New ISBN system may cause headaches next year

The introduction of the 13-digit ISBN won't happen until Janurary 2007, but it will be a challenge to pull off the transition. The existing 10-digit ISBN has been in place for more than 30 years, serving to identify books and their editions.

But the 10-digit system is almost full, prompting a change to the 13-digit system next year. More books than ever are being introduced, so the ISBN system is nearly full. In 2007, ISBNs will come with an added prefix of 978 or 979. Old books with 10-digit ISBNs must be converted to the 13-digit format. A publishing trade group has a free "Dummies" guide on the topic here..

And This web site will automatically convert a 10-digit ISBNs to 13 digits.

For bookstores that must change to the new format, more resources are provided by the U.S. ISBN Agency. On Amazon.com, most products are uniquely identified by an "ASIN" (Amazon Standard Identification Number), and in the case of most books, it's the same number as the ISBN.