What are Bookland EAN Bar Codes?
While most retail products in the US are marked with a UPC symbol, virtually every other country uses the European Article Number (EAN). To provide world wide standardization in the sale and handling of books and because the book industry produces so many products annually, a special “country” with its own EAN prefix just for books has been designated in the EAN system — 978 for “Bookland” — which is used in the universal Bar Code system. Any EAN which begins with the 978 prefix is called a Bookland EAN bar code and is used on books and book related products internationally. This 978 prefix precedes the first 9 digits of the ISBN and then a new check digit is calculated in order to form a 13-digit number which is then encoded to create the bar code symbol used on books. As part of the bar code service, our software assigns the 978 prefix and the new check digit to create the new 13-digit number.
