| Value | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 00 | Unspecified | |
| 01 | Publisher | |
| 02 | Publisher’s distributor | Use to designate a distributor providing warehousing and fulfillment for a publisher or for a publisher’s sales agent, as distinct from a wholesaler |
| 03 | Wholesaler | |
| 04 | Bibliographic agency | Bibliographic data aggregator |
| 05 | Library bookseller | Bookseller selling to libraries (including academic libraries) |
| 06 | Publisher’s sales agent | Use for a publisher’s sales agent responsible for marketing the publisher’s products within a territory, as opposed to a publisher’s distributor who fulfills orders but does not market |
| 07 | Publisher’s conversion service provider | Downstream provider of e-publication format conversion service (who might also be a distributor or retailer of the converted e-publication), supplying metadata on behalf of the publisher. The assigned ISBN is taken from the publisher’s ISBN prefix |
| 08 | Conversion service provider | Downstream provider of e-publication format conversion service (who might also be a distributor or retailer of the converted e-publication), supplying metadata on behalf of the publisher. The assigned ISBN is taken from the service provider’s prefix (whether or not the service provider dedicates that prefix to a particular publisher) |
| 09 | ISBN Registration Agency | |
| 10 | ISTC Registration Agency | |
| 11 | Retail bookseller | Bookseller selling primarily to consumers |
| 12 | Education bookseller | Bookseller selling primarily to educational institutions |