within the allocated registrant element. Some ISBN registration agencies may charge a fee

for these services. 

The ISBN registration agency will determine the range of publication elements that will be

available to the publisher. The range assigned will be determined based on current and

anticipated future publication output and is directly related to the length of the registrant

element allocated. The publisher should ensure that the ISBN registration agency has as

much information as possible about all available backlist publications and should advise

the agency of all present and future publications in order for the assignment of a suitably

sized registrant element. 

The publisher should supply the ISBN registration agency (or its designated local

bibliographic agency) with a specified amount of metadata about the publication to which

the ISBN is assigned. The specifications concerning the type and format of the metadata is

established by the International ISBN Agency in cooperation with the ISBN registration

agencies. 

Further information and detailed instructions concerning the ISBN system are available

from the appropriate ISBN registration agency.

10. Non participating Publishers

In the case of the non participation of a publisher in the ISBN scheme, the relevant group

agency should contact the publisher and advise them of the importance and value of

assigning ISBNs to all qualifying publications and supply them with full details about how

to adopt the standard.

In the case of publishers who only publish an occasional title and who are never likely to

be in the position of assuming the responsibility themselves for numbering, the group

agency may nominate a registrant element to assign to miscellaneous publishers and

number all publications using that block, irrespective of the publisher concerned. This

practice should be adopted with strict control because of the confusion it can produce

being an exception of the general rule of one registrant element to one publisher/imprint. In

these cases neither the registrant element nor any of the individual ISBNs from this

allocation can uniquely identify a particular publisher. 

In some countries the group agency assigns ISBNs to publications received for legal

deposit that do not already have an ISBN allocated. The group agency then informs the

publisher about the ISBN that has been assigned and publicises it in the national

bibliography.

11. Practical Uses of ISBN

The ISBN is used in all branches of the book supply chain.

The ISBN in 

publishing houses

 is used for:

  Identifying firm publication projects from receipt of author's manuscript to delivery of

final publication

  Publication identification in publishers' catalogues and advertisements 

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