Companies, institutions, associations or private individuals with an address in Norway that publish publications can participate in the ISBN system.
The system was first developed in England in the late 1960s and is now used in over 150 countries. Norway first adopted the numbering system in 1971 and is currently administered by the National Library of Norway.
What do the numbers in the ISBN mean?
Previously, ISBNs consisted of 10 numbers, but today this has been increased to 13 numbers. As you can see from the illustration, the number is divided into 5 parts. The first part (978) is the prefix. Part 2 (3) is the country code, in Norway the country code is 82. Part 3 (16) is the publisher number. Part 4 (148410) is the document title number. Part 5 is the check digit.
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What needs to have an ISBN?
- Printed books and small prints
- audiobooks on cassette, CD or DVD
- maps (sold in bookstores)
- chapters of books or reprints of periodicals that are for sale separately
- documents in Braille (Braille)
- documents in microform (cards, film)
- electronic documents either on physical carriers (such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, CD-ROM, DVD) or on the internet
- combo documents (where the main parts are text-based)
- Educational films and transparencies
- software for teaching or instructional purposes
What should not have ISBN?
- time-limited printed material such as almanacs, calendars, advertising and the like
- periodicals (magazines, comics, newspapers)
- sheet music printing (music printing)
- art prints and art folders without title page and text
- personal documents (such as a curriculum vitae)
- Sound recordings of music (gramophone records, cassettes, compact discs)
- feature films on e.g. DVD, VHS
- task sets in loose sheets
- special editions of periodicals and festschrifts
- programs (for theater performances, music performances, etc.)
- exhibition lists without explanatory text
- course program (for schools)
- lectures and teaching materials in manuscripts etc.
- books intended for filling in, e.g. notebooks, coloring books, accounting books
- capstan
- leaflets (leaflets)
- posters, postcards, greeting cards
- forms, forms
- websites
- Internet documents that are continuously updated
- Internet documents that only contain summaries of content or excerpts from the printed version.
How do you get an ISBN?
The easiest way is to fill out a electronic form on the National Library of Norway's website, after which you will be notified of your assigned ISBN by email. Acquiring an ISBN, as well as participating in the numbering system, is completely free.
You can also find the National Library's own guidance on ISBNs here
