News Release

99-07

Canadian ISBN Publishers’ Directory is now available

Ottawa, October 19, 1999 Earlier this month, National Library of Canada launched a new Web service to facilitate access to information about more than 20 000 Canadian publishers.

The Canadian ISBN Publishers’ Directory is a complete record of all publishers who have registered with the Canadian ISBN Agency, including publishers who have ceased operations. The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a number that uniquely identifies both the publisher and each specific edition of a book. The ISBN system is used in 148 countries around the world to simplify ordering, stock control, accounting and export procedures in the book industry. The ISBN system also facilitates ordering, acquisition, cataloguing and circulation procedures in libraries and documentation centres.

Each listing in this Directory gives the publisher’s name and postal address, plus telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address where applicable. If the publisher is known to have a Web site, a link to that site is also included. The Directory database is searchable by the publisher’s name(s) or keywords in the name. Users who have the book in hand or a reference to the book will appreciate being able to search by ISBN to locate the name and address of the publisher.

An exciting innovation of the Directory database on the Web is the hypertext link between the ISBN publisher prefix and resAnet, the Web version of the National Library of Canada’s online catalogue. Searchers can move directly to catalogue records for any given publisher’s publications.

Publishers who wish to update their contact information in this Directory can easily do so. A simple click will connect them to the Canadian ISBN Agency office at the National Library.

Further information about the Canadian ISBN Publishers’ Directory on the Web can be obtained by visiting the Web site at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/isbndir/index-e.html> or by contacting the Canadian ISBN Agency office at:

Telephone: 819-994-6872
Fax: 819-997-7517
E-mail: isbn@lac-bac.gc.ca

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For more information, please contact:

Line Ménard
Media Relations Coordinator