• Article Type: General
• Product: Aleph
• Product Version: 17.01

Description:
How do we validate 13-digit ISBN's? How should we index/retrieve them? What should be done for ISBN's in the 024 field?

Resolution:
1. Validation

The validation of ISBN numbers is specified in the ./xxx01/tab/check_doc_line_contents table. As distributed, the usm01 check_doc_line_contents has this line:
## 020## a isbn

Also, the ./xxx01/tab/tab_filing entry for the ISBN typically specifies "isbn" as a routine. This routine tests the validity of the input according to the same checks done for ISBN in Cataloging and, for a valid isbn, returns the normalized form. Meaning, if "0-538-69543-9" is entered in, it will be normalized to "0538695439". If the input is invalid, you will get a warning in Cataloging and, in searching, the hyphens will not be removed and the search will not match an 020 index entry from which the hyphens are omitted.

Prior to 16.02 rep_change 994 (17.01 rep_change 152; 15.5 - rep_change 2513), this isbn check worked only for 10-digit ISBN's. (This meant that, when "isbn" was specified, 13-digit ISBN's would be considered invalid in Cataloging and would not match when the user included hyphens in the search.) With this rep_change, the check works for 13-digit as well.

If you are receiving records (such as OCLC records) with the 13-digit ISBN's in the 024 field, with first indicator 3, then you should add this line to your check_doc_line_contents:

## 0243# a isbn

2. Indexing/retrieval
In addition to the validation of 13-digit ISBN's, 16.02 rep_change 994 (17.01 rep_change 152) added the ability to generate virtual 10- or 13-digit ISBN's for indexing/retrieval purposes.

The 13-digit ISBN always begins with "978", followed by the core 9-digit number and a recalculated check digit. Here's an example:

Old 10-digit ISBN: 091661736X
New 13-digit ISBN: 9780916617363


To enable record retrieval by using either type, add this line to tab_expand:

INDEX expand_doc_isbn_13

and re-run p_manage_05.

See Knowledge Base # 4042 for more information on indexing/retrieval (from the rep_change 994 Description).


3. Indexing the 024 field

If you are receiving 13-digit ISBN's in 024 fields, with a first indicator "3", then you should update tab11_ind to include this line before re-running p_manage_05:

0243# ISBN a

If you want to include the 024'3's in the "020" index -- and if you are extracting the 020 subfields a and z (as shown in the usm01 tables) --, you would need to add these lines to tab_expand_extract:

0243# a a020
0243# z z020

See also KB 8192-1816.