9. Non-participating publishers

In the case of the non-participation of a publisher the group agency might proceed in one of the following two ways:

     A.

The group agency can allocate a block of numbers for miscellaneous publishers and number all titles within that block, irrespective of the publisher. In this case, an ISBN publisher identifier will not identify the publisher of a specific title.
(It is strongly recommended that this procedure should be reserved for publishers who only publish an occasional title and who are never likely to be in the position of assuming the responsibility for numbering themselves.)

     B.

The group agency can assume responsibility for assigning a publisher identifier and a block of ISBNs associated with that identifier. It can then assign a number to each publication and inform the publisher before publication of each number assigned.

If a publisher agrees to this method, the ISBN can be printed in the book. It is expected that such a publisher will eventually assume full responsibility for assigning his or her own ISBNs.

In some countries the group agencies assign ISBN to unnumbered incoming legal deposit, inform the publishers about the assignment and publicize the assignment in the national bibliography.