Xref: utzoo comp.text:7845 comp.databases:8387 Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!eanv20 From: eanv20@castle.ed.ac.uk (John Woods) Newsgroups: comp.text,comp.databases Subject: Re: ISBN numbers Message-ID: <7686@castle.ed.ac.uk> Date: 7 Jan 91 14:36:38 GMT References: <1990Dec17.205911.15073@mtxinu.COM> <1990Dec19.030040.27240@cbnewsl.att.com> <1990Dec29.171509.10739@odin.diku.dk> Organization: Edinburgh University Computer Services Lines: 18 PC>The NIH class library book (published in the U.K.) didn't have a hyphen PC>between the publisher and book number, much to my surprise. NEL>The hyphens isn't significant. The system is designed so the NEL>interpretation is unique. This means that you always know what parts of NEL>the ISBN is the language number and the publishers number. NEL>Ie. since Denmark has the number 87, there can be no language number 8 NEL>or with the prefix 87. Actually, it is necessary that the hyphen is arbitrary, as big publishers need shorter numbers to allow room for their larger (and hence longer) book numbers in the fixed 10 digit sequence. -- /******* cut here ******* John Woods ******* cut here ******** * Philosophy: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit (Virgil) * * Disclaimer: Every statement in this file is possibly !true * ******** cut here ******* John Woods ******* cut here *******/