Who assigns an ISBN?
The International ISBN Agency in the UK coordinates all ISBN allotments and individual group agencies assign ISBNs for each country. Every country has an organization which administers these numbers and the US ISBN agency is R.R. Bowker. Bar Code Graphics, Inc. is not related to R.R. Bowker but does have an agreement by which the Publisher Services division can act as an agent for small publishers and facilitate single ISBN assignments through Bowker with the publisher’s name listed as the registrant (Personalized Publisher Program).
