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Tip of the Week
Tip for: 04.03.2006
Handling 13-digit ISBNs in Alexandria
Summary: It has been a little while since we discussed the features in Alexandria added to allow for the new 13-digit ISBNs. We thought it might be nice to review these features for those who may be newer to using Alexandria. Not only will Alexandria continue to fully support your existing data, the release of v5.4.4 provided seamless utilities that allow users to fully utilize both 13-digit and 10-digit ISBNs. This week's tip addresses some of these changes.
The first change is a utility to convert 10-digit ISBNs to 13-digit ISBNs or 13-digit numbers to 10-digit ISBNs (see Fig. 1). This goes through the selected items and calculates the indicated ISBN and adds it to the record if it is not already entered. To make it possible to show multiple ISBNs, the ISBN field of the Item Management window has been enhanced to an ISBN / ISSN editor (see Fig. 2). The ISBN / ISSN field has also been enhanced to check the validity of both ISBN lengths. The Find feature has been enhanced to search for the ISBN as is and then for the other length, if not found.
Figure 1 Convert ISBN Item Utility
Figure 2 ISBN / ISSN Editor Window
The Item Management window also offers an ISBN Calculator and Converter. This can be accessed from the Items menu. Use the drop-down menu in the upper-left to select whether to calculate the check digit of an ISBN number or to convert a number from 10 to 13 digits or from 13 to 10.
Some other areas of the program that have been enhanced are the Researcher, Reports, and Import. The ISBN search from Researcher has been modified to look for either the 10 or 13-digit ISBN that corresponds with the indicated ISBN being searched for. When looking at Item Details from Search Results, all ISBN / ISSN numbers in the record will be listed. However, Reports will show the primary or first ISBN number indicated in the Item record. Importing has been modified to search for both 10 and 13-digit ISBN counterparts when checking for matches for updating, etc.
We are excited to offer these enhancements to help our customers deal with the conversion from 10 to 13-digit ISBN numbers.
Thank you,
The Alexandria Staff Librarians
