Book Industry Study Group

BISG Celebrates Remarkable Turnaround

Book Industry Study Group thrives and casts a

wide net over just about everything

By Eugene Schwartz (ForeWord Magazine) -- The message at the BISG annual meeting last week was: Time is running out. Get with the program!

True, booksellers and librarians can rest easy that the Book Industry Study Group is carefully facilitating transformations taking place in our distribution infrastructure. Also being monitored by BISG is the impact on everything from labeling to cash register systems by the needs of a small number of mega-merchandisers such as Wal-Mart and Target, as well as global shippers such as UPS and FedEx.

Publishers who are paying attention will receive plenty of information through the Bowker ISBN agency as well as from major chains such as Barnes and Noble and Borders and from wholesalers such as Ingram and Baker & Taylor about the new item-specific UCC/EAN bar-code which kicks in on January 2005, and the transition to a 13-digit ISBN (which will, in effect, also be the EAN bar code.) The ISBN target implementation date is January 2007, but the transition will begin this January. Also, there is also something called the 14-digit GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), which can come in various forms - one of which is the UCC/EAN code - except that BISG endorses a 14-digit version whose extra digit enables pulling from inventory and shipping a specific book in alternative carton sizes.

A final set of procedural endorsements by BISG was adopted at its annual meeting last week. Ducking under the crossfire of interests to facilitate a consensus, the outcome was presented by the unflappable Tom Clarkson of Barnes and Noble, chair of the Machine Readable Coding Committee - a group whose passion for data management equals any inspired literary effort.

Any one in the industry whose business and fulfillment systems depends on being able to either scan and/or report by product codes should be in touch with their trade association, distributor or wholesaler to make sure that come this January somebody else's computer won't fail to recognize an order, purchase or acquisition. You can start with the BISG web site (www.bisg.org).

You will also learn about the new warehouse benchmarking program launched by the Distribution Executive Interest Group (DEIG) and the supply chain initiative (known as CPFR - not to be confused with CPR, although somewhat analogous perhaps - more below) by the new MEIG - (Manufacturing Executive Interest Group).

This past week at a special meeting on warehouse benchmarking, the distribution interest group (DEIG), led by Jim Benjamin of Baker and Taylor unveiled BISG's new service in collaboration with Georgia Tech. Members can now go to a web site and enter confidentially protected operations and resource data about their warehouses and receive detailed peer group comparative analyses. Gil Harper of Penguin takes over the committee for the coming year.

And, finally, if you haven't had your fill of alphabet soup, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is coming up big-time, and BISG adopted its Privacy Policy Statement last week after a year of study. Presented by Jim Lichtenberg of Lightspeed, chair of the technology interest group and Kevin Spall of RR Donnelly, chair of the BISG Policy Committee the statement provides guidelines for excluding personal identification data from chip information.

A NEW BISG RISES TO THE OCCASION

It probably took the threat of chaos in product numbering and coding to bring a few of the key industry players together a few years ago in a determined effort to revive their floundering standards-setting and data reporting organization, home to BISAC, the steward of such basics as subject matter headings and ONIX and the annual industry Trends report.

Now, the people who keep the business of publishing up and running, were able to convene a packed and enthusiastic BISG annual meeting that with much good reason pointed with pride to hard work by its working committees and to significant accomplishment dealing with ISBN, Bar Code, and the many industry practices and standards transformations taking place.

Jeff Abraham, executive director, together with outgoing chair, Charles Benante of Pearson Technology and a sturdy band of operating executive stalwarts, have revived an organization which two years ago had almost expired for want of clear direction as well as resources.

They succeeded in bringing together a core of the major players in publishing, manufacturing, distribution, wholesaling, bookselling and general retail merchandising along with trade organizations such as AAP and PMA, and are now providing opportunities for services and management networking that can benefit membership by mid-range independent publishers and vendors. Interest group and special event meetings also bring together key executives for valuable networking.

Unique to BISG is that it has brought into the same room and on its committees representatives of general retail distribution channels and ID's (e.g. Wal-Mart, Hudson News), shipping pipelines (e.g. UPS and FedEx), consultants and data miners (Lightspeed and Ipsos-NPD), information repositories (OCLC, Nielsen Book Data) and other trade associations (AAP, PMA).

At this year's meeting, with its membership at about 150, involving close to 1,000 industry professionals on its various committees and events, BISG is poised to take itself into the next stage of consolidating its structure and broadening its base. One of the ways the latter can be done is enabling access to services (as it now does with its reports for sale) such as the new benchmarking system, on a fee basis to publishers for whom a full boat membership fee may not make sense.

The group is also batting around possible projects dealing with used books, operating performance and product packaging. It has begun to extend sales and publishing data trends reporting to include the independent publishing sector's 50,000 or more unreported firms.

SOME LEADERSHIP RECOGNITIONS

The meeting honored outgoing Chair Charles Benante of Pearson Technology for his three years of yeoman work, and passed the baton to Joseph Gonnella of Barnes and Noble, who will chair the newly elected 25 member board of directors (divided into staggered three year terms). With Jan Nathan of PMA continuing as treasurer, a sharp and experienced eye will monitor BISG's cash flow. Andrew Weber of Random House was elected Vice President, and Deborah Wiley of John Wiley & Sons continues as Secretary.

I think it appropriate to note that Jeff Abraham has earned his stripes these past two years as an effective member of the pantheon of full time trade association executives who are watchdogs for the interests of the industry. They earn their positions and trust by fidelity to the missions of their associations and sensitivity to the needs of their members. Abraham has joined the ranks, among others, of Pat Schroeder of AAP, Jan Nathan of PMA, Peter Givler of the AAUP, Keith Fiels of the ALA, Avin Domnitz of ABA, Bruce Smith of the BMI and Nick Bogaty of Open eBook Forum.

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