ISBNs printed in machine readable form are still subject to the rules laid down by the ISBN

standard. The considerable number of additional rules and recommendations makes it

necessary that those wishing to print the ISBN in a scannable font should contact their

local ISBN agencies for advice. 

8.5 Algorithm for generating the ISBN and EAN.UCC bar code 

See 

Check digit

 (section 4.5) for information on calculating the check digit of the ISBN.

See 

Distribution of ranges

 (section 4.6) for formulaic information required to split the ISBN.

9. Administration of the ISBN System

9.1 General

The administration of the ISBN system is carried out on three levels: international, ISBN

registration agency

,

 and publisher.

9.2 International administration

The principal functions and responsibilities of the International ISBN Agency are:

  To promote, coordinate, and supervise the worldwide use of the ISBN system

  To represent the interests of the ISBN community to other relevant organisations

  To appoint appropriate organisations as ISBN registration agencies and revoke such

appointments as necessary

  To define registration groups and their areas of responsibility and allocate them to

appropriate ISBN registration agencies

  To determine the definition of registration group rules that govern the length of

available registrant elements within each group and ensure that an accurate and

comprehensive register of these rules is available publicly at all times

  To allocate ranges of unique registrant elements within the appropriate registration

group to ISBN registration agencies and to maintain a complete and accurate register

of the registrant elements that have been assigned

  To secure the maintenance of ISBNs and their associated ISBN metadata through

ISBN registration agency registers

  To develop, monitor, and enforce policies and procedures governing the operations of

ISBN agencies and the process of ISBN registration by those agencies, including any

fees associated with that process

  To facilitate the review and resolution of duplicate assignments of an ISBN

  To review and decide on any appeals relating to decisions made by registration

agencies 

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