Bowker Partners with Libraries for Implementation of New ISBN-13 Standard.

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. -- Bowker, a leading provider of bibliographic information, today released a variety of new resources to assist library professionals with the operational changes necessary to transition to the new global ISBN-13 standard that takes effect in 16 months.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is the unique number that marks any book published in the world and enables that book, with its particular edition and binding, to be easily tracked by libraries, booksellers and even consumers. In order to accommodate the growing number of books being published each year, the International ISBN Agency recently decided to convert from a 10-digit format to 13-digit ISBNs, effective January 1, 2007.

To ease that transition for libraries, Bowker has unveiled a new Web site (www.bowkersupport.com/isbn13/) that features a series of free resources and convenient links to other useful sites. These resources include a helpful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) fact sheet, a simple "10-digit to 13-digit ISBN" conversion tool, guidelines for the implementation of ISBN-13 in any library setting, and various tips regarding how to make the transition as seamless as possible.

In addition, Bowker today announced that its flagship Web sites, BooksInPrint.com and GlobalBooksInPrint.com, now fully support ISBN-13 searching by library professionals. Users of either site can search for specific titles by both the new ISBN-13 and the old 10-digit ISBN, either with or without hyphens. The new ISBN-13 will now automatically appear on the full description page for every title with a 10-digit ISBN.

"As the official agency for administering the ISBN standard in the United States and Puerto Rico, we are uniquely positioned to offer library professionals the tools and guidance they need to make this transition as smooth as possible," said Boe Horton, senior vice president and general manager of the library division for New Providence, N.J.-based Bowker. "In addition to the free resources we're debuting on the Web today, we also provide Bowker's Book Analysis System, a new product that enables library professionals to perform quick core and gap analyses of their book collections by subject, eliminating the tedious manual comparisons that plague most collection development. This powerful system can be used to quickly convert a library's entire collection from 10-digit ISBNs to the new ISBN-13 standard."

About Bowker

Founded in 1872, Bowker is North America's leading provider of bibliographic information, and is also the official agency for assigning ISBNs in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company's flagship product, Books In Print(R), is available on the Internet at www.BooksInPrint.com, on CD-ROM, in hardbound print format, and as licensed data feeds. Ulrich's Periodicals Directory(TM) is available in CD-ROM and in hardbound print format and is accessible on the Internet at www.ulrichsweb.com. For more information, please visit www.Bowker.com or call1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372).