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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MThibault" data-source="post: 780269" data-attributes="member: 7971">BTW As a librarian, I can attest to the value of an ISBN.  Small retailers (which are very similar to libraries, actually, except that they try to make money and we try to stay underbudget) rely heavily on ISBNs when tracking down special orders or marrying advertising information to an actual product.  There is nothing like an internationally recognized, standardized, unique number to make your search *very* fast.Secondly, and this isn't as important in the hobby trade as book trade, but the National Library of Canada, who administers the ISBNs publishes Forthcoming Books -- a monthly catalogue (available on the internet) that tells retailers and suppliers what products are in the pipe.  They use the ISBN and CIP (Cataloguing in Publication) data to give the retailers (large and small) and savvy consumers a bit of free advertising and prepublication support.Large retailers won't carry books without ISBNs because it is nearly impossible to find a product without it -- unless you are an expert in that field, as many of us on these boards are, or the product is published by a huge or prestigious (read as: commonly known) company.Cheers</blockquote>