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ISBN executive expounds on advantages of technology
1389/02/24-08:30
An Executive in charge of ISBN and ISMN mechanisms in Iran's Book Chamber reviewed advantages of the technology in a panel discussion on "ISBN applications in publications universe" staged on May 11 in a marquee in Tehran International Book Fair allocated to showcase Iran's Publication Records.
Azada Nazarboland described the International Standard Book Number as a solid ground for improvement and optimization of trade in publications.
The executive defined ISBN as a unique numeric international commercial book identifier which represents specifications of a book in a mechanized system and provides an effective instrument for optimization of production, distribution and storage of bibliographical data in the world market.
"This is a solid ground for optimization of domestic book trade," she added.
He expanded the ISBN definition by saying that the international code comprises five digit-sections separated from one another by dashes where first section or numbers "978", and "979" has been designated by the international EAN organization for the Bookland.
The second digit section, according to the executive, designates a specific country or geographical region in the ISBN system, checked by the ISBN organization and a third section stands for publisher's identifier while a fourth section is a control number.
According to Nazarboland, Iran acceded the international ISBN institute in 1993 and was subsequently assigned group identifier "964" however following an exhaustion of capacity in some subsets, Iran was assigned identifier number "600."
The ISBN executive noted that in the wake of accession of ISBN organization to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, the 10-digit ISBN was expanded to a 13-digit number with the newly established code now beginning with number "978."
"Publishers however shall not extract a 13-digit code by just adding a '978' to the beginning of their original 10-digit number," the executive noted, adding that a conversion of number shall be carried out by special software because the structures of the two numbers are distinct from one another.
An ISBN is assigned to each edition or variation, the executive said, adding that any modification of an ISBN was unauthorized and altered numbers are not allowed in the international system.
As for software products, Nazarboland said an ISBN number is assigned to pedagogical products however other software products like computer games are not covered by the coding system.
Books of a series, according to Nazarboland, are also assigned a series ISBN besides their specific, exclusive number.
The executive suggested publishers place ISBN codes within the fourth section on left hand side at the back of book, close to turn.
The executive then briefed the panel on the features of ISMN (International Standard Music Number), an ISMN is a 13-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to identify print music and protect intellectual rights of producers.
According to Nazarboland, an ISMN shall be assigned to musical note books, miniature note books, vocalist note books, music albums, pop music sheets, and electronic pieces of music, including among others.
Nazarboland noted that publications about music or music history are assigned an ISBN instead of ISMN.
