BISG finalizes BookDROP 1.0

New York, NY (December 10, 2008) -- The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) is pleased to announce the completion of version 1.0 of its BookDROP technical specification, a standard intended to support the search and discovery of digital book content on the Web. The specification can be downloaded free-of-charge from the BISG website.

BookDROP defines a set of HTTP transactions between a publisher's digital book archive and the websites of the publisher's syndication partners. The overall goal of BookDROP is to encourage the discovery, search, browse and distribution of digital book content across the Web while allowing publishers to manage the quality and availability of their content.

The work that led to BookDROP was started by the Association of American Publishers. Subsequent development was managed by BISG's Digital Standards Committee, a cross-industry group comprising representatives from publishing companies, booksellers, search engines and many other types of organizations, and chaired by Leslie Hulse of HarperCollins Publishers.

The BookDROP technical specification is now freely available for everyone to use, along with some explanatory documentation, and can be freely downloaded from the BISG website.

In announcing the release, Michael Healy, Executive Director of BISG, said, "The central idea behind BookDROP is a simple one: to standardize a set of HTTP calls that allows a publisher's channel partners to connect easily and efficiently to a publisher's digital book content. It's the result of a lot of effort from a lot of different people -- not just publishers, but booksellers, systems and service suppliers --and the product of cooperation between the AAP and BISG."

Leslie Hulse, Chair of BISG's Digital Standards Committee and Vice President, Global Marketing and Internet Strategy, at HarperCollins Publishers commented, "As digital repositories of book content proliferate, interoperability between systems is becoming more and more critical. BookDROP is important step in enabling interoperability for the benefit of publishers and their channel partners."

Media Contact:
Michael Healy
Executive Director
Book Industry Study Group, Inc.
646-336-7141
michael@bisg.org
# # #
About Book Industry Study Group, Inc.
The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) is the U.S. book industry's leading trade association for policy, standards and research. The mission of BISG is to create a more informed, empowered, and efficient book industry supply chain. Membership consists of publishers, manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, librarians, and others engaged in the business of print and electronic media. For 30 years, BISG has provided a forum for all industry professionals to come together and efficiently address issues and concerns to advance the book community.

Learn more about BISG at www.bisg.org.

# # # #