The Urgency Engine: BISG's Essential Role in a Changing Book World

BISG Executive Director Allison Belan on why the book industry can't afford to wait for the next crisis to act.

For 50 years, the book industry has turned to BISG to improve the publishing supply chain through education, standards, and best practices. But as an industry, we have a habit of adopting changes only when forced to by a retailer mandate, a regulatory deadline, or a commercial crisis. From ISBN-13 to the European Accessibility Act, that last-minute scramble has made change more expensive, more disruptive, and less effective than it needed to be.

In this webinar, Allison presents her vision for BISG as the industry's "engine of urgency." She describes an early warning system that tracks trade policy and regulatory shifts before they hit, and an implementation accelerator that helps publishers, printers, distributors, retailers, and service providers act together ahead of the deadline. She'll outline the four principles guiding BISG's next era: agility, alignment, expanded capacity, and timely market insights. She'll also explain what BISG will need from the industry to make them real. 

First delivered as the closing keynote of BISG's Book Publishing Next Forum and 50th Anniversary Reception in September, the presentation is now available to the entire industry, free of charge. Whether you're a longtime BISG member or new to the organization, this session is for anyone working across the book publishing supply chain who wants a say in how the industry meets what's next.

About the Speaker

ALLISON BELAN ensures that BISG brings the industry together through committees, working groups, and research to address emerging challenges before they become crises and to accelerate standards and best practices adoption, all in support of a more informed, more efficient book publishing industry.

Allison joined BISG after a 22-year career at Duke University Press, where she most recently served as Director, Strategic Innovation and Services, overseeing technology operations, publishing infrastructure, supply chain strategy, and publishing services. Her experiences at the press included production management, digital publishing strategy, standards adoption, accessibility compliance, and inventory and distribution process engineering. 

Allison has served on the AUPresses board, on AUPresses program and EDP committees, and on SSP committees. She is a frequent contributor to panels and webinars on topics ranging from enterprise software strategy to the nuts and bolts of European Accessibility Act compliance. 

Allison holds an MA from UNC Chapel Hill in English and a BA from the University of Alabama. She began her publishing career at the age of 6, when she self-published a crayon-illustrated “book” and slipped it onto the grocery store’s book section shelves. Allison is based in Durham, North Carolina, where she enjoys weekly trips to the farmer’s market, the vibrant restaurant scene, and the easy access to both beach and mountain getaways. 

About This Session

This webinar will be offered free of charge. While the conversation will be recorded and shared with registrants afterward, we encourage you to attend live to take part in the Q&A. If you have specific questions you'd like us to cover, you may send them in advance to info@bisg.org or add them to Zoom's Q&A feature during the session.