Latvian ISBN/ISMN agency - is an agency responsible for assigning ISBN numbers for the group identifier 9984 to book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s and ISMN numbers to note

Note

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

s in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

. As of 2008 the agency is part of the National Library of Latvia and is located in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

.

The ISBN group identifier was assigned by The International ISBN Agency to Latvia in 1992 and the agency has been operating since 1993.

Since May 2005 the Latvian agency has been assigning ISBNs only for concrete titles. The assignment of ISBN ranges is not practiced any more. Publishers can acquire numbers either in the agency or via internet using the Lursoft IT site.

Publishers

As of 2004 the Latvian publishers' database comprises 1393 entries. About 400 publishers were active in 2003 and 180 have published only 1 title (50 of them are author-publishers). The National Library of Latvia has a local database of the publishers. A reference service from it is available.

The Latvian publishing output in 2006 was about 2500 titles, about 5 million copies in total. The average print-run of one title is just above 2 thousand copies. Only 3 publishers have published more than a hundred titles. Zvaigzne ABC is in the leading position with 300 titles. Other notable publishers are Jumava, Avots and Kontinents. Fiction dominates with 613 titles; textbook

Textbook

A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...

s 411 titles; science, research and popular scientific books 303 titles; children books and comics

Comics

Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

233 publications; popular issues 113 titles. The other types of publications do not reach 100 titles a year.

There are 27 music publishers in Latvia.

External links

• Latvian ISBN/ISMN agency site