How to Find a Book By ISBN

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. An ISBN is 10-digit number given to a book title or edition of a title since 1970, with 13-digit ISBNs used since 2007. ISBNs are important to those organizing and selling books. The numbers also help those searching for a particular version of a book, since the softcover and hardcover editions of a book will have different ISBNs, as will every new edition. Searching for a book by title will yield many versions of a book. Using an ISBN, though, will narrow down the versions to the one desired.

Things You'll Need

• Internet access
• ISBN code

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Head to an online book retailer or catalog. (Check the Resources for online book catalogs.)

   • 2

     Find the site's book-search box, including any drop-down menus that let you specify what kind of search you're doing.

   • 3

     Type the ISBN into the search box, not including any hyphens or spaces. Use the drop-down menu, if there is one, to choose to search by ISBN.

   • 4

     Click "Search," "Find Book" or whatever other term or phrase the site uses to complete the search.