Post AxwA7phLONyNdKcEee by meeoo@toot.community
(DIR) More posts by meeoo@toot.community
(DIR) Post #Axtf1nWH5r4oFCA0vY by phette23@digipres.club
2025-07-03T04:20:19Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
"Publishers actually reuse ISBNs" is a horror which keeps traumatizing new librarians every so often
(DIR) Post #AxtgDSJPrrQFtqGjRY by wolf480pl@mstdn.io
2025-09-05T13:18:52Z
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@phette23why would they do that? Is there an ISBN address space exhaustion going on?
(DIR) Post #AxtgMplA3lptE8iaqu by warmbeverageenjoyer
2025-09-05T13:20:36.446822Z
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@phette23 they do WHAT
(DIR) Post #AxtikLOinQHNv4Yoeu by lilly@mstd.ink
2025-09-05T13:47:12Z
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@phette23 luckily these wheren't intended to uniqely identify books.
(DIR) Post #Axtkkz69OHGaxNJ6cy by dsalo@digipres.club
2025-09-05T14:09:44Z
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@wolf480pl @phette23 That was part of the reason for the move from ISBN-10 to ISBN-13, yes. More info at https://www.isbnservices.com/isbn-10-vs-isbn-13/ (ctrl-f "Transition")
(DIR) Post #AxtpQWUyVsIIEfyu2q by RunawayDanish@pandapla.net
2025-09-05T15:02:03Z
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@phette23 For my fellows who have been employed sorting books for the local college or university: this is one of the ways you end up with LOC designations like "A 309.8.2.2009 V1"
(DIR) Post #Axtsl5Jn422hsgFJAW by redsakana@infosec.exchange
2025-09-05T15:39:23Z
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@phette23Is this a special case of "publishers are not very good at this newfangled computer thing" (experience from dayjob)
(DIR) Post #AxttIx4UERaI9LEjrs by joshix@fosspri.de
2025-09-05T15:45:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@phette23 do you have an example?
(DIR) Post #AxtuAMmFOAvXDsAwG8 by Maxnichols@mastodon.gamedev.place
2025-09-05T15:55:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@phette23 WHATNoThat's terrible
(DIR) Post #Axtv8seA1lpbRJFSYy by carbontwelve@notacult.social
2025-09-05T16:06:05Z
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@phette23 wait… how bad are we talking here? Is it shared across different editions of the same book or for entirely different books?
(DIR) Post #AxuCchW5fjeopPHLlY by marick@mstdn.social
2025-09-05T19:21:57Z
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@phette23 @oldmankris Is it that a publisher chooses its own ISBNs and it reuses one its previously used (perhaps in what was once an independent publisher that’s been hoovered up in industry consolidation) ORIs it that two independent publishers will choose the same ISBN for books published roughly simultaneously ORSomething else?
(DIR) Post #AxuDiWEQdr4DWKM7XM by jik@federate.social
2025-09-05T01:42:45Z
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@phette23 ???"once a title is published with an ISBN on it, the ISBN can never be used again. Even if a title goes out of print, the ISBN cannot be reused since the title continues to be catalogued by libraries and traded by used booksellers."?Ref: https://www.isbn.org/faqs_ownership_rights
(DIR) Post #AxuDiXRa8RBNHPW8g4 by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-05T19:34:14Z
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@jik that is true only in theory. An ISBN is sometimes just a number you print on the back of a book. Not everyone registers theirs, or they register them with different authorities (?), all I know is that duplicates exist. I am not sure how they're created. It's not like the internet where an IP has to resolve to one and only one domain.
(DIR) Post #AxuDpA4lPo8gpf0Dfk by brianfenton@phpc.social
2025-09-05T02:00:51Z
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@phette23 am I about to learn that ISBNs, like SSNs, are not actually unique?
(DIR) Post #AxuDpBZHro9JScI6t6 by benpye@mastodon.social
2025-09-05T06:08:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@phette23 @brianfenton SSNs are not unique..?
(DIR) Post #AxuDpCXuEQdeUceWNE by hosford42@techhub.social
2025-09-05T07:15:06Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@benpye @phette23 @brianfenton Yes, don't leave us all hanging like this! Us = me and whoever else shares my identity.
(DIR) Post #AxuDpDeK83MluofA12 by brianfenton@phpc.social
2025-09-05T14:38:19Z
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@hosford42 @benpye @phette23 ok so I was approaching this from a database admin perspective in that SSNs are bad unique identifiers. It boils down to this:1. people in the SSA make mistakes2. identity theft3. there are some legal conditions that allow you to get a new SSN4. immigrants can be assigned one, even different ones during repeated visitsSo it's less likely that YOUR SSN is reused (aside from theft) but an individual person can have zero->many
(DIR) Post #AxuDpEMzRz5y9LYpdY by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-05T19:35:21Z
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@brianfenton @hosford42 @benpye whew I too was prepared to be traumatized again
(DIR) Post #AxuE3sTR8plmaHYnkO by darisan@openbiblio.social
2025-09-05T06:58:37Z
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@phette23 Related: https://pardalotus.tech/posts/2024-10-02-falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-dois/ #DOI #PID #Identifiers
(DIR) Post #AxuE3txbc9UpC8gPPU by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-05T19:38:03Z
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@darisan oh this is cool, reading it
(DIR) Post #AxuGI9xf7UsEmcdUae by darisan@openbiblio.social
2025-09-05T20:03:04Z
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@phette23 @jik I suppose it happens from time to time when publishers use lists of ISBNs for their future use - and forget to note they already assigned an ISBN to another book when taking one from the list. Sometimes ISBNs also get "recycled" when they were originally assigned to a book that was not published in the end. Sometimes placeholder ISBNs make their way into the final product.
(DIR) Post #AxuJ4U5tllhx24evjs by brianfenton@phpc.social
2025-09-05T20:34:14Z
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@phette23 @hosford42 @benpye Well, don't discount the identity theft 😅
(DIR) Post #AxuLLRnJly04jPBVC4 by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-05T20:59:44Z
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@carbontwelve sorry to report it's different books entirely
(DIR) Post #AxuLWCDE2yRvacQb2W by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-05T21:01:33Z
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@marick @oldmankris I'm not 100% clear on _how_ it happens, I only know I've found them. In my experience, it's totally different titles from different publishers. My guess is someone prints something without registering the ISBN then a collision occurs later. Printing might happen because company forgot/messed up registration or just dgaf.
(DIR) Post #AxvE1c4ZLN1GIPoClk by fmarini@mastodon.social
2025-09-06T07:12:23Z
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@phette23 wait, what?!?! 😳
(DIR) Post #AxvlulE4JKMn6B9kDw by notsoloud@expressional.social
2025-09-06T13:32:06Z
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@phette23Many IPs host multiple domains.Many domains are hosted on multiple IPs.@jik
(DIR) Post #Axw4BHTRylmyvGNUci by carbontwelve@notacult.social
2025-09-06T16:56:45Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@phette23 :eye_lips_eye_panic:
(DIR) Post #Axw7Z1P9fx6PtgNgKu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-09-06T17:34:42Z
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@phette23 nono what do you mean by this???
(DIR) Post #Axw7yCxrpjO6zNcwfA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-09-06T17:39:09Z
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@0x2ba22e11 @phette23 I'm so upset for the same reason. I'm ... shook.
(DIR) Post #Axw8IJCUMHR27Y3DRQ by jtonline@mastodon.me.uk
2025-09-06T17:42:52Z
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@phette23 they what?!
(DIR) Post #Axw8j7gPHutkDcpZom by BasieP@fosstodon.org
2025-09-06T17:47:44Z
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@phette23 whaaaat? You got some explanation why?
(DIR) Post #AxwA7phLONyNdKcEee by meeoo@toot.community
2025-09-06T18:03:14Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird @phette23 ISBNs get assigned in blocks to publishers by the national authority. Discount publishers might retire a title and reuse its ISBN so they won't have to buy another block to publish additional titles. You cannot order the older title anyway, they figure, so the ISBN points at one title in print.And then there's supermarkets and retailers that don't even bother to assign ISBNs and just use EANs. They're not in the book trade: they're selling *stuff*
(DIR) Post #AxwC0NangoIkLZ82fw by gcvsa@mstdn.plus
2025-09-06T18:24:27Z
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@phette23 I honestly did not know this, and I am not a librarian (though I often wish I were), but I am now traumatized by this heretofore unknown tidbit of knowledge.
(DIR) Post #AxwE1tXgaPjpdRWREW by platypus@glammr.us
2025-09-06T18:11:53Z
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@meeoo @futurebird @phette23 exactly! I have seen it twice… One was definitely a recordkeeping error in a publication that would’ve been in press in 2020. They did two with the same ISBN and I’m sure it had to do with changing workflows to be remote.and then a children’s book from the earliest era of ISBNs and a modern book from the same publisher. That was definitely an intentional reuse and so I’m sure that there are a whole bunch from that group. Because it’s ultimately their number.
(DIR) Post #AxwE1v3yvpAMLtdkDA by platypus@glammr.us
2025-09-06T18:13:07Z
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@meeoo @futurebird @phette23 it’s also one of those issues that are super rare and so not worth our time checking ahead of time. But it’s very important for us to know that these numbers can’t be relied upon to be unique because it affects our system assumptions.
(DIR) Post #AxwE1wHqNlqg9B8KSO by meeoo@toot.community
2025-09-06T18:46:14Z
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@platypus @futurebird @phette23 I'd say it isn't that rare. But I guess the publishers that really engage in that practice perhaps don't generally publish books that are of interest for library patrons. Because they churn our pretty generic stuff.Also publishers of romance novels don't necessarily care for ISBNs
(DIR) Post #AxwE1x9NAkfOpCB4tM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-09-06T18:47:01Z
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@meeoo @platypus @phette23 But... why assign a number if it's not a primary key? why? why? why?
(DIR) Post #AxwEg0p2wGMBnTlv4i by meeoo@toot.community
2025-09-06T18:54:20Z
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@futurebird @platypus @phette23 in short: commerce. If you're slinging books you care about processing orders, not about library catalog collisions. If at any moment an ISBN points at a single title in the warehouse, you're good.
(DIR) Post #AxwG7yHa4hwByz0xKi by ujay68@mastodon.world
2025-09-06T19:10:39Z
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@phette23 There are so few integer numbers out there …
(DIR) Post #AxwI8ZE8uqFOTLomyO by keefmarshall@mastodon.online
2025-09-06T19:33:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@phette23 In ISSNs (ISBNs but for periodicals), the last digit is supposed to be a checksum for the rest of the number, so you can tell if it's a valid ISSN or not I do recall, in a past job, finding ISSNs used by major publications that have invalid checksum digits, presumably due to someone making a typo in the dim, distant past.But since everyone uses that ISSN for that journal, you're stuck with it.
(DIR) Post #AxwQehMT0WokbHXmxE by antoinechambertloir@mathstodon.xyz
2025-09-06T21:08:36Z
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@phette23 I've seen the opposite last week: a new edition completely identical to a former one (at least, I sampled several pages randomly, and there were no differences at all), but a new ISBN.
(DIR) Post #AxwSq5tgKAxDn3dq6a by Landa@graz.social
2025-09-06T21:33:05Z
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@phette23 I… what…Oh no*goes and throws away the database design for a hobby project*
(DIR) Post #AxwZzPG0Peuw7UTGHA by karlauerbach@sfba.social
2025-09-06T22:53:12Z
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@phette23 Reusing ISBNs?! That's like re-using GUIDs or Ethernet MAC addresses, i.e. dumb.What Dewey do about it?
(DIR) Post #AxwnN4Lv5OnldhqoW8 by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-07T01:23:09Z
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@ireneista unrelated but I love the theme of your instance
(DIR) Post #Ay0zpuecCRug2YxHwe by jbaert@mastodon.social
2025-09-09T02:01:40Z
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@phette23 Wait what they had one job
(DIR) Post #Ay162iDaLaIWxbna8O by ibk@aus.social
2025-09-09T03:11:12Z
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@phette23 I am reminded of phiresky's visualisation of "all books of the world in ISBN-Space"https://phiresky.github.io/isbn-visualization/With a detailed description of what they've done:https://phiresky.github.io/blog/2025/visualizing-all-books-in-isbn-space/
(DIR) Post #Ay16j3vI2TzERJR3CK by Uair@autistics.life
2025-09-09T03:18:52Z
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@phette23 I did not know that.What a nightmare!
(DIR) Post #Ay2jVFD1N7kKl65h8C by bakuninboys@aus.social
2025-09-09T22:08:04Z
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@phette23
(DIR) Post #Ay4TtsI8VQCxyE7s9I by phette23@digipres.club
2025-09-10T18:22:42Z
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@ibk this is really cool!