The purpose of the International Standard Text Code (ISTC) is to enable the efficient identification of textual works. The ISTC provides a means of uniquely and persistently identifying textual works in information systems and of facilitating the exchange of information about those works between authors, agents, publishers, retailers, libraries, rights administrators and other interested parties, on an international level. The ISTC may be applied to any textual work, whenever there is an intention to produce such a work in the form of one or more manifestations. It provides an identification data element for applications that record and exchange information