ISBN Lookup

Type or scan an ISBN to find the book: title, author, publisher, year and cover. Converts between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 and checks the number is valid.

Try:

How to look up a book by ISBN

  1. Type the ISBN from the back cover or copyright page. Hyphens and spaces are fine.
  2. Or press Scan with the camera and point it at the barcode on the back cover.
  3. See the book's details from Open Library, with the ISBN in both its 10- and 13-digit forms.

ISBN-10 and ISBN-13

Books published before 2007 have a 10-digit ISBN; since then, ISBNs have 13 digits. An ISBN-10 becomes an ISBN-13 by adding 978 in front and working out a new check digit, so the same book has both forms. ISBN-13s starting with 979 have no ISBN-10.

The ISBN-10 check digit can be X, which stands for 10. The ISBN-13 check digit is always 0–9.

Container cranes at the Port of Southampton
Container cranes at the Port of Southampton.

The barcode on a book

The barcode on a back cover is an EAN-13 of the ISBN-13, often with a small 5-digit add-on to its right. In the US the add-on usually gives the price: 5 for US dollars, then the price, so 52499 means $24.99. 90000 means no suggested price. Need to make one? Use the ISBN barcode generator.

Where the book details come from

Books are looked up in Open Library, a free catalogue run by the Internet Archive with millions of editions. New and self-published titles may not be listed yet. Your ISBN is the only thing sent.

Pallet racking in a distribution warehouse
Pallet racking in a distribution warehouse.

Questions

  • Type the ISBN-10 here and both forms are shown. By hand: put 978 in front of the first 9 digits and work out a new check digit with weights 1 and 3.

  • In an ISBN-10, X is the check digit 10.

  • Open Library doesn't list every edition yet, especially new and self-published books. The number is still checked and converted.

  • The barcode on a book is the ISBN-13 drawn as an EAN-13, usually with a price add-on beside it.