This FAQ document answers general questions about the Library of Congress CIP Program.
There is no relationship between the CIP Program and Copyright registration. The main purpose of copyright records is to document the intellectual or creative ownership of a work. The main purpose of a CIP record is to record the bibliographic data elements of a work and facilitate access to it in library catalogs.
Separate deposits are required to fulfill either mandatory deposit (Section 407) or copyright registration (Section 408) of US Copyright Law.
The mailing address of the Copyright Office is:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559
(202) 707-3000
copyinfo@loc.gov
There is no charge for CIP processing. However, participating publishers are obligated to send a copy of all books for which CIP data was provided immediately upon publication. Publishers failing to meet this obligation may be suspended from the program. Please note that all books submitted to the Library of Congress in compliance with the CIP Program are property of the Library of Congress.
To find out more about submitting CIP applications, go to:
As a user in PPBL, when you submit a request you may be assigned a provisional Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN).
However, if your request is rejected this provisional LCCN will NOT be valid -- please do not try to use the number.
U.S. Programs, Law, and Literature Division
Cataloging in Publication Program
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540-4283
CIP data is available only for works that are not yet published. Published works are not eligible for CIP data. All works, however, submitted to the Copyright Office to meet copyright obligations are also reviewed by Library of Congress selection officers. Works selected for addition to the Library's collections are assigned a cataloging priority and cataloged according to that priority. The Library does not provide current status reports for individual works processed in this manner. The Library of Congress catalog, however, can be searched for works that the Library has cataloged. Publishers should also consider working with a professional librarian at a local library to obtain cataloging.
Only U.S. publishers who publish titles that are most likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries are eligible to participate in the CIP Program. For more information, see the membership eligibility page.
At this time books must be in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and/or Spanish. Books in other languages are out of scope.
Graphic novels are within scope for the CIP Program. Publishers of graphic novels are encouraged to include graphics in the PDF galley attachment.
Resources available to support the CIP Program are limited. Recognizing this constraint the CIP Program is limited to publishers with an established history of producing works that are widely acquired by the nation's libraries. Such works often include publications produced by small publishers (over 40% of CIP publishers publish less than 5 titles a year), but do not include works of self-publishers. Works not included in the CIP Program can be cataloged locally by those libraries that obtain them. These works may also be eligible for the Preassigned Control Number Program.
Resources available to support the CIP Program are limited. Recognizing this constraint the CIP Program is limited to works most likely to be widely acquired by the nation's libraries. On-demand books are published in small numbers and are seldom widely acquired by the nation's libraries at the time of the initial print run. When an on-demand title is widely acquired by libraries, a catalog record is generally available from other libraries or networks such as OCLC.
The Cataloging in Publication Program creates bibliographic records for forthcoming books most likely to be widely acquired by U.S. libraries. The bibliographic record (also known as CIP data) is sent to the publisher and printed on the verso of the title page. A machine-readable version of the record is also distributed to libraries, book dealers, and bibliographic networks worldwide via the Library's Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS).
The Preassigned Control Number (PCN) Program assigns a Library of Congress Control Number to titles most likely to be acquired by the Library of Congress as well as some other categories of books.
Most CIP Upgrade requests are processed in 10 business days, depending on current workloads.
In order to receive the CIP data well in advance of publication, we urge publishers to submit their CIP Requests at least six months before printing deadlines. Some CIP Requests require developmental work to establish subject or name authority records, and this can take additional time.
If there are any concerns or questions regarding the timely receipt of the CIP data block, please contact your CIP Publisher Liaison.
The Cataloging in Publication (CIP) Program is reducing the number of CIP applications and records that receive Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) numbers as a part of ongoing efforts to evaluate and streamline cataloging practices. This change reflects shifting priorities and allocating resources within the program.
Beginning July 1, Dewey numbers will be assigned only to those CIP titles where they are most impactful, in particular non-fiction titles that are likely to be acquired by public and K-12 school libraries, where DDC assignment is critical to access and discovery. This adjustment will allow us to focus classification resources where they are most needed, while still supporting the core mission of the CIP Program.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a number that uniquely identifies books and book like products published internationally. The hardcover version should have a different ISBN than the softcover. A corrected printing should have a different ISBN than the original. An e-book version should likewise have a different number. ISBNs are in no way related to Library of Congress Control Numbers and are only related to Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data to the extent that the CIP data will include an ISBN(s) if the publisher has provided this information when requesting the CIP data.
Please note that the international standard is the 13-digit ISBN. Effective May 20, 2019, the CIP Program will no longer accept a 10-digit ISBN.
The U.S. ISBN Agency (not the Library of Congress) is responsible for the assignment of ISBNs to publishers resident in the U.S. and who publish titles in the U.S. The U.S. ISBN agency address is:
R. R. Bowker (U.S. ISBN Agency)
630 Central Ave.
New Providence, NJ 07974-1154
(877) 310-7333
info@bowker.com
The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a standard 8-digit number that uniquely identifies any serial publication independently of place of publication, language, frequency, or medium. The ISSN is in no way related to a Library of Congress Control Number and is only related to CIP data to the extent that a series statement in the CIP data will include the ISSN if the ISSN associated with the series appears in the published book and the publisher has provided this information in the CIP Request.
The U.S. ISSN agency is responsible for assigning ISSN to serials issued by publishers resident in the U.S. who publish serials in the U.S. The ISSN Section is located at the Library of Congress and can be contacted at the following address:
Library of Congress
ISSN Section
U.S. Programs, Law, and Literature Division
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20540-4284
(202) 707-6586
issn@loc.gov
A multivolume set is a work published in more than one physical volume and not open-ended in nature. In other words, there is a finite amount of information and a planned end to the publication. By contrast, a monographic series is open-ended with no foreseeable end.
It depends on whether or not the Library of Congress decides to catalog all the volumes of the set on a single bibliographic record. If it does, then the CIP Program will provide a single set of CIP data which covers all the volumes of the set. Revised data will not be provided for volumes for which CIP data is requested after the first volume(s) for which CIP data has been requested. The CIP data supplied for the first volume(s) cataloged should be printed in each subsequent volume.
If, on the other hand, the Library decides to create separate records for each volume of your multivolume set, then you may submit a separate CIP Requests for each volume as it becomes "ready" for publication; separate CIP data will be provided for each volume.
If the individual volumes of the set have no subtitles or special titles of their own or no independently meaningful or distinctive titles or subtitles of their own (e.g., "Acad-Beet" or "1900-1929"), the Library is likely to create a single bibliographic record for the set as a whole and the CIP Program will provide a single set of CIP data.
If each volume of the set is prepared by (a) different author(s) and each volume has a different, independently meaningful title, or if all the volumes of the set are by one author and have clearly distinctive titles, the Library is likely to create separate records for the volumes of the set. A common instance of the latter category is a retrospective collection of an author's works, each of which was originally published separately. If the Library does decide to create separate records for each volume of the set, separate CIP data will be provided for each volume.
The decision to create a single record for the set or to create separate records for the individual volumes of the set is not always as clear as in the above examples. Other factors, such as the method of volume or series numbering or cataloger’s judgment, may influence the decision. If you are in any doubt whatsoever, contact your CIP Publisher Liaison for assistance.