How to Create an ISBN Barcode for a Book Tutorial

The ISBN system is used to automate ordering and inventory systems for publishers, distributors and retailers. It is also used for the monitoring of sales data in the publishing industry. This tutorial and guide will guide you step-by-step through the process necessary to create the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) bar code for a book. The ISBN barcode that is created in this tutorial is also identical to the EAN "Bookland" bar code.

INDEX:

• Obtain the ISBN Number
• Obtain Products to Generate the ISBN Barcode
• Create the Bar Code Image for the Book
• Reading and Testing Barcodes

To print the barcode for the book, the ISBN number needs to be obtained. This number is available from the ISBN website and should be a 10 or 13 digit number for the book, for example 0-9767736-6-X or 978-0-9767736-6-5. This ISBN number is to be displayed on the book above the barcode. All books published after January 1, 2007 must display the number in the new 13 digit format, which is referred to as ISBN-13. Older 10 digit numbers may be converted to 13 digits with the Free ISBN Conversion Tool.

The last digit of the ISBN is always a MOD 11 checksum character, represented as numbers 0 through 10. When the check character is equal to 10, the Roman numeral X is used to keep the same amount of digits in the number. Therefore, the ISBN of 0-9767736-6-X is actually 0-9767736-6 with a check digit of 10. The ISBN check digit is never encoded in the barcode.

To create a proper barcode as required by the ISBN, products are needed to generate an EAN13 barcode and the OCR-A representation of the ISBN, which appears above the EAN13 barcode. In this tutorial, the Barcode Image Generator product and OCR Font Package are used. In some cases, is may be more desirable to create barcodes with IDAutomation's EAN Font Package. If dynamic barcodes or additional automation is necessary, IDAutomation offers many Font Tools, Components and Applications for this purpose. When it is desired to print multiple labels that are applied to an existing book, IDAutomation's Barcode Label Software may be the best product to use.

The complete ISBN number is to be displayed on the book, above the ISBN barcode, in the IDAutomationOCRa font which is part of the OCR Font Package.

The ISBN-13 barcode that appears below the ISBN number is created by encoding an EAN13 barcode type directly with the first 12 digits of the ISBN-13 number as shown in Fig 1. The ISBN-10 barcode is formed by appending the first 9 digits of the ISBN number to 978*. For example, an ISBN number of 0-9767736-6-X would be encoded in EAN-13 as 978097677366. After agencies run out of numbers allocated to the 978 prefix, they will begin using EAN13 barcodes preceded by 979.

Fig 1. Encoding ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 numbers in the EAN-13 barcode.

ISBN Type	ISBN Number*	Data to Encode	EAN-13 Barcode Result
ISBN-10	0-9767736-6-X	97809767736
ISBN-13	978-0-9767736-6-5	97809767736

* The last digit of the ISBN number is always a check digit; this ISBN check digit is never encoded in the barcode. After encoding the 12 digit number (13 digit ISBN minus the check digit) in the EAN-13 barcode, a new EAN13 check digit is generated for the barcode symbol only.

When the ISBN number is encoded in the EAN-13 barcode, it is often called Bookland. A Supplemental 5 digit add-on bar code is optional and can contain the price of the book or periodical. The price is encoded by appending a 4 digit number to the currency number - use 0 for the British Pound and 5 for the U.S. Dollar. For example, if the book sells for 10.50 in USD, encode 51050 in the 5 digit add-on. A supplemental code of 90000 indicates that the book has no suggested retail price. Supplemental numbers in the range 90001 to 98999 may be used by publishers for internal purposes. Complimentary copies of books are marked 99991. The National Association of College Stores uses 99990 to mark used books.

The step-by-step process to create the barcode is as follows:

1. Install the OCR Font Package.
2. After the OCR Font Package is installed, install the Barcode Image Generator.
3. Open the Image Generator. In the Barcode Properties tab, enter the first 12 digits of the ISBN number and the number 5 plus the price of the book. The last digit of the ISBN number is a check digit; which is not encoded in the barcode.
   For example: 97809767736651050
   Choose 1.80 for the Bar Height and .050 for the X dimension.
   Choose EAN13 for the Symbology.
   
    
4. In the Text & Color Properties tab, click the set button for the Human Readable Text Font and choose IDAutomationOCRb at 9 points:
   
   
    
5. In the Caption Properties tab, click the set button for the Upper Caption Font and choose IDAutomationOCRa at 9 points:
   
    
6. In the Upper Caption text box on the Caption Properties tab, enter the ISBN number that was assigned with the dashes preceded with the text "ISBN". Although this tutorial implements a 10-digit ISBN number, all books published after January 1, 2007 should display the number in the new 13 digit format. Existing 10-digit numbers may be converted with the Free ISBN Conversion Tool. When using a 13-digit number, the upper caption would be ISBN 978-0-9767736-6-5.
   
    
7. In the Image Properties tab, choose the resolution of the image (if unsure, select 300) and select Bitmap for the image type.
8. Choose Generate Image File and save the image to the hard drive. This image is now ready to be imported and placed in the book's graphics or printed as a label. If it is desired to create multiple labels, this same process may be used with IDAutomation's Barcode Label Software.
   
    

When the EAN-13 barcode of the ISBN is read, the data scanned should equal the numbers printed below the barcode on the book. For example, the barcode generated in Fig 1 would scan as 9780976773665.

A common method of reading and testing barcodes is with a hand-held barcode scanner. Most of the barcode scanners recommended by IDAutomation perform keyboard emulation and receive power from the USB port, so that no external power supply is required. When a barcode is scanned using keyboard emulation, the data read appears at the cursor as if it had been typed in from the keyboard. Most barcode scanners have the ability to read ISBN and Bookland barcodes by default, such as the hand-held IDAutomation USB Barcode Scanner.

• Frequently Asked Questions about the ISBN
• Lookup a barcode number
• How to obtain an ISBN number
• EAN Symbology FAQ
• EAN-13 Font Package
• Barcode Label Software for EAN-13

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