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The world of bookselling is in the midst of a momentous change, from the familiar 10-digit ISBN numbers to a new 13-digit format (“ISBN-13”). Seemingly a trivial change, the switch from the 10-digit to a 13-digit format will require careful coordination among publishers, distributors, and retailers. The good news for Anthology users is that Visual Anthology is ready. In fact, Visual Anthology provides the most flexible and adaptive approach to the ISBN-13 transition of any bookstore POS/Inventory control system on the market.
Many bookstore POS/Inventory control systems propose a “once and for all” solution to the ISBN-13 transition. If effect, users are asked to pick a date on which they will transition to the new ISBN-13 format. On that date they run an upgrade to their system (often taking hours to finish) that converts all their existing ISBN-10 numbers to the ISBN-13 format; and all new books, purchase orders, and other book data are entered using the new ISBN-13 format thereafter.
The problem with this approach is that the transition to ISBN-13 will be spotty and uneven. Some vendors will make the change early; some later. Electronic ordering and other systems are being implemented at different paces, with some vendors insisting on ISBN-13s only today, while others still prefer the ISBN-10s. And every bookseller still has thousands of books on their shelves that are printed with ISBN-10 numbers, not ISBN-13s. Systems that require a once-and-for-all transition cannot change until all vendors are ready; and once they have changed cannot readily or easily deal with the legacy systems and inventory that will be a fact of life for booksellers for years to come.
Visual Anthology gives its users the flexibility to deal transparently with either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 numbers, without having to choose between the two prematurely. Every book can be entered, searched or ordered using either its ISBN-10 or its ISBN-13 format. Both formats are displayed on the Inventory screen for easy reference. And POs can be sent in the format that vendors prefer. Visual Anthology doesn't force you to choose; or rather lets you choose the format that is appropriate to the job at hand.
Here are the details.
Books are already being published using the new ISBN-13 numbers. For the time being, all such books have ISBN-13s are in the form “978xxxxxxxxxx”. For example, the ISBN-13 for Fury by Salman Rushdie is 9780679783503. 13-digit ISBN numbers that begin with 978 can be freely converted back and forth into equivalent 10-digit ISBNs. The ISBN-10 for Fury, for example, is 0679783504. (In fact, your books have always carried ISBN-13 numbers – it’s the so-called EAN-13 number that is printed above the barcode on most books and the number that is encoded by the barcode--but these were not the official ISBN numbers printed, say, on the title page or cover of the book).
When a book is entered using a 10-digit ISBN number into Visual Anthology Version 5, the program automatically creates a reference to the corresponding ISBN-13 form; and when a book is entered using an ISBN-13 number that begins with 978, the 10-digit reference is similarly created. The default behavior for the time being is for the ISBN-10 to show in VAL’s ISBN/SKU field. The ISBN-13 equivalent is shown in a new, non-editable field called Alt ISBN.
When an Anthology bookseller decides they are ready, they switch to using the ISBN-13 either on individual books or throughout. When they do, the ISBN-13 will show as the ISBN/SKU or “primary” SKU and the ISBN-10 will show as the Alt ISBN. At that point, the ISBN-13 form will show on most displays in Anthology and will print on all reports, including the cash register tape.
All such books can be scanned and searched within Visual Anthology by either their ISBN-13 or their ISBN-10 number. At some point, probably in early or mid-2008, the first books will be published with ISBN-13's that begin with 979. Such numbers will have no 10-digit equivalents. (Click here for more detail on controlling whether your books use the 10-digit or 13-digit form as the primary ISBN). Purchase orders and electronic ordering
One area of concern for booksellers is ordering from publishers and wholesalers, and especially electronic ordering.
Visual Anthology Version 5 allows you to specify whether a PO will be sent in ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 format. (You can make a setting on the Vendor file screen so that new POs will be created with the format of your choice. The default SKU Format for new POs when no preference has been expressed in the Vendor file is ISBN-10).
Many vendors are only now transitioning their ordering systems to accept 13-digit ISBNs. Virtually all vendors who have done so can accept POs in either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 format and will continue to do so for some time. As Anthology tests with these vendors, we will post our results on http://anthology.com/ANTHOLOGYWEB/CUSTOMERZONE/CZCONTENT.ASPX?UID=44 . Please check there for the latest information on electronic ordering for most major vendors. So what should Anthology booksellers do about electronic ordering? Here’s a summary:
For the time being (probably until mid to early to mid 2008), there is no need to send any PO in ISBN-13 format. Even if your PO contains one or more SKUs in the 978xxxxxxxxxx format, Anthology will automatically convert those SKUs to their 10-digit equivalents when ISBN-10 is selected as the PO format. If at some point in the future you try to send a PO containing a 979 ISBN (that is, an ISBN-13 which has no ISBN-10 equivalent) in the ISBN-10 format, Anthology will warn you that such a SKU cannot be sent on such a PO. A PO containing a 979-type ISBN must be sent in ISBN-13 format.
Not all vendors are prepared to accept POs in ISBN-13 formats. If you try to send a PO in ISBN-13 format to a vendor who does not have the capacity to accept such orders, Anthology will warn you. For example, Random House has not yet implemented sending and receiving ISBN-13 POs for its modem-based electronic ordering. If you try to send a PO in ISBN-13 format via modem to RH, Anthology will not allow you to do so.
On the other hand, Ingram’s Flashback format can accommodate ISBN-13s both in its dial-up and its ftp-based electronic ordering. If you try to send Ingram a PO in ISBN-13 format, it will be allowed.
As vendors implement this functionality and Anthology is able to test successfully with them, we will modify the program with that information. This will be a fast-moving and frequently changing area for the next year or so, and so it will be important for you to check often on this website and to keep your copy of Visual Anthology upgraded to the most recent released version.
How to change your Inventory SKUs from ISBN-10 to ISBN-13
VAL gives you a number of tools to control whether your books use the ISBN-13 or ISBN-10. You can globally change your entire inventory if you wish, or just change new books, or select which form to use on a book-by-book basis.
1) You can use the ‘Make ISBN-13 Primary’ option on the Inventory screen to decide which form to use on a book-by-book basis.
2) The General page of Tools, Options has a new check box: ‘Make ISBN-13 Primary’. When you select this, you are given two choices:
Selecting the first option will make : ‘Make ISBN-13 Primary’ the default for all new books you enter (you can always switch individual books back to ISBN-10 if you wish on the Inventory screen). This is probably a good option for most booksellers at the present time (June 2007).
If you select the second option, then not only will new books have the ISBN-13 format, but your entire existing inventory will be converted to make the ISBN-13 primary as well. We don’t recommend that option at the present time.
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