h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Most publishers (even the ones which only do one book) get ISBN numbers, since they can't get sold in WHSmith without on.

What about magazines? How do those Barcodes work?

And do they use 666?

The ones for magazines (or serials, in the jargon) are ISSN. International Standard Serial Number. They have eight digits. I know that if you send your magazine to your national library, they will give you an ISSN number for it, which you can use on every issue.

It may be worth mentioning that the ISBN number is not used by libraries to identify books, for a few reasons. One is mentioned in the entry - it is possible to run out of numbers, so publishers tend to be conservative and may reuse numbers for different editions of the same book. Also the same book will have completely different numbers when published by different publishers. But most importantly, the numbers have nothing to do with the subject of the book.

In the USA at least, most major libraries use the "LOC" or Library of Congress cataloguing system, and mostly ignore the ISBN. The numbers represent categories, so all 18th century German literature will end up with similiar numbers and be shelved in the same area. It also allows for fine distinctions between editions of books, often including the year of publication as part of the number. The LOC number will also appear on the copyright page of books published in the US.

Smaller libraries in the US use the "Dewey Decimal System" instead, I think because it is simpler to understand than the LOC system.

Trust me, we DO use ISBN numbers... but they are only intended as an index, a way of absolutely identifing a particular book: at least all different editions of the bible should have a different ISBN no.
Some computer programs read the publisher number from ISBN, but they're usually wrong, 'cos when a company changes name or merges, it keeps Pub no.
They shouldn't reuse numbers, anyway... even the smallest publisher should have a thousand numbers.

We use Dewey... I think many UK libraries do. But it's time for an overhaul, 'cos Dewey (a Victorian) put computers in the 004's, with generalities.

I have definitely seen ISBNs re-used.

It happened to me a few years ago with a technical book that I found on two different web sites listed with slightly different names (but unlikely to be transcription errors). I think the book was a tedious Java/CORBA book (ISBN 047124578X, if anyone actually wants to check). Anyway, turned out that first and second editions had slightly different names, but same ISBN.

Most recently, I have been looking for a copy of (the out-of-print) "Armagnac: The Spirit of Gascony" by C.E. Page (the name is almost certainly a pun as cépage is the French word for the type of vine). When I search Amazon.com (.co.uk couldn't find it at all), I see it listed correctly. When I ask Books etc, they have a completely different author - I forget who. The ASIN (?) is 0747502633 and that was the ISBN that Books etc printed out for me. Now it might just be that Books etc have the real (non-joke) name, but I don't think so as I would still expect them to have a listing under "Page", even if it were a pseudonym. SO, not sure whether this has been re-used for a later edition, or what.

A challenge! I used to do this as a part-time job when I was a student.

Here it is from http://www.loc.gov/

Personal Name: Page, C. E.
Main Title: Armagnac : the spirit of Gascony / C.E. Page.
Published/Created: London : Bloomsbury, 1989.
Description: 192 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 0747502633 :
Subjects: Brandy--France--Armagnac.
LC Classification: TP599 .P34 1989
Dewey Class No.: 641.2/53/0944771 20
Geog. Area Code: e-fr---
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CALL NUMBER: TP599 .P34 1989


But there is also this (could they be related?):

Personal Name: Péré, André. [from old catalog]
Main Title: Armagnac, coeur de la Gascogne,
Published/Created: Cannes, Éditions de l'Institut Coopératif de l'École moderne-Pédagogie Freinet, 1967.
Description: p. cm.
Subjects: Armagnac. [from old catalog]
Series: Bibliothèque de travail, 656. [from old catalog]
LC Classification: AC20 .B47 no. 656
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CALL NUMBER: AC20 .B47 no. 656

I forgot to mention that Ishould not have said that libraries "mostly ignore" ISBN numbers.

You are right, Cow, they do use it for identification, but in my experience at least it is regarded as helpful but not entirely trustworthy information.

And even the LOC number is not trusted entirely. I would love to get my hands on the two books above, just to see if one is indeed a translation of the other.

I'm just a geek that way.

Are ISBNs supposed to be completely unique per book? And are LOC numbers ('cos Dewey isn't. Almost all physics textbooks = 620)

They do use 666, as explained at F49287?thread=3922618.

http://www.books-by-isbn.com/047124578X
http://www.books-by-isbn.com/0747502633

Has details for both books mentioned earlier in the conversation.

TRiG.