Help:ISBN

{{for|how to add an ISBN to an article|Wikipedia:ISBN}}

{{information page|H:ISBN}}

{{reader help}}

Many Wikipedia articles have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) alongside the bibliographical entry for each book. Clicking on the linked 10- or 13-digit number links to WP:Book sources. This shows whether the particular book is listed in a library catalogue, at WorldCat, at Google Books, at major booksellers, or at other websites.

An example of a bibliographical entry as a reference or a suggestion for further reading would look like this:

:*{{Cite book

| last = Carr

| first = Edward Hallett

| title = What is History?: The George Macauley Trevelyan Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge, January–March 1961

| publisher = Penguin Books

| isbn = 0-14-020652-3

| location = Harmondsworth; Ringwood

| date = 1972

}}

The ISBN might lack hyphens between the digits, or it might contain spaces between the digits. Either way it should provide the link to WP:Book sources. Note that different editions of the same book may have different ISBNs. Also, books published prior to the 1970s do not have ISBNs, unless subsequently reprinted.

See also

  • Special:BookSources is the page to which each ISBN links. It links to many sources for a book throughout the world. You can also manually enter an ISBN – but you should click the linked ISBN to {{WP|Verify}} that the link is good.
  • {{cl|International Standard Book Number}} includes all Wikipedia articles and templates directly related to ISBNs.
  • Use {{tl|ISBN}} to add an ISBN to an article, or {{para|isbn}} inside {{tl|cite book}} and similar citation templates. Wikipedia:ISBN describes in detail how to add an ISBN to an article.