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Providing ISBNs for Books

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires universities to make available to students, for each course, the International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) and price information for required/recommended books and supplemental materials.

To comply with this requirement, the University of Pennsylvania has worked closely with Barnes & Noble, managers of the Penn Bookstore, to develop a simple and cost-effective process to provide ISBNs to our students. Through the Bookstore’s online system, students will have access to a complete list of materials for all their courses, along with the ISBNs for each listed text.

As in the past, textbook information can be provided to other vendors, and students are in no way required to purchase their books at the Penn Bookstore. 
Faculty support will be a critical factor in the University’s efforts to act in accordance with this regulation. To that end, we encourage all Penn faculty members to work with the Bookstore as it communicates with you in the near future about this important resource for our students. 

—Vincent Price, Provost

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