- Important identifiers
- National Libraries
- Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
- Biblioteca Nacional de España Depósito Legal
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)
- British National Bibliography
- Canadian National Library Archive
- Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
- Kansalliskirjastoon (National Library of Finland)
- Library of Congress (LCCN)
- Libris (National Library of Sweden)
- National Diet Library, Japan
- National Library of Australia
- National Library of Ukraine
- Social Book Catalogues
- Public and University Libraries
- Boston Public Library
- Cornell University ecommons
- Cornell University Library Catalog
- Digital Library of Pomerania
- ULRLS (University of London Libraries)
- Library of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies
- Oxford University Bodleian Library Aleph System Number
- Oria (Bibsys ID)
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- Harvard University Library
- Book sharing
- Public Domain
- Databases
- Vendors
An ID number or identifier clearly denotes a unique item, in our case a specific edition of a work. This makes it easier to distinguish between similar editions.
The most important ID numbers for OpenLibrary are ISBN and WorldCat, followed by ASIN for Amazon only eBooks. Other IDs are more situational, for example the identifiers of different National Libraries or other associations.
A full list of all identifiers can be found at https://openlibrary.org/config/edition.
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number, which consists of a numerical code and an alphanumeric checksum. It is the most commonly used identifier for books published after 1966. The format of ISBN changed three times so far:
- SBN
-
9 digit SBN, used between 1966 and 1974.
- ISBN-10
-
10 digit ISBN, used between 1970 and 2006.
- ISBN-13
-
13 digit ISBN, used since 2007.
Books published before 1966 cannot have an ISBN, and books published before 1970 most likely won’t have one. It can be written with or without hyphens, OpenLibrary will only save the pure number without hyphens.
It is possible to convert the different ISBN into each other: SBN to ISBN-10:: Prefix the 9 bit SBN with a 0 to turn it into an ISBN-10 (345-24223-8 becomes 0-345-24223-8). ISBN-10 to ISBN-13:: Prepend the ISBN with 978 and recalculate the checksum digit (0-345-24223-8 becomes 978-0-345-24223-5). ISBN-13 to ISBN-10:: Only possible for ISBN-13 that start with 978. In that case, remove the 978 and recalculate the checksum digit (978-0-345-24223-5 becomes 0-345-24223-8).
Conversion can be done automatically with an ISBN Converter.
The WorldCat identifier is clearly marked as OCLC Number / Unique Identifier on the website and consists of a numerical code.
WorldCat is an union catalogue that combines the catalogues of several thousand libraries. Their identifier is used in several databases to identify books published before 1970, and is the most valuable tool for libarians to sort editions.
The N.º depósito legal as shown on the Registro del catálogo tab.
The Identifiant de la notice which starts with ark:/, but just the alphanumeric ID after the /.
The ID number is quite well hidden, one needs to click on Link to this record and then search the displayed URL for the number after &id=.
The number behind Link zu diesem Datensatz, without dash and text (except for a possible X at the end).
The fikka number which can be found in the URL (between fikka and question mark) or on the MARC tab (at line 999).
The Goodreads book ID is a purely numeric code which can be found in the Goodreads URL between /show/ and a . followed by the book’s name.
The Storygraph book ID consists of an alphanumeric code with hyphens found in the URL after /books/.
Cornell’s Digital Repository shows the ID as an field called URI, it always starts with https://hdl.handle.net/, followed by a number. The number is the required ID.
The ID is shown as numeric code at the end of the URL after /catalog/.
The Resource Identifier can be found after clicking the More button, the required identifier is the number at the end of the identifier beginning with oai:.
The ID can be found as Persistent link for this record:, only the number after record= is required.
The number from the URL after /manifestation/
The Aleph System Number is clearly shown as such on a work’s page.
label: Internet Speculative Fiction Database name: isfdb url: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?@@@ website: http://www.isfdb.org
label: English Title Short Catalogue Citation Number name: etsc url: http://estc.bl.uk/@@@
label: ISSN name: issn website: http://www.issn.org/
label: ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America) name: abaa notes: url: https://www.abaa.org/book/@@@ website: https://www.abaa.org/
label: Association for the Blind of Western Australia name: abwa_bibliographic_number notes: website: http://www.guidedogswa.org/library/openbiblio/shared/biblio_view.php?bibid=@@@&tab=opac
label: Google name: google url: https://books.google.com/books?id=@@@
label: Grand Comics Database name: grand_comics_database notes: url: https://www.comics.org/issue/@@@ website: https://www.comics.org
label: Hathi Trust name: hathi_trust url: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/@@@ website: https://hathitrust.org/
label: INDUCKS name: inducks notes: url: https://inducks.org/issue.php?c=@@@ website: https://inducks.org
label: ISTC name: istc notes: Incunabula Short Title Catalogue url: https://data.cerl.org/istc/@@@ website: https://data.cerl.org/istc/
label: LearnAwesome.org name: learnawesome url: https://learnawesome.org/items/@@@ website: https://learnawesome.org
label: OverDrive name: overdrive url: https://www.overdrive.com/media/@@@ website: https://www.overdrive.com
label: Scribd name: scribd url: https://www.scribd.com/doc/@@@/ website: https://www.scribd.com/
label: ZDB-ID name: zdb-id notes: The ZDB is the world’s largest specialized database for serial titles (journals, annuals, newspapers etc., incl. e-journals). url: http://zdb-katalog.de/title.xhtml?ZDB-ID=@@@ website: http://zdb-katalog.de
label: Wikidata name: wikidata notes: url: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/@@@ website: https://wikidata.org
label: OpenStax name: openstax notes: Should be a human readable URL slug url: https://openstax.org/details/books/@@@
The Amazon Standard Identification Number is used by the online retail giant Amazon to identify its products. It consists of a ten digit alphanumeric code and starts with a B.
Printed books do not need an ASIN, as they are identical to the ISBN-10. Ebooks or digital audio books often lack an ISBN, especially if they are only distributed via Amazon. As Amazon became a major player in the self-publisher market, the ASIN is quite often the only available identifier for some editions.
label: Alibris ID name: alibris_id notes: url: https://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=@@@
label: Better World Books name: better_world_books notes: url: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/@@@
label: BookLocker.com name: booklocker.com notes: url: http://booklocker.com/books/@@@.html website: http://booklocker.com/
label: Bowker BookWire name: bookwire notes: website: http://www.bookwire.com/
label: Books For You name: booksforyou notes: url: http://www.booksforyou.co.in/@@@ website: http://www.booksforyou.co.in
label: Ilmiolibro name: ilmiolibro notes: url: https://ilmiolibro.kataweb.it/schedalibro.asp?id=@@@ website: https://ilmiolibro.kataweb.it
label: Lulu name: lulu url: https://www.lulu.com/product/@@@ website: https://www.lulu.com
label: Smashwords Book Download name: smashwords_book_download notes: Commission self-publishing platform url: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/@@@ website: https://www.smashwords.com
label: W. W. Norton name: w._w._norton notes: url: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=@@@ website: http://wwnorton.com
label: Abebooks.de name: abebooks.de notes: url: https://www.abebooks.de/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=@@@ website: https://www.abebooks.de
label: DC Books name: dc_books notes: website: http://www.dcbooks.com/home
label: Yakaboo name: yakaboo notes: eg https://www.yakaboo.ua/ua/zelene-svitlo.html url: https://www.yakaboo.ua/ua/@@@.html
label: Folio name: folio notes: url: https://folio.com.ua/books/@@@
label: Magcloud name: magcloud notes: url: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Issue/@@@ website: http://www.magcloud.com
label: PublishAmerica name: publishamerica notes: website: http://www.publishamerica.com/