What is an ISBN, an ISSN, and a DOI?
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ISBN

ISBN is an acronym that stands for International Standard Book Number. This is a 13 or 10 digit number assigned to all books and book-like publications that are published internationally.

According to the US ISBN Agency, "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." (1).

The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, and 10 digits long if assigned before 2007. Having the ISBN of a book, such as a required text, is useful in obtaining the specific edition that a professor requires.

ISSN

Similarly, an ISSN stands for International Standard Serial Number. A serial is the term used to describe journals, newspapers, magazines and other publications that are continually published. This applies to both print and digital media. An ISSN is an 8-digit code comprised of two groups of four digits, separated by a hyphen.

The University of Wyoming Libraries collections may be searched by ISBN or ISSN. To perform this search, enter the ISBN number into the QuickSearch box on the libraries homepage, and click on the magnifying glass on the search bar. If the UW Libraries has the item, it will be displayed. If the search results display a message " No Records Found" click the Prospector button to search available items from alliance libraries, or use Request It to obtain the book through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Enter the ISSN on the "Journal Search" page.

ISMN

For music, the ISMN is used.

Visit this webpage for more information about the ISBN and publishing in the United States: http://www.isbn.org/

Visit this webpage for information about the international use of ISBNs: https://www.isbn-international.org/

Visit this webpage for information about the ISSN: https://www.issn.org/understanding-the-issn/what-is-an-issn/

If you are looking for a textbook for a UW course, this video tutorial explains how to obtain the ISBN and search for available textbooks at UW or partner libraries.

DOI

DOI is an acronym for Digital Object Identifier. This link is to the organization who created DOI's.

If you have a DOI, the quickest way to locate the associated article is using the "Articles" search on the library home page. Search results generally are successful and provide a link to connect you with the article, but only if we subscribe to it.

Using the library's "Citation Finder" search tool is another quick way. This search tool is easily accessible through the "LIB A-Z" listing (located at the top right on any library webpage). You can click on "Citation Finder" or the "D.O.I. (digital object identifier) search."

You can also search a DOI in Google or Google Scholar. If you are on campus or logged into the off-campus access, a link to the item will appear in the search results. That link will connect to the article if the library has subscribed to the journal or is provided by open access.

There are also open-access DOI resolvers that look for free versions of papers. Here are some links:

https://dx.doi.org/