Move to ISBN-13

Beginning January 1, 2007, the book industry will be converting from using 10-digit ISBN codes to 13-digit ISBN codes. Here are the details of this change for publishers:

Books with publication dates earlier than January 2007 may have both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 on the copyright page as well as printed above the EAN bar code on the back of the book (i.e. Cover 4).

Titles with publication dates of January 1, 2007, or later must have only ISBN-13 on the copyright page and above the EAN bar code on the back of the book.

Backlist product reprinted after January 1, 2007, should have only ISBN-13 on the copyright page and above the EAN bar code. However, publishers may continue printing both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 where their market requires both or where the publisher anticipates few, if any, subsequent reprintings.

As of January 1, 2007, UPC bar codes should not be printed on any titles, frontlist or backlist. The Bookland EAN-13 bar code with a human-readable ISBN-13 above it should be printed on Cover 4.

What does this mean for RQM users? RQM currently accepts either 13-digit or 10-digit entries, but stores the codes internally using 10-digits. It is possible to convert an old 10-digit code to a 13-digit code using a simple formula. The next major version of RQM (due in Feb. 2007) will automatically convert your 10-digit codes into 13-digit codes. This version will accept 13-digit OR 10-digit entries, but will store all entries as 13-digit codes.

You may continue to see 10-digit AND 13-digit codes for some time on new books published after January 1, 2007. Rest assured that RQM will continue to work smoothly with either format!