From 1st January 2007 ISBN's will be changing to 13 digits.

Essentially the current barcode ('Bookland' EAN code, 13 digits long, starting with 978) will be used instead of the 10 digit code.

Because ISBN codes will run out at some point, ISBN-13 codes will start using the 979 prefix as well as the existing 978 prefix.

Booksolve is capable of using 13 digit codes and the change over will not require many changes to the system.  As a company we always support standard trade initiatives and all users with support contract will receive free updates to support this change.

No obvious changes to the system will be visible until Jan 2006, however 'behind the scenes' all EDI files will be altered to include both stock codes in all transmissions.

A recent BIC seminar examined the issue of ISBN-13.  Notes of the seminar are available at  http://www.bic.org.uk/13-digitisbn.html  and are highly recommended reading.

Over the coming months we will post a list of all EDI partners that have switched over to EDI communications that contain both versions of the stock code.  By 1st Jan 2006 this should include all suppliers we link to.