Eligible products
In principle, publications that are monographic (i.e. one-off publications not periodicals or serials etc), text-based (or predominantly text-based) and available to the public are considered eligible within the scope of the SNBVE Standard.
Some examples of the types of publication that qualify for SNBVE are:
- Virtual books and pamphlets (and their various product forms)
- Digital publications (e-books) either on physical carriers (such as machine-readable tapes, diskettes, or CD-ROMs) or on the Internet (for download or streaming)
- Publications that are not intended by the publisher to be updated regularly or continued indefinitely
- Mixed media publications where the principal constituent is text-based, e.g. book with CD or book with DVD (non-physical) produced for single and exclusive use in virtual environments.
- Individual articles* or issues of a particular continuing resource where these are made available separately (but not the continuing resource in its entirety)
- Digital art books and Digital illustrated books with a title page and/or text or captions
*Where individual articles are made available separately by a publisher, they qualify as monographic publications and shall be assigned an SNBVE. This does not apply in the case of offprint or preprint copies that are ordered by the author(s) of the article for their own distribution purposes.
Publishers should contact us for guidance on whether or not a specific product is eligible for SNBVE.
Ineligible products
Any publication that is without a defined end should not be assigned an SNBVE. For example, publications that are intended to be regularly updated and to continue indefinitely (such as journals, serials, magazines, newspapers, updating looseleafs, updating websites) are ineligible for SNBVE.
Some examples of products that do not qualify for SNBVE are:
- Continuing resources treated in their entirety as bibliographic entities (individual issues may qualify for SNBVEs)
- Abstract entities such as textual works and other abstract creations of intellectual or artistic content
- Printed or digital materials that are intended for marketing or promotional purposes only such as advertising matter, widgets and the like
- Books or any type of physical media
- Printed music
- Art prints and art folders without title page and text
- Personal documents (such as a digital curriculum vitae or personal profile)
- Greetings cards
- Music sound recordings
- Software, films, videos, DVDs or transparencies that are intended for any purpose other than educational or instructional
- Digital bulletin boards
- Emails and other digital correspondence
- Games
- Customized or personalised books not intended for general availability
- License key vouchers to access digital monographic publications on the Internet
Sometimes, other types of items are produced such as stationery items or toys that are based on characters in particular books, etc. These types of materials cannot be identified by SNBVE but should be numbered by other systems such as EAN UPC bar codes. Modern scanning equipment reads and processes the different kinds of bar-coded numbers.
For more information, including clarification on whether or not a specific type of product may qualify, please contact us.
Principles of assignment
Displaying the SNBVE on publications
When an SNBVE has been assigned it should always be displayed on the publication concerned. This is important for easy identification and, when the SNBVE is displayed in bar code format, virtual libraries and virtual bookstores for example will be able to process incoming stock and outgoing sales quickly and accurately.
There are particular places on a publication where the ISBN should be displayed:
- On a digital book an SNBVE should be included on the copyright page (also called the title verso page) or at the foot of the title page if there is no room on the copyright page. If there is no bar code, then the SNBVE should also be on the back cover or jacket preferably on the lower right.
- In the case of digital publications (such as online publications, etc.), the SNBVE must appear on the title display, that is the first display page or on the screen that displays the title or its equivalent (e.g., the initial screen displayed when the content is first accessed and/or on the screen that carries the copyright notice). For more information on using ISBN with digital publications, click here.
- For eligible educational/instructional films, videos, and transparencies, the SNBVE must appear on the credit titles.
More detailed information about how to assign SNBVEs and when a new SNBVE is required is available here.