What does the bar code on the back of the book mean

The bar code on the back of the book is the book or magazine code 978/979 plus the isbn number, which is the same as the bar code on the back of the product. The isbn contains several parts: country, publisher, book number, and verification code. The International Standard Book Number consists of ten digits. Divided into four sections by three short horizontal lines, each with a different meaning.

The first number segment is the region number, also known as the Group Identifier. The shortest number is one digit, and the longest number is five digits. It generally takes into account the language, nationality and region. The countries and regions that voluntarily apply to participate in the international Standard book number system are divided into several regions with fixed codes: 0 and 1 represent English. The countries using these two codes are: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zimbabwe, etc. 2 for French, used in France, Luxembourg and the French-speaking regions of Belgium, Canada and Switzerland; 3 stands for German, which is used in German-speaking regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland; 4 is the code for Japanese publications; 5 is the code for Russian publications; 7 is the code used by Chinese publications.

The second number is the Publisher Identifier. It is assigned by the ISBN center of the country or region to which it belongs. The value ranges from two to five digits. The bigger the publishing house, the more books it publishes, the shorter the number.

The third paragraph is the Title Identifier given by the publishing house itself, and the title identifier of each publishing house is a fixed length. The shortest one, the longest six. The bigger the publishing house, the more books it produces and the longer the serial number. The tenth Digit is the Check Digit of an electronic computer. The starting and ending numbers are 0 to 10. 10 is replaced by X.