BISG Hears New Director
 

By Michael Cader (Publishers Lunch) -- Incoming BISG executive director Michael Healy addressed a subdued gathering at the organization's annual meeting last Friday (though Healy does not officially take over for another six weeks). Healy praised the group's progress under Jeff Abraham and intends to "evolve initiatives that have already begun" and stay focused on the core mission to "promote greater efficiency in the supply chain and drive unnecessary costs out." That mission naturally expands as "we will see the emergence of a new digital supply chain." Among the "pointers for the future" Healy identified are "monitoring the development of web services" to see how they can be applied to the book business and to "learn from those in the library supply chain."

In addition to its work in the "development of policies and standards," Healy will continue efforts to conduct research and expand efforts to "measure the market going forward." This week, Healy is attending the first meeting of an international group working to establish a "standard party identifier" that would give unique ISBN-like codes to authors.

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