An Update from BISG's Executive Director

The Board of Directors of the Book Industry Study Group meets each quarter to discuss topics related to the governance and operations of BISG. At the most recent meeting, held April 24, the Board reviewed progress against the strategic plan, discussed a proposed change in member dues policies that will be voted on in July, and considered the results of an annual Board self-assessment. It also looked at a financial projection for the current fiscal year and a proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That budget was presented and approved at the annual meeting on April 25.

At each of its meetings, the Board also accepts a report from the Executive Director that summarizes BISG efforts in the prior three months. Topics typically include membership, committees, and programming, along with other reports the board may require. The April report covered the following topics:

Membership Recruitment and Retention

As of the most recent Board meeting, membership trends showed modest shifts across categories, with a slight overall increase in total paid members and notable changes in prospect and expired member counts:

• 167 paid members, up two from January 2025
• Commercial memberships decreased by two to 84
• Nonprofit memberships increased by five to 49
• Individual memberships dropped by two to 25
• Libraries increased by one member, totaling nine
• Expired members in the database total 113 organizations, up 110 from January
• We currently count 91 organizations or individuals as prospects in our database, up from 71 in January.

Since January, BISG added Perfect Bound, IdeaPress Publishing, Mott Media, Teacher Created Materials, and the University of Tennessee Press as members.

Committee Participation 2024

Because committee support is BISG's largest commitment of staff time and effort, the Board has requested periodic updates on committee participation. By committee, member participation in our work in 2024 totaled:

• Metadata: 181
• Rights: 136
• Subject Codes: 147
• Supply Chain: 131
• Workflow: 118

This totals 713 members, about 32% of the 2,228 member individuals in the database.

Principles for BISG Educational Efforts

A recommendation on principles that could be used to plan and evaluate BISG's educational efforts is one of the deliverables in the strategic plan monitor. For the board, we prepared a brief summary of the principles used to plan BISG educational efforts. The document will be considered and potentially amended at the July meeting of the board.

Multi-Year Research Plan

A recommendation on upcoming research is another deliverable in the strategic plan monitor. An overview of plans for FY2025 and FY2026 is provided in this document. The current budget is limited in its ability to fund external research, so all of the proposed plans are tied to committee and working group efforts. This plan may also be modified by the Board at a later date.

Committee and Working Group Cycles

The Board had previously received reports on the expansion of working groups within the BISG committee structure. To better manage these working groups, the meeting cycles were revised for 2025, with working group meetings scheduled in the first full week of each month, and all five committee meetings scheduled in the third full week of each month. Previously, the five committee meetings were scheduled across the second and third weeks of each month.

Not all working groups meet monthly, and some meeting slots alternate depending on the month. Members of every committee and working group have received calendar invitations for each of the 2025 meetings, and the full calendar for committees and working groups is posted on the BISG web site. A review of the planned meetings shows that we have already scheduled 111 committee and working group calls, and we anticipate offering more than 30 webinars in 2025.

The new cycles are closing their fourth month, and we are finding that the updated schedules have helped us better serve both committees and working groups. We’ve had some growing pains with closely scheduled meetings, particularly with the rights committee. We’re continuing to refine how we handle potential conflicts.

If you have questions on these updates or any other aspect of how BISG operates, please reach out to Brian O'Leary, Executive Director, at brian@bisg.org.