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From: merry@ism70.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: ISBN Numbers - interpretation?
Message-ID: <38@ism70.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Oct-84 00:43:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism70.38
Posted: Thu Oct 18 00:43:42 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Oct-84 06:39:55 EDT
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Nf-ID: #R:brl-tgr:-523600:ism70:14900001:000:645
Nf-From: ism70!merry    Oct 16 14:19:00 1984

ISBN is an acronym for International Standard Book Number.  The ISBM
uniquely identifies a book, thus facilitating handling orders and keeping
track of inventory by computer.  In ISBN 0-226-07522-2, for example, 0
indicates that the book was written in an English-speaking country; the second
group, 226, identifies the publisher; the third group identifies the book;
and the last is the "check digit," which automatically discloses any error
in the preceding group.

Publishers assign ISBNs themselves, following the guidelines set up by
R.R. Bowker Co.  Further information can be obtained from R.R. Bowker,
205 East 42nd St., NY, NY 10017.