As the January 1 deadline for publishers to switch from 10-digit ISBNs to 13-digit ones approaches, Book Industry Study Group executive director Michael Healy said the organization has been getting several calls a day from publishers wanting clarification on various points. To help publishers make sure that they have the basics of the ISBN-13 transition covered, here's a checklist of five key things to keep in mind. But as important as it is for publishers to be prepared for the change, McGraw-Hill Education's Bob Bolick, who chaired BISG's ISBN task force, warned against rushing to meet the deadline. Companies "should take extreme care in rushing to get ready to avoid making errors that may be costly to them," Bolick noted. His advice for companies on the verge of panic is to visit the BISG Web site at www.bisg.org.
Publishers must use the 978 prefix for 13-digit ISBNs. There should be no ISBN-13s beginning with 979 at this time. The U.S. ISBN agency is not expected to start issuing 979 prefixes for some time, and only when its supply of 978 prefixes is exhausted.Don't forget to recalculate the check (final) digit when adding the 978 prefix to ISBN-10 codes. Publishers who are unsure how to do it can go to www.bisg.org and follow the links to the conversion utilities.The only source of ISBN prefixes in the U.S. is the U.S. ISBN agency operated by R.R. Bowker. Go to www.isbn.org for more information and advice.Publishers should resist the temptation to continue using ISBN-10s in their internal systems and convert them to ISBN-13 when communicating with trading partners. When ISBN-13s beginning with 979 are issued, the workaround just will not work!Don't configure EDI files too rigidly. Make sure messages allow the ISBN-10, ISBN-13 and GTIN-14 to be sent and received in any order, and use the leading indicators available for each type of identifier.
