BISG Announces New Dues Levels and Bylaws Changes

At its July meeting, the BISG board approved several changes in membership dues. With immediate effect, individual member dues are reduced from $636 to $360 a year. Individuals who have already renewed will be invoiced at the lower rate when their current membership expires.

The board also created a new dues level for individual agents ($180 per year). Agents play an important part in rights-related conversations—as well as in working groups for topics like ISNI—and to this point BISG was unable to offer those agents a path to membership. The new dues level is now available for qualified agents.

In approving these new dues levels, the board reaffirmed existing policy governing individual memberships, which are intended for individuals working on their own. While roles can be drawn from across the supply chain, individual members are most often independent consultants.

Individual members who are currently part of larger organizations will keep their existing memberships until their next renewal date, at which point they can choose to renew at the appropriate dues level. We’ll be reaching out to all individual members in the next few weeks to explain the change.

The board also voted to increase dues for memberships by 3%, effective January 1, 2026. This is the first increase in dues since 2022 and only the second increase since 2014. Membership dues account for most of the money budgeted each year for BISG. We’re working to rebalance our reliance on membership income by increasing our focus on nondues revenue, but those shifts take time. Details on the new dues levels will be announced in September. Renewal invoices dated January 1, 2026 or later will see the impact of the new rates.

Two bylaws changes were approved by the board in July. The first, an update to section 3.02, clarifies that members are invoiced sixty days before renewal date and have up to 30 days after the renewal date to pay an open invoice. Membership for those organizations or individuals who do not pay an open invoice within that period will be canceled 30 days after renewal date.

The second change, an update to sections 5.01 and 10.01, updates language for the process used to nominate candidates for the board. A nominating committee formed by the board considers all applicants before recommending a slate to membership for a vote at the annual meeting. The language in the updated bylaws reflects what BISG has been doing since 2018. The amended bylaws took effect after the vote, and membership will be asked to ratify the changes at the next annual meeting in April 2026.

In other business, the board agreed to consider BISG’s content strategy as a primary topic for the quarterly board meetings in July, October, and January (a full-day offsite gathering in). The board asked the staff to generate information around BISG’s current content development efforts, with the goal of considering and answering four questions by January:

• What are the purposes of BISG content?

• Are there purposes that are better served (or only served) by not charging a fee for access? How do we make that distinction?

• For content which is freely provided to members, is the purpose to increase the value of membership or to encourage nonmembers to join?

• Do we have the right mix of formats and delivery vehicles to meet our revenue and membership goals?

The role of content plays a critical part in what membership looks like going forward. Since 2017, the organization has hosted over 500 committee meetings and 250 webinars. Minutes are prepared for all committee meetings, and most webinars are recorded and shared with attendees.

Taken together, these and other content offerings provide a unique, comprehensive view of current and anticipated supply-chain issues affecting the book industry. Finding the right way to surface the value of this information, while also serving the industry and recognizing the commitment members have made to BISG, will be led and informed by the board’s conversations.

For more information on these changes and initiatives, please reach out to me at brian@bisg.org. Your perspective on any aspect of BISG is welcome and appreciated.