January 18, 2007
OCLC 10-digit to 13-digit ISBN Conversion
OCLC's January 14 system maintenance included changes enabling the index and display of all 10-digit ISBNs in OCLC WorldCat records as both 10-digit and their corresponding 13-digit ISBNs. It is no longer necessary to search 13-digit ISBNs in the Standard Number (sn:) index. All ISBNs may now be searched in the ISBN (bn:) index whether they were initially input as 10-digit or 13-digit records.
Thirteen-digit ISBNs coded with first indicator 3 (for an International Article Number or EAN) in field 024 have not yet been converted, but will be in near the future. Since OCLC's practice from mid-2004 to November 2006 was to store 13-digit ISBNs in field 024 with a first indicator value of 3, records input into WorldCat during that time will still have ISBN-13s in that field. Such records may be retrieved by searching the Standard Number (sn:) index for the 13-digit ISBN.
Warning: In some converted records, ISBNs may be duplicated. That is, some 10- and 13-digit ISBN's may be displayed twice in a bibliographic record. To delete them from the record, you must delete both the 10-digit and 13-digit versions that are duplicated. OCLC is aware of the problem and is correcting the records. The corrections are anticipated to be completed in a few days.
