Rwanda deserves national ISBN issuing agency

I learnt the other day through these pages that Rwanda does not have a national agency to issue the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). (see Lack of ISBN is hurting local publishing industry) The ISBN identifies a book, with the number being unique only to the book or book-like product globally. A book-like product includes e-books, audio-books, brochures and pamphlets, as well as maps. (Newspapers, magazines and periodicals, referred to as serials – as each publication usually follows another serially on a regular basis – are categorised differently and do not get the ISBN.) In principle, every country should have an organisation which administers these numbers, usually the national library. Stephen Mugisha, our well informed herald on the publishing situation in the country, lamented in the above mentioned article that for one to get the ISBN in Rwanda, it has to be through France. It may not be surprising that the parent agency issuing ISBN for Rwanda is domiciled in France, as Rwanda is formerly Francophone. But why, if only to demonstrate its sovereignty, should Rwanda not have its own ISBN issuing agency? According to Mugisha, Rwanda has tried to gain institutional recognition through the National Library Services “to no avail.” One probable cause is the fact that Rwanda’s publishing industry is still young and does not produce “a lot of publications, of which it was suggested didn’t warrant “the establishment of a new ISBN Agency for Rwanda.” Thus Mugisha posed, evoking the chicken and egg conundrum about which should come first: “[A] lot of publications first or it should be ISBN first?” I am not certain how many books Oman produces per year, but the country with a population of just over 3 million, formally operationalised it national agency in 2012. Whether or not a national agency should spur growth and development of indigenous book publishing is perhaps not the main issue, but that Rwanda deserves it own ISBN issuing agency as any nation in the world deservedly does on its own merit as a nation. According to the International ISBN Agency, charged with the “International Standard Numbering System for Books, Software, Mixed Media, etc, in Publishing, Distribution and Library Practice,” there are 151 national or regional ISBN agencies covering more than 200 individual countries. Perhaps, at this point, I should declare that am an interested party. Earlier this year I published a small book on Amazon (Those interested can find a copy here: http://amzn.to/1cOiacz. The issue of the book having the ISBN did not bother me, not only because an identification number was guaranteed, but also to experiment with the freedom of self-publishing. By the same token, I will confess that publishers are not my favorite people, having once or twice been rejected or made to jump through hoops, to borrow the expression, to have a book published. But in solidarity with the Rwanda publishing fraternity I do not see why the country should not have its national ISBN issuing agency. I will not even mind the usually inevitable rejection slips that will probably follow, that is if I don’t jump through the hoops to have a children’s book I am just finalising published in the country. But I would not mind being among the first thus numbered under the national agency as a bona fide East African. All told, it may be emphasised that Rwanda is as deserving as any of the country to have its own ISBN issuing agency. It is an issue that ought to be relentlessly pursued as a matter of practical necessity, if not national pride. The writer is a commentator on local and regional affairs. He is the author of, among others, Portraits of the Heart, a collection of short stories, and co-authored the book, The Resilience of a Nation: A History of the Military in Rwanda. Twitter: @gituram