Publish: Requesting an ISBN

Items for which an ISBN can be allocated:

• printed books
• publications that are not intended by the publisher to be updated regularly or continued indefinitely
• educational/instructional films
• audiobooks on CD, or DVD (talking books)
• electronic publications either on physical carriers (such as machine-readable tapes, diskettes, or CD-ROMs) or on the internet (for download or streaming)
• digitised copies of printed monographic publications
• microform publications
• educational or instructional software

Items that do not require an ISBN:

• ephemeral printed materials such as advertising matter and the like
• printed music
• art prints and art folders without title page and text
• personal documents
• software that is intended for any purpose other than educational or instructional
• electronic bulletin boards
• emails and other electronic correspondence
• games
• music sound recordings

A comprehensive list and information can be found on Thorpe-Bowker website.

Thorpe-Bowker is the sole distributor of ISBNs for Australia.

To request an ISBN, complete and submit the online form.  

• When an ISBN is allocated it will be annotated on the request form and the form returned to the requestor for their records, usually within 2 working days.
• You may request a new ISBN for each format of your publication.
• ISBNs are currently issued free of cost. 
• Please note your legal deposit obligation.

• If you are declaring copyright of the work and declaring that it is free from third party ownership, you are required to complete the copyright declaration section of the Request Form.
• If the edited publication is a collection of conference papers or journal articles, then you are required to complete the Transfer of Copyright Ownership section of the Request Form, to prove permission has been sought from the authors.

"Legal deposit is a statutory obligation which requires that any organisation, commercial or public, and any individual producing any type of documentation in multiple copies, be obliged to deposit one or more copies with a recognised national institution" (see: NED Resources)

This includes all Australian print and electronic books, journals, magazines, newsletters, sheet music, maps, websites and public social media. Legal deposit applies to any Australian person, group or organisation that makes this material available to the public for sale or for free.

All items published are required to be deposited in the following public collections.

• one copy Legal Deposit, National Library of Australia Canberra ACT 2600
• one copy Legal Deposit, State Library of Western Australia, Perth Cultural Centre, 25 Francis Street, Perth WA 6000
• one copy Legal Deposit, Records & Archives Management Services, ECU Joondalup
• one copy ECU Library Services Centre, Joondalup (electronic copy preferred)

On 17 February 2016, the legal deposit provisions were extended to cover the online publishing.

Prepublication Data Service is a service provided by the National Library of Australia to create a catalogue record for a publication before it is published.

The entry includes information such as:

• title
• author
• ISBN
• Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) notation
• subject headings

The main benefit of having a Prepublication Data Service comes from being included in the National Library of Australia database.

This information makes your publication searchable via internet search engines and library databases. Prepublication Data Service applications must include a valid Australian ISBN.

More information can be found on the National Library of Australia Prepublication Data Service frequently asked questions page.

An online Prepublication Data Service form is available on the National Library of Australia website.

The service is free and takes approximately 2 days.