If the book is to be offered for sale the book should have a number called an EAN-13 and a bar code which is a machine-readable form of the number.
A barcode is a image scannable by dedicated barcode scanner found instore or at a wholesaler’s warehouse. Barcodes can also be used in libraries to store data about the book e.g. the genre and the most appropriate readers age.
Publishers apply barcodes to books – commonly on the back cover – to store machine-readable data. Data includes:
- a two digit or one digit code to identify the geographical area of publication or the language of publication.
- a group of numbers to identify the publisher
- the title number
- a final ‘check digit’ (0-10) used to identify the ISBN’s validity
An ISBN is usually placed above the barcode – this is human readable.
The bar code is usually divided into two recognisable sections – the book data section and the price section (usually a distinct and smaller barcode).
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