ISBN barcode (Bookland EAN)
The barcode on the back of a book is its ISBN as an EAN-13 barcode, beginning 978 or 979. The smaller barcode beside it, if there is one, is a five-digit add-on: 5 and four digits is the US price, and 90000 means no price is encoded.
Easily confused with
How to read it
Since 1 January 2007 every ISBN has 13 digits, so the ISBN printed above the bars and the number below them are the same. The International ISBN Agency lists its five parts: the prefix 978 or 979; a registration group for a country, region or language area; the publisher or imprint; the edition and format of the title; and a check digit worked out by Modulus 10 with alternate weights of 1 and 3. 978 and 979 are “Bookland”, a fictitious country that the EAN Authority and the ISBN Agency agreed on in 1980, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) explains, and the Library of Congress notes that the US book industry, through the Association of American Publishers and BISG, made Bookland EAN the single US standard for bar coding books in 2005. A 979 ISBN has no older 10-digit form.
Also searched as: 5 digit add-on, 90000 on book barcode, 978 barcode, 979 barcode, barcode on back of book, book barcode, bookland ean, isbn barcode, isbn price code.
These pages say what each code and its parts mean under the standard that defines it. A barcode identifies an item; it doesn’t say where the item was made or whether it is genuine, and the label and the maker are the place to look for that.
What the five-digit add-on means
BISG’s guidelines for the US book trade set the add-on. A first digit 5 is a price in US dollars: 51499 is $14.99, from 50001 for one cent up to 59998 for $99.98. 90000 means the cover price isn’t encoded or there is none. US college bookstores use 99990 for used books and 99991 for desk copies. The add-on is optional: BISG asks publishers who leave it off to check with the shops they sell to, as some require it.
Where it goes
The ISBN Agency recommends the lower right of the outside back cover.
Look-alikes
A magazine’s barcode begins 977 and has a two-digit add-on for the issue (ISSN barcode (magazine barcode)).
Read next
- Next in Barcodes and QR codesISSN barcode (magazine barcode)A barcode beginning 977 is a magazine’s or other serial’s: the next seven digits are its ISSN, and the small two-digit barcode beside it is the issue number.
- The same shape in Smoke and CO alarm soundsLow-frequency 520 Hz alarm (sleeping rooms)A fire alarm in a sleeping room that sounds a low buzz in place of a high-pitched beep. It is the three-beep fire alarm rhythm at 520 Hz, which NFPA 72 requires of alarms provided to wake people in sleeping areas.
More barcodes and QR codes
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with letters and numbers or lines.
Sources
- What is an ISBN?, About ISBN, International ISBN Agency, What is an ISBN?
- ISBN Bar coding, About ISBN, International ISBN Agency, ISBN Bar coding
- Barcoding Guidelines for the U.S. Book Industry, BISG policy statement, Book Industry Study Group, Bookland EAN; add-on codes
- ISSN and Bar Codes, U.S. ISSN Center, Library of Congress, Bookland EAN
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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