The numbers game

Has anyone else noticed that new books now feature 13-digit ISBNs rather than 10-digit ones?

I noticed it a few weeks ago on Amazon. Apparantly the ISBN system changed on January 1.

According to the ISBN standards website, this change is happening for the following reasons:

to expand the numbering capacity of the ISBN system and alleviate numbering shortages in certain areas of the world; and

to fully align the numbering system for books with the global EAN.UCC identification system that is widely used to identify most other consumer goods worldwide.

The Public Lending Rights website clarifies it further:

The new 13 digit ISBNs are identical to the barcode number that you can already see printed on the back cover of your book. Basically, it is the 10 digit ISBN prefixed by ‘978’ (which is the prefix currently allocated to books) and a recalculated check digit at the end. For example:
ISBN-10 =        0901690546
ISBN-13 =  9780901690546

So now you know. I bet you'll be able to sleep easier tonight!