bookland

Last update: 15 Jul 2007

Skip down to the online bar code generator

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bookland (also known as bookland.py) is a program for generating EAN-13 bar code symbols, including:

bookland is written in Python. The current version is 1.3. Download it here. Here's the README. See also the Change Log

This web site is hosted by Tux.Org

bookland is free software and comes with NO WARRANTY. It is licensed to you under the GNU General Public License. See also the file COPYING from the bookland package. The program has NOT been tested. You're welcome to use and copy the program without charge but make sure you can verify the bar codes it produces before you go to press with them.

Unfortunately, no support is available. However, I am always interested in bug reports, especially if the program generates a faulty bar code. Report bugs to <bookland-bugs@cgpp.com>. Suggestions (the polite kind) are also welcome. Feel free to download the code, make modifications, and send me a patch. If you need help using the program, you might consider posting a question to alt.publish.books.

No payment is required or expected - just let me know if it works. That said, some publishers send in autographed copies of their titles, and these are much appreciated! If you do, please send to Judah Milgram, P.O. Box 143, College Park, MD 20741, USA. Here are some other useful ways to say "thank you":

Interesting links

Test bookland online

Bar codes are provided here WITHOUT WARRANTY. bookland is free software and has not been shown to comply with any set of bar code specifications.

You must verify the bar code before going to press. It's best to use a professional bar code verifier. Printing it out and taking it to a store might be a good first check, but we don't know if it's adequate because of the varying quality of scanning equipment.

Note that the low-res JPG version is for preview purposes only. The bar code will be inaccurate due to the low resolution.

Going to press with a bad bar code can be costly. If you can't afford this risk, please contact one of our sponsors for a professionally generated bar code.

Choose one:

Yeah, yeah, free software, it might not work. Fine. I heard you the first time. Give it a rest!
What?! No warranty? What good is that!


  1. Enter your product code number with the hyphens! bookland doesn't insert any hyphenation beyond what you provide - see the FAQ. The product code can be any of the following:

    • a 13 digit EAN-13 product code. Examples:

      01-223456-67890*
      57-276543-21098*
      
      In these examples, the last digit has been left as a "wildcard" - the program will compute it automatically. This is only to help debugging - we recommend that you always input all the digits. Remember, if you get a checksum error, it's not necessarily the check digit that's wrong - it could be any of the digits.

    • a 13 digit ISBN-13. Examples:

      978-0-201-10179-9
      978-0-9669553-0-9
      

    • a 10 digit ISBN-10. Note that in theory these don't exist anymore. The program will automatically convert 10-digit ISBN's to their 13-digit equivalents. This way you can use any remaining ISBN-10's allotted to you. Examples of ISBN-10's:

      0-201-10179-3
      0-9669553-0-*
      0-9669*53-0-7
      
      Note in the second example that we have used the wildcard feature again instead of specifying the final (check) digit. In the third example, we used a wildcard in place of one of the middle digits. In either case, the result is the same.

    • an ISMN. Examples:

      M-706335-20-9
      M-006-50511-1
      

    Or just leave blank for a built-in default.

    The program will verify the check sum and return an error if it is incorrect.

    Product code:

  2. For ISBN's only: enter the five-digit price code. "90000" is a generally applicable value, but you can change it (see below). If you don't want the UPC-5 auxiliary bar code all, just leave it as "None".

    5-digit add-on:

    Per BISG:

    • First digit is "5" for $US
    • First digit is "4" for $CAN
    • Last four digits are price * 100
    • use 59999 (or 49999 etc.) for price of $100 or more
    • 90000-98999 for internal use (BISG recommends 90000 if no price designated and 5 digit code not used for internal use)
    • 99000-99999 reserved for industry-wide use.
    • 99990-99999 reserved for Nat'l Ass'n of College Stores (NACS)
    • 99990 = NACS used books
    • 99991 = NACS desk copies

  3. Color for the bar code. Use either CMYK or RGB. RGB values will be converted to CMYK in the output. All values must be between zero and 1.
    CMYK
    C: M: Y: K:
    RGB
    R: G: B:

  4. Do you want the ">" symbol to the right of the price code? This is recommended to help enforce the quiet zone. If you don't use this, be sure to leave the appropriate amount of white space to the right of the bar code.
    Yes, include the ">" (recommended)
    No, don't want the ">"

  5. Choose a font for the ISBN, EAN number, and price code.
    The spec calls for OCRB so leave this alone unless your system doesn't have OCRB (in which case it'll probably default to Courier). See the FAQ for more information. On some systems it's called "OCR-B" or other variations. If you don't have OCRB, Helvetica or Arial might be acceptable but I don't know for sure. Note font names are usually case sensitive. If your font name has an embedded space, you'll probably have to rename it.
    Font:

  6. Why did the chicken cross the road?
    To get to the other side.
    To prove to the armadillo that it could be done.

  7. Height reduction scale factor (per cent). Probably don't want to go below 80% on this one. See also the FAQ for more discussion on this.
    Scale factor: %

  8. For ISBN's and ISMN's, the human-readable ISBN above the bar is normally scaled to 9 points. With the new ISBN-13's, this causes the label to overhang the bars on either side. If you want to resize this label, do so here. If you enter anything less than 2, the label is scaled to fit in a width equal to the label scale times the bars width. So for example to make the label span the bars exactly, enter "1" here. Any number greater than 2 is interpreted as a font size in points. Note: I think the label is "supposed to be" 9 points. If you make it smaller, the bar code police might complain. But don't worry, I won't tell.

    Label Scale:

  9. Bar width reduction. Leave this at zero unless you know what you're doing! You need to consult with your printer before using this. Units are 1/100 pt.
    Bar width reduction:

  10. For viewing EPS files, you can get a free Postscript interpreter for:

  11. For information on actually printing the ISBN bar code (size, location, color, quiet zone, etc.), contact BISG and request their publication, "Machine-Readable Coding Guidelines for the U.S. Book Industry", Revised 1/97.

And now a word from our sponsors


Last update: 15 Jul 2007