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The Odyssey Bookshop Monday - Friday, 10:00 - 8:00 |
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Order Books Here! |
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The Odyssey Bookshop Monday - Friday, 10:00 - 8:00 |
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Order Books Here! |
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Pictures of recent events
The Odyssey Bookshop is one of five independent
bookstores participating in WAMC's Roundtable on Tuesday mornings,
just after the 10:00 news. People from the Odyssey will be on about once a
month, talking about our favorite books. The Odyssey Bookshop 413-534-7307 email odysseybks@aol.com
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A Word on ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 Many
people are wondering about the two ISBN's that appear on new books and book
listings. We thought it would be helpful to try to explain
what's going on. The ISBN is a unique
number associated with every book and
every edition or version of a book (except reprints). A hardcover and paperback
of the same book have different ISBN's. A text packaged with a CD has a
different ISBN (for the package) that the same book without the CD. A
very short history: For
the past few years, the book industry has been transitioning to
ISBN-13, where all ISBN's will be 13-digit numbers. This has been done in order
to increase the number of ISBN's available. The transition took place on January 1, 2007.
However, both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 are being accepted by book stores and
publishers, and many books still have both printed on them. Check
Digits: The
vast majority of ISBN-13's start with 978. This is generally followed by the
same first 9 digits as the ISBN-10. (In coming years, there will be additional
starting numbers.) The last digit is different, because it is a ‘check digit,'
i.e., a number based on a complex calculation of all the numbers preceding it.
So, for example, the ISBN's for Jerome Groopman's new book, How Doctors Think
are : ISBN-13: 978-0-618-61003-7 and ISBN-10: 0-618-61003-0.
(Notice that the bolded numbers are the same.) (By the way,
the dashes are never necessary to include when you send us the numbers.) No
need to give us both: For
faculty member ordering books, there is little impact of these
developments. If you give us ISBN's with your order, you can give the 10 or the
13. It is not necessary to give us both, as they represent
the same book. Even after the full transition to ISBN- 13 is in place, we will
still be able to handle ISBN-10's, because on many older books, for years to
come, that's all you will see.
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