Articles

Sunday, 13 July 2014 00:54

ISBN in Malaysia Featured

Written by
Rate this item
(0 votes)

ISBN in Malaysia

One of the most important details of any book is actually the ISBN. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and is the means by which a books is identified.

I was, therefore, pleased that in today's StarMag, Daphne Lee wrote a very informative piece on this subject:

ISBNs comprise 13 digits as of January 2007. The change has come about as a result of numbering shortages, which should be good news to book lovers because it means that there are so many books published that we were running out of 10-number combinations.

This is what the 13 numbers mean: The three first numbers (978) is a European Article Number prefix (EAN codes are used worldwide for marking retail goods).

The next group of numbers identify the country of publication. Countries may also be grouped according to language, which is why books published in Britain or the United States are identified with the number zero (0) or one (1), the codes for English-speaking countries. Next comes the publishers code, then the item number, and, finally, the check digit (arrived at by a formula involving the first 12 numbers in the code).

Whether you want to find out if a book is available in a store or you want the staff to order it for you, supplying them with the ISBN will help them identify the right book more quickly and efficiently, avoiding mix-ups with similarly titled books.

To add to Daphne Lee's article, if you're intending to self-publish, the National Library of Malaysia is the place to go to get an ISBN for your book. You can do it online by clicking on this link: http://www.pnm.my/new/melayu/khidpnerbit/mohon_isbn.htm [note: an english version is also available] And, more importantly, the application for an ISBN through the National Library is free of charge.

You can contact that the National ISBN Centre at the following address:-

 

Pusat Bibliografi Negara,

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia

Tingkat 18, Menara TH Selborn

153, Jalan Tun Razak,

50572 Kuala Lumpur

(Attn: Unit Perkhidmatan Kepada Penerbit)

Tel: 03-26814329, 03-26871700 ext. 4288/4284/4271

Fax: 03-26811676

http://www.pnm.my/new/english/serv_pub/isbn_eng.htm#cara

 

Once an application is made, all necessary details, i.e. the number that will be provided for your book and the bar code which you will need to give your printers to typeset onto the cover of your book, will be sent to you.


Click here to return to the index of Articles


Read 1863 times Last modified on Sunday, 14 November 2021 19:55

Comments powered by CComment

Latest Posts

  • Sakshi
    I have been in a state of ‘emotional unwell-being’ for seven years. There, I’ve said it. Why? Well, after my father died, I believed that if I reached out with love to ‘good friends’, counsellors, suitors, and relatives, there could be pockets of joy to offset my grief and loneliness,…
  • The Creative Industry Needs to Look at Things Differently Post Budget 2022
    On 29 October 2021, the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz tabled Budget 2022 in the Malaysian parliament. RM50 million has been allocated for the arts and culture industry. This comes after a year and a half after the entire industry came to an absolute standstill. With…
  • ‘The Covid Positives’ – life lessons learnt from the pandemic by Phanindra Ivatury
    After a long drawn battle with the biggest catastrophe in our living memory, global humanity is finally getting to see some quintessential ray of light at the end of the treacherous tunnel in the form of COVID-19 vaccines, currently being rolled out to all parts of the globe. A ‘COVID-19…
  • Chaos of Whole Books
    Is it possible to read several books at once? Aneeta Sundararaj finds out. When I was a child, my cousin used to boast that he could read four storybooks at a time. As an adult, when he invested in an e-Reader, he continued to boast that he could…
  • Writing for You? Or for Me?
    Writing for You? Or for Me? ‘You must always write with your reader in mind.’ This was one of the first pieces of advice that I received when I began my writing career. Honestly, I found this extremely hard to do because more often than not, I couldn’t picture my…