INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER (ISBN)

The National Library of Namibia (NLN) is the national ISBN agency for Namibia and thus, issues ISBN to all Namibian publishers.  

An ISBN is a unique 13 digit numeric commercial book identifier and is assigned to each edition and variation of a book. It allows booksellers and libraries to identify the particular edition and format of a title.

Booksellers prefer to handle books with ISBN. Books with an ISBN stand a much better chance of getting into stock lists, catalogues and of being ordered from anywhere in the world.

The NLN annually provides the International ISBN Agency in London with the ISBN and publishers’ information for their world directory, an online Global Register of Publishers (GRP). The GRP is freely accessible to all to retrieve publisher details.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD SERIAL NUMBER (ISSN)

The National Library of Namibia (NLN) is the national ISSN agency for Namibia and thus, issues ISSNs to all Namibian serials.

An ISSN is a number consisting of 8 digits with a hyphen in the middle, for example 1026-9126, to identify a serial title. Every ISSN is given only to a single serial title in the whole world and is the same for every issue of that serial.

A serial is a publication, in any medium, issued in successive parts. Serials include journals, newsletters, periodicals, newspapers, proceedings, annuals (reports, yearbooks, directories, etc).

The assignment of both ISBN and ISSN is free of charge.

For more information on obtaining an ISBN or ISSN contact:

Senior Librarian Bibliographic Services
Tel: 061 - 2935305