According to the Tribhuvan University Central Library, the sole agency in the country authorized to issue ISBN, a growing number of authors and publishers have applied for ISBNin recent days.
The distribution of ISBN started from Germany in 1968. The credit for initiating the ISBN system however goes to J Whitaker from London and U.S. national R. R. Bowker.
As per the latest statistics, the ISBN is currently being issued in 163 countries through different agencies. Although the ISBN distribution system started from Germany in the beginning, its head office is operating from London since 2005.
Narayan Neupane, an employee at the Tribhuvan University Central Library (TUCL), said ISBN was issued in Nepal since 2001.
A total of 946 ISBN were issued in the initial year and the number has been constantly increasing.
The number of people and publishers taking ISBN was 1083 in 2002, 1342 in 2003, 1715 in 2004, 1871 in 2005, 2305 in 2006, 2353 in 2007, 2687 in 2008, 2736 in 2009, 3028 in 2010 and 3381 in 2011.
TUCL stated that the number of people taking the ISBN has increased significantly since 2012.
The ISBN that is issued after certifying the title of the book, its author, publisher, the number of pages, price and associated topics used to be of 10 digits until 2007. However, the 13-digit ISBN is issued since then. The fee for ISBN was twenty-five rupees in the beginning and it has been increased to Rs. 100 since two years.
Of late, authors and publishers of books on a variety of topics have been making a beeline at the TUCL for acquiring ISBN.
"The authors have been especially interested in acquiring ISBN," said Tanka K.C., himself an author. He says ISBN has special significance for the international recognition of the book and its standardization.
Not only individual authors, a growing number of publishers are also showing interest in acquiring the ISBN for their publications, said Shiva Sagar Sharma, Managing Director of Goodwill Publications, Kathmandu.
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