LibraryThing is using ISBN-10 instead of ISBN-13

I've just started to use LibraryThing, and began by adding two books using the Android app's ability to scan the books' barcodes. All went reasonably well, but I was surprised and disappointed to find that the ISBNs of the books as added to my library were both ISBN-10 (10-digit) codes.

The old 10-digit ISBNs have been deprecated for many years and nobody should be using them in 2018! It is particularly perverse because the barcodes on modern books represent the ISBN-13 codes, so LibraryThing already has the up-to-date ISBNs from the scans. Why does it then replace them with ISBN-10?

I looked in the LibraryThing settings, assuming that somewhere there would be an option to use either ISBN-13 or ISBN-10, but if there is such an option I cannot find it.

For me this is a deal-breaker, as I often want to share books by sharing the ISBN. Recalculating them by hand is not an option. I hope I am missing something here – can anyone please shed light on this issue?

Thanks!
Phil

When you're importing book data, you're not importing it from LT as such, but from any one of a number of sources you can use, from Amazon to thousands of libraries around the world. The data depends on the source data. I would assume that books issued when ISBN 10 was the norm still retain that info. Either way, you can check the data of the book you're about to add by clicking the small question mark in the upper right corner of every search result.

Library sources are much better than Amazon when it comes to consistent data. So if you've been adding them from there, switch to Overcat as a source, or a specific library

Edit: I'm not using the app, so it might not work exactly the same, but hopefully you can still choose a source of data

I also used to have to manually correct the ISBN from 10 to 13, and then I followed the "instructions" and instead of using Amazon as a book source, I started using the British Library: that gives me the ISBN-13 right away.
You can set it up as default.

Like the previous poster, I don't use the app/barcode scanner, so I'm not sure how different it is...

If you look at the book detail page for your books you will see that both are listed.

http://www.librarything.com/work/13687122/details/162424712
http://www.librarything.com/work/22519797/details/162424726

LT has to be able to compare the ISBNs as given by various sources, and for books of various ages. As long as nearly all ISBNs in use are transformable from one to the other it needs to use both.

>1 pcgardner: The old 10-digit ISBNs have been deprecated for many years and nobody should be using them in 2018! ... the barcodes on modern books represent the ISBN-13 codes

Yeah, how old are you, Phil? ISBN-13 started in 2007.

Most of my books are older than that, and so am I. I even have a few hundred pre-1970 volumes that don't have ISBNs at all, let alone barcodes. I'm glad LT has many ways to accommodate superannuated reader-collectors like me.

For what it's worth the VAST majority of my books have no ISBN. History is old!!

There are even books published independently today that have not received the Mark. Amazing but true. As much as some seem to view or wish it otherwise, books are not actually epiphenomena of a vast digital data set.

>5 paradoxosalpha: Yeah, how old are you, Phil? ISBN-13 started in 2007.

Actually I'm 68, so I remember the pre-1974 9-digit SBNs (I'm in the UK, where we didn't add the zero until 1974). Although it's true that ISBNs didn't officially become 13-digit until 2007, it was known that this change was on the way a considerable time before that, and many publishers here used EAN-13 barcodes well before 2007. My current book collection is mostly post-1990, and the great majority of my books have 13-digit barcodes.

>4 MarthaJeanne: If you look at the book detail page for your books you will see that both are listed.

So they are! But on the listing page only the ISBN-10 is shown.

>3 ScarletBea: I started using the British Library: that gives me the ISBN-13 right away.

Thank you! That's exactly the tip I needed.

So, the basic issue here is that every ISBN10 has an ISBN13, and almost all ISBN13s have an ISBN10. These aren't two ISBNs, but one ISBN in two numerical forms. LibraryThing uses the form in the record we receive from the source for display. Very often this is the ISBN10, because it's common for 978 ISBN13s to be "downsampled" to ISBN10. (In fact, LibraryThing does this on the back end, following Amazon's practice.) Downsampling is a more reliable way of searching external sources generally, because older library systems still can't handle the equivalence.

If someone wants to give me a specific situation, I can track it down. It's possible we're downsampling before we hit a source and therefore getting their ISBN10 first.

>8 pcgardner: I agree with this. I just borrowed from my local library an (Italian) book from 1995, and it shows the ISBN-10 together with the relative EAN-13.

If you don't like ISBN-10, that is yet another reason to avoid using Amazon as a source.

>8 pcgardner: My current book collection is mostly post-1990, and the great majority of my books have 13-digit barcodes.

So your assertion of ISBN-10s that "nobody should be using them in 2018!" is purely selfish. Roger that.

Out of curiousity, Tim, how many 979- ISBNs are there on LT currently?

Isbn is the capitol of Ortugal...

>15 lorax:

I'll have to run a script. But I will. Interesting question.

>16 Crypto-Willobie: I think you mean Ortugl.

>18 MarthaJeanne:

Doh! you're rght!

They are a little short of vowels in Ortugl.

"Had a girl in ISBN, a girl in OM,
Now I'll have to stay at home."

>21 paradoxosalpha:
If it's not faked don't brexit...

(Alright, we'll give the thread back now...)

>15 lorax: I have no data about this, but I know that Italian ISBN agency (whose website is isbn.it ;-) ) sells 979- codes at an outrageous price for people who are not publishers and want to get a code. (Before that, I considered paying 70$ for ten numbers, but eventually I decided against it)

>16 Crypto-Willobie: Nice ordply!

It has been my experience that ISBN 10 and ISBN 13's can be different, but that usually turns out to be some minor difference like hardcover vs paperback/softcover. Also, ISBN 13's are not always the same in the barcode. I've had to edit some because the source is a minor difference of some kind and while I've searched hard to get it exact. Sometimes it just isn't found and I have to go with what I have. Identifiers can be a real pain because some books have both UPC and EAN while others just have a untitled barcode. (I assume most of those are UPC) It's even more difficult being locked out of entering what the UPC, EAN, LCCN of my book really is. Many searches don't come up with any result. To sometimes remedy that I've been able to find the book in a Google search on Amazon, copied the ASIN and entered in the search, then my book comes up.

In my case LT knows both ISBN-10 and -13, but the list in "your books" shows only ISBN-10. Unfortunately, the catalog that I use to research the our call numbers (yes, we copy call numbers :-) ) needs ISBN-13 input. Is there any way to switch the list display to ISBN-13 (or add an ISBN-13 module to the backend settings) ?

>26 Ellen-Key-Schule: Please read what Tim said in >11 timspalding:. They show the form your source gave. So you need to choose sources that use the 13 form. Or you can edit it afterwards. This is LibraryThing respecting your data the way you entered it.

Amazon uses ISBN-10. GBV varies (probably according to what library the data comes from, or age of the book). If you are entering using Overcat as a source you can choose an entry with the ISBN in the form you prefer. Otherwise, edit it while you are checking your entry to see if it accurately reflects your copy.

I googled "ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 converter" and found several web pages that will do the conversion.

Thank you for clarifying, MarthaJeanne. Confusingly, I have different ISBN formats for the same book, coming from the same source (GBV). I guess they respect the way I enter data, as well. Oh well. I'll live with that.

GBV is Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund. IE it is not a single library, but a combined catalogue for a group of libraries. Different libraries in the group can do things differently. Also, my preference is to show the ISBN the way it is on the book. That means older books will have the 10, newer books the 13.