International Standard Serial Number & Bar Codes

You have certainly already noticed or used this perhaps mysterious code on serials which you read or consult or in references concerning articles or serials : the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)

Journal showing barcode at right side (bottom)

                                                    

The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an international code for serial publications like magazines.

The ISSN consists of two groups of four digits, separated by a hyphen. The eighth character is a check digit calculated according to a modulo 11 algorithm on the basis of the 7 preceding digits. This eighth control character may be an "X" if the result of the calculation is equal to "10".

To calculate the check digit you must multiply the last digit of the true number by 2, the second to the last by 3 etc. and add these results. The number needed to fill this sum to the next multiple of 11 is the check digit. If it is 10, the check digit is replaced by the letter 'X'.

Bar Code and ISSN

The barcode symbols that appear on magazines are encoded using EAN-13 barcode. However, although the type of bar code is the same as others used for retailers, the numbering system used to generate the bar code is different. The EAN for normal retail products is a 13 digit number which uniquely identifies that product. However, a serial publication like a magazine already has a unique number to identify it, the ISSN. The EAN bar code for a serial publication is generated from the ISSN for the publication.

When encoded in an EAN-13 bar code, the ISSN is preceded by the digits 977 and the ISSN check-digit (the last of the 8 digits) is not encoded. A two digit price code, almost always "00", is added to the end, and finally the EAN check digit is added.

Let's say you have the number 0264-3596 as a serial publication's ISSN. The true ISSN is 0264359 (no 6 because it is the ISSN check digit). The EAN-13 number would then be 9770264359008 for normal issues. The "00" is the normal issue code and the "8" is the EAN-13 check digit). A special issue could receive a 2-digit numbers other than "00".

Some serial publications also have an add-on 2-digit code that represents the issue number.

How many of you know about ISBN Number? I know many of you have heard about it but never want to know y and how it’s used?

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

• The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin for the booksellers and stationers W. H. Smith and others in 1961 Since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Book land EAN-13sOccasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure; however, this can be rectified later.
• The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.

• A similar numeric identifier, the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), identifies periodical publications such as magazines

 ISBN 10 and ISBN 13

All ISBN numbers used to be 10 digits long over the past few years publishers have been switching to ISBN numbers that are 13 digits long.   Sometimes it even says "ISBN 10" next to one number and "ISBN 13" next to the other number.  It is just part of the switch to the longer numbers.  The ISBN is how books are rung up and sorted in computer systems listing both numbers give book stores and libraries time to catch up.  The ISBN 13 number will start with 978 or 979 most often I see 978 but I don't know why that is.  Some numbers within the ISBN have meaning like with the ISBN 10 all books in english have an ISBN starting with 1 or 0 in ISBN 13 it is the 4th number so really they are running out of numbers and need to use a longer number.

Overview

An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation (except reprinting) of a book. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned after January 1, 2007, and 10 digits long if assigned before 2007. An International Standard Book Number consists of 4 or 5 parts:

The parts of a 10-digit ISBN and the corresponding EAN‑13 and barcode. Note the different check digits in each. The part of the EAN‑13 labeled "EAN" is the Book land country code.

1. for a 13-digit ISBN, a GS1 prefix: 978 or 979 (indicating the industry; in this case, 978 denotes book publishing)
2. the group identifier, (language-sharing country group)
3. the publisher code
4. the item number (title of the book),and
5. A checksum character or check digit.

The ISBN separates its parts (group, publisher, title and check digit) with either a hyphen or a space. Other than the check digit, no part of the ISBN will have a fixed number of digits.

ISBN ON BOOK....

To Be Continued.................

With Love
Dipali

A  WORLD  WITHOUT  BOOKS…….

The novelist Colm Toibin once recounted a story about observing a Cantonese man sitting on a Kowloon footpath reading a book. The man’s face was stern with concentration, his finger tracing the line being read. At times the man’s expression would screw up in frustration at his progress. Finally, the reader looked up at the sky, his face beaming. Whether from a sudden joyous facility with the act of reading, or revelation from what was written, or delight at how the story resolved, it doesn’t matter. What mattered is he was in possession of something deliciously private – a connection between him and the writer, between the real world and that world inscribed upon the pages

What would the world be like without books? What a depressing and absurd idea. Scenes like that man reading belie the notion that modern advances pose a threat to reading as we know it There’s always talk that the latest technology signals the demise of the book. Decades ago, radio was what would do it. Then came TV. And now the Internet. The machines change, but the act has stayed the same. The simplest form of technology prevails – pages printed into a sheaf and bound between covers. There’s something reassuring about such simplicity. Especially when it lets us delve into the complexities of life.

Literature is the story of ourselves, the record of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going. Non-fiction illuminates the world for us and fiction explains what non-fiction cannot. Through books we first travel. In those wanderings we become best acquainted with humanity through the characters we come to know more intimately than anyone else – whether we love, loathe, fear, or fawn over them

“Aren’t we loneliest, after all, when surrounded by others? But books aren’t bomb shelters, they’re bridges – through their pages we’re brought out into society, and one can posit that someone who reads is prepared for the world on a deeper level than someone who doesn’t. Though reading a book connects one with humanity, it is also the last truly private act in a world that’s become too public. As nourishment for the mind, it’s slow food in a world given over to fast food. Blogs, text messages, e-books, and the like bring topicality, portability, instant gratification, much as newspapers and magazines do. And there are the unquantifiable pleasures that books alone offer: The scent, the sound, the tactile sensation of what is a cerebral, silent, disembodied task. The sharing of a volume by lending it to a friend. The adventure of leaving a book to be found by a stranger, who will in turn partake in that private journey before passing it on again. The grandeur of a civilization evidenced through its libraries.
It is important that we work to give every person the opportunity to enjoy books as shelters, sustenance, and roads forward. Literacy and library programmes are important goals for developed and developing nations alike. To imagine a world without books is to imagine a world without thought. A world without feeling, compassion, history, or voice……………….”


Without books world will be as dark as it was several thousand years ago. The digital world can better inform you and can make you up-to-date but it can never increase your insight, intelligence and knowledge. A world without books will be a world without knowledge


EMBRACE THE WORLD OF BOOKS......

With Love
Dipali

Ref-:http://www.rdasia.com/a-world-without-books

 Article originally written by Miguel Syjuco, from the Philippines, is the author of the bestselling, multi-awarded debut novel Ilustrado.

MUNSHI PREMCHAND: THE GREAT NOVELIST

A pioneer of modern Hindi and Urdu social fiction, Munshi Premchand’s real name was Dhanpat Rai. He wrote nearly 300 stories and novels. Among his best known novels are- Sevasadan,Rangmanch, Gaban, Nirmala and Godan. Much of Premchand’s best work is to be found among his 250 or so short stories, collected in Hindi under the title Manasarovar.Three of his novels have been made into films.Premchand’s literary career started as a freelancer in Urdu. He was born at Lamahi near Banaras (now Varanasi) on 31st July,1880. His father Munshi Ajaib Lal was a clerk in the postal department. Premchand’s early education was in a madarsa under a maulvi, where he learnt Urdu. Premchand was only eight years old when his mother died. His grandmother took the responsibility of raising him but she too died soon. He was married when he was 15 and in the 9th grade . His father also died and after passing the intermediate he had to stop his study. He got a job as a teacher in the primary school. In 1919, he passed his B.A., with English, Persian and History. After a series of promotions he became Deputy Inspectors of Schools. In response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call of non-cooperation with the British he quit his job. After that he devoted his full attention to writing.
His first story appeared in the magazine Zamana published from Kanpur.In his early short stories he depicted the patriotic upsurge that was sweeping the land in the first decade of the past century. Soz-e-Watan, a collection of patriotic stories published by Premchand in 1907, attracted the attention of the British Government In 1914, when Premchand switched over to Hindi; he had already established his reputation as a fiction writer in Urdu. While writing Urdu novels and short stories he emphasized in presenting the realities of life and he made the Indian villages his theme of writing. His novels describe the problems of the urban middle-class and the country’s villages and their problems. He also emphasised on the Hindu-Muslim unity. His famous works include Godan, Maidan-e-Amal, Bay-wah, Chaugaan etc.It would not be wrong to say that Premchand was the Father of Urdu short- stories. Short stories or afsanas were started by Premchand. As with his novels, his afsanas also mirror the society that he lived in. With a simple and flowing writing some of his works depict excellent use of satire and humour. His later works used very simple words and he started including Hindi words too to honestly potray his characters. His famous afsanas are Qaatil Ki Maan, Zewar Ka Dibba, Gilli Danda, Eidgaah, Namak Ka Daroga and Kafan. His collected stories have been published as Prem Pachisi, Prem Battisi, Wardaat andZaad-e-Raah.
    Premchand was the first Hindi author to introduce realism in his writings. He pioneered the new form - fiction with a social purpose. He supplemented Gandhiji’s work in the political and social fields by adopting his revolutionary ideas as themes for his literary writings.
    Besides being a great novelist, Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion. He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all.Premchand died in 1936 and has since been studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century. Premchand died in 1936 and has since been studied both in India and abroad as one of the greatest writers of the century Besides being a great novelist; Premchand was also a social reformer and thinker. His greatness lies in the fact that his writings embody social purpose and social criticism rather than mere entertainment. Literature according to him is a powerful means of educating public opinion. He believed in social evolution and his ideal was equal opportunities for all..

Adaptations of Premchand’s Work
Satyajit Ray filmed two of Premchand's works– Sadgati and Shatranj Ke Khiladi. Sadgati (Salvation) is a short story revolving around poor Dukhi, who dies of exhaustion while hewing wood for a paltry favor. Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) revolved around the decadence of nawabi Lucknow, where the obsession with a game consumes the players, making them oblivious of their responsibilities in the midst of a crisis. Sevasadan (first published in 1918) was made into a film with M.S. Subbulakshmi in the lead role. Premchand also worked with the film director Himanshu Rai of Bombay Talkies, one of the founders of Bollywood. The Actor Factor Theatre Company, a young Delhi based theatre group, staged Kafan in 2010 in New Delhi. It is an original stage adaptation of Premchand's short story. Oka Oori Katha (English title: The Marginal Ones; Telugu) is a 1977 Telugu film directed by Mrinal Sen. It is based on the story Kafan by Munshi Premchand. It is one of the few Art films made in Telugu language.

A plaque commemorating Premchand at the hut where he resided in Gorakhpur from 1916 to 1921

Collection of stories

Seva Sadan (Hindi)
Bazaar-e-Husn(Urdu)

Gaban (also transliterated asGhaban)

Karmabhoomi(Hindi)
Maidan-e-Amal(Urdu)

Vardaan (Hindi)
Jalwa-e-Isar (Urdu)

Kishna

Asrar-e-Ma'abid(Urdu)
Devasthan Rahasya(Hindi)

Mangalsootra

Godaan

I would like to inform every reader that this page would be insufficient to show the collection of stories of premchand.He has written more then 300 stories…and it’s not possible to show all his collection.

Visit http://premchand.kahaani.org/2009/09/contents.html if you want to read any story of premchand.

 Ref-:http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2001/fjul2001/f190720011.html