Standards Compliance
Bookland EAN
A Bookland European Article Number (EAN) is a thirteen digit, strictly numeric bar code for the publishing industry. A Bookland EAN is used in all countries other than the US and Canada the same way as the UPC is used in the United States. The EAN is currently restricted primarily in bookstores, although some major retailers are implementing it. It is scanned at point-of-sale, and helps track inventory.
To transition to ISBN-13, all 10-digit ISBNs in circulation will have the 3-digit EAN prefix 978 added. Thus the EAN and ISBN-13 identifiers will be identical. As each ISBN Agency exhausts its supply of 10-digit ISBNs the International ISBN Agency will issue complete 13-digit ISBNs carrying the new EAN prefix 979.]
VISTA’s approach to product identifiers allows for multiple keys to be established on products, coupled with an ability to choose which key should be the primary identifier. One of the primary benefits to this approach is that customers will not need to convert existing and historical data in order to take advantage of new identifiers. New customers will be able to take advantage of multiple keys such as EAN, UPC and ISBN-13 upon implementation.
For more information about the Bookland EAN, visit:
- BIC website (http://www.bic.org.uk/barcodes.html)
- Bowker website (http://bowkersupport.com)
