chain in
order to maintain an official link by which metadata and sales
information can be communicated back and forth. As this is the
beginning of the supply process and represents the root form of the
content, it is important at this stage that the publisher use an official
ISBN rather than a proprietary identifier.” -- BISG Best Practices for Identifying
Digital Products
What constitutes a book(product)?
14. 14Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Differentiating Products
Content
• Digital books of differing content should be assigned different
identifiers.
– Text-based ebook vs. enhanced ebook
Format
• Digital books of differing file formats should be assigned different
identifiers.
– An EPUB and a PDF are as different as a Hardcover and
Paperback
Usage Constraints
• Digital books with different usage constraints should be assigned
different identifiers.
– Different constraints usually mean different prices, different
products
15. 15Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Metadata
Identifier Title Format
XXX-XXXX-XXXX1-1 The Book Hardcover
XXX-XXXX-XXXX2-2 The Book Trade Paper
XXX-XXXX-XXXX3-3 The Book Mass Market
Identifier Title Content Format Usage
XXX-XXXX-XXXX4-4 The Book EPUB
XXX-XXXX-XXXX5-5 The Book Enhanced EPUB
XXX-XXXX-XXXX6-6 The Book PDF Print
XXX-XXXX-XXXX7-7 The Book PDF No Print
XXX-XXXX-XXXX8-8 The Book .mobi
If the metadata is describing different products, the different products
need different Identifiers.
Physical product is obvious
Digital is not as obvious
16. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 16
Does that identifier have to be an ISBN?
Supply
Chain
Publisher
Distributor
Bookseller
Customer
Closed
System
Order
Processing
Accounting
Warehouse
Fulfillment
Publisher or Third-Party
Assigned ISBN
Publisher or Third-Party Assigned
ISBN or Proprietary ISBN
If you are selling the same product on different closed systems,
using an ISBN will aggregate sales reporting.
Third-party suppliers can assign their own ISBNs to products
when the publisher does not supply an ISBN of its own.
17. 17Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Basic Rules
1. ISBNs are assigned, not created. One ISBN registration agency
per country, or community, is designated by the International ISBN
Agency to assign and distribute ISBNs to the publishers and self-
publishers located in that area. At no time should a random or
unsanctioned number be created and identified as an ISBN by any
member of the supply chain.
2. A digital book must not be assigned the same ISBN as the same
book in physical format. Even if the physical book is no longer in
print, the physical book ISBN cannot be reused for the digital book.
3. ISBNs for digital books should be labeled ―ISBN,‖ not ―eISBN.‖
There is no such standard as an ―eISBN‖, nor is this the proper
way to differentiate the digital book format.
18. 18Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Global Trade Item Number
• Family of 8-14 digit identifiers developed by GS1
– ISBN is GTIN-13,using the ―Bookland‖ EAN prefixes 978, 979
– GTIN for non-book product use GS1 assigned country prefix
• 060—139 assigned GS1 US
• Some prefixes can be used as proprietary identifiers
• GTINs are represented on physical products as barcodes
– EAN-13--International Article Number (Formerly European Article Number)
• Item specific barcode
• Appears on back of book and cover 2 for strippable returns
– UPC–Universal Product Code
• Once used only in US and Canada, now global
• 12-digit identifier for non-book product
• Price specific UPC once used on mass market paperbacks is no
longer recommended.
19. 19Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Proper use of Bar Codes
Price-point UPC, formally
used mostly for Mass
Market Paperbacks and
general retail, no longer
recommended
Bookland EAN-13 with
price add-on
Other variations with
Strippable, Non-Strippable
symbols acceptable
Standard EAN-13 code for
use with non-book
products; Posters, Mugs,
coffee, and…
20. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 20
Persistence
21. 21Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Digital Object Identifier
• The DOI, an ISO Standard, is a unique, persistent digital identifier
of an object—digital or physical.
– Used extensively in Scientific and Journal Publishing
– Can be assigned to a work, article, chapter, image, etc.
– Promotes discovery
– CrossRef.org
• The DOI System provides a persistent link (most commonly a URL)
to an object and standard metadata for that object.
• A DOI can be any length and is structured: Prefix/Suffix Example:
10.1000/182
– Prefix 10.1000 identifies the DOI Registry and the Registrant (1000),
International DOI Foundation
– Suffix: 82 is the unique ID identifying the object, in this case the DOI
Handbook
– Should be displayed as URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1000/182
• DOI’s should not be used in place of ISBNs for book product.
– Using ISBNs in the Suffix is no longer recommended
22. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 22
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12109-011-9248-x
Resolves to URL http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12109-011-9248-x
23. 23Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
International Standard Name Identifier
• ISNI – ISO Standard
• Unambiguously identifies contributors to creative works and people
or entities involved in their creation or distribution
– Writers, artists, musicians, performers, producers, publishers, agents,
etc.
– Currently 7.5 million ISNIs assigned
– Included in Wikipedia entries
– Registration Agency: RR Bowker
• Bridge Identifier
– Links identities across domains
– Linked to proprietary ID’s in databases
– Search and discovery
• Works are linked to ID’s
24. 24Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Example Brian May: lead guitarist of Queen
and Astrophysicist
25. 25Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Cross Domain Linking
26. 26Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
International Standard Text Code
• ISTC – ISO Standard
• Identifies uniquely a textual work and it’s relationship to
other works
– Enables linkages to various products of the work
• No implementation traction in the U.S.
– Currently no U.S. Registration Agency
Same text, same ISTC
Hardcover Paperback
Original Work
Spanish
Edition
Abridged
Audio
Different texts, different,
but linked, ISTCs
Derived Work
27. 27Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014
Resources
• BISG Guide to Identifiers.
• BISG Roadmap of Identifiers
– https://www.bisg.org/roadmap-identifiers
• BISG Policy Statement: Best Practices for Identifying
Digital Product.
– https://www.bisg.org/best-practices-identifying-digital-content-0
• ISBN User’s Manual
– https://www.bisg.org/isbn-users-manual
• BISG: Barcoding Guidelines for the US Book Industry
– https://www.bisg.org/barcoding-guidelines-us-book-industry
• BISG Roadmap of Organizational Relationships
– https://www.bisg.org/roadmap-organizational-relationships
Coming
Soon!
28. Madans – ISBNs and Identifiers – April 16, 2014 28
Thank You!
Phil Madans
Executive Director of Digital Publishing Technology
Hachette Book Group
Chair, BISG Identification Committee
phil.madans@hbgusa.com
Editor's Notes
Good not only for purchases but for citations, too.
Here we have the ISNI record for Brian May. As you can see, he’s done a few things – as an author, a creator, and a performer.
As you can see, the ISNI links together disparate types of data. Brian May, noted guitarist for the band Queen, is also an astrophysicist who has published his dissertation “A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud”. He has ALSO annotated a seminal collection of stereoscopic photographs. A true Renaissance man – and the ISNI allows for these works to be linked together under his unique, persistent identifier. So that if someone sees his dissertation or his photograph collection, and questions whether or not this is the same Brian May that played “Bohemian Rhapsody”, they can confirm that yes, this is the same (rather unusual) person.