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Subject:re. Getting an ISBN From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Tue, 16 May 1995 12:22:25 LCL
Lisa Battle asked how to get an ISBN for a book, and how long this
takes. In the U.S., I'd imagine that unaffiliated authors should be
able to get one assigned by the Library of Congress (Washington,
D.C.). In Canada, the equivalent would be the national library in
Ottawa. (European readers, please feel free to contribute info. for
your own countries...)
However, if you're affiliated with some large organisation, there's an
easier solution: you probably already have an ISBN prefix assigned to
you, and all you need to do is contact your ISBN coordinator (often
the organisation's chief librarian, who will know where to look
anyway) to obtain the suffix. When I worked for the Canadian federal
government, our prefix was 0-662, and a quick phone call got me the
suffix within an hour (and often immediately, if they weren't too
busy). If you're working with LOC or the National Library by mail...
good luck. Try for a FAX number, and FAX the info instead.
--Geoff Hart #8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: These comments are my own and don't represent the opinions
of the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.
