In 1965, Great Britain book retailer W.H. Smith planned to computerize its warehouse and wanted a standardized numbering system for its inventory. As a result, the Standard Book Number (SBN) was implemented in 1967. Simultaneously, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee on Documentation (TC 46) was interested in the possibility of using the British SBN for international use. A 1968 meeting was held in London with representatives of Denmark, France, Germany, Eire (Ireland), the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States of America to discuss the issue. The ISBN has been in use since 1970.
The Bowker U.S. ISBN Agency's website states the four parts of the 10- and 13-digit ISBN are the "group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic grouping of publishers; publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a group; title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a title; check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates the ISBN." An example of a 13-digit ISBN is: 978-0-465-01262-6.
The creation of the 10-digit ISBN unified the numbering system for books. It was the precursor to the ISBN 13-digit format. A 10-digit ISBN of 0-205-30902-X is the same book title and edition as the new 13-digit 978-0-205-30902-3, "The Elements of Style, 4th Edition." The 10-digit format is missing the "978" (group or country identifier), and its "X" is replaced with the check digit "3," which validates the ISBN.
The two primary reasons for the ISBN 13 format are to alleviate shortages for ISBNs in certain areas of the world and to align the ISBN with the global European Article Numbering and Uniform Code Council (EAN.UCC) for other goods worldwide. A "978" prefix and a check digit at the end of the ISBN (for validating the assigned number) were added to the ISBN 10. When the "978" prefix is exhausted a "979" prefix will be used and these numbers will not have an ISBN 10 counterpart.
Since Jan. 1, 2007, 13-digit ISBNs have been used because of increased demand and the inevitable exhaustion of 10-digit ISBNs. Inventories and catalogs can be converted from the 10-digit to the new 13-digit format by using the Bowker U.S. ISBN Agency's free conversion tool. The link for the "Conversion of Large Lists" is also on the ISBN Agency's free conversion tool web page and offers a downloadable file to assist with the conversion of a 10-digit format to the13-digit format.