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Supply Chain Committee

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About the Supply Chain Committee

Our work improves the communication of product data and specifications across the supply chain. This includes understanding trends that help publishers, retailers, and manufacturers better plan products and inventory availability, as well as establishing standards to help publishers and retailers coordinate and comply with best practices.

                     
Committee Chair:

Ken Brooks, Amplify Education

Join this committee        Committee charter       Supply Chain Resources
             

Committee Objectives

  • Increase awareness about changes and challenges in the book industry supply-chain changes through research, communications, and other actions
  • Explore the impact of developing longer-term partnerships on the efficiency and effectiveness of the book industry supply chain
  • Promote the value of prevailing standards and best practices
  • Update or implement standards and best practices that impact multiple parts of the supply chain

What We Do

The Supply Chain Committee works to investigate issues, formulate new approaches, or enhance existing approaches to identify supply-chain challenges in order to reduce overall cost and increase transparency in reporting.

Headshot of Cathy Felgar, Publishing Operations Director, Princeton University Press“The Supply Chain Committee includes members from across the industry and the topics we discuss are always relevant to my work. We've addressed sustainability, book paper shortages, printer capacity strain, digital printing, forecasting, transportation and logistics, and returns – all within the past year! I feel free to ask questions and speak my mind at meetings and I benefit greatly from the perspectives of peers from other publishers and suppliers.”
Cathy Felgar, Publishing Operations Director
Princeton University Press

When We Meet

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The Supply Chain Committee meets monthly via Zoom. Meetings are held 2 PM - 3 PM ET. Planned meetings for 2026 can be seen here.

What We Produce

We created and maintain a “State of the Supply Chain” index, as well as administer periodic BISG surveys of the industry.

Click here to browse a complete list of Supply Chain Committee work.


Committee Working Groups

Some topics addressed by the Supply Chain Committee are handled in smaller working groups. Current efforts are described here.

  • Sustainability Working Group, which addresses efforts to manage the impact of climate change. It meets in even-numbered months on the first Wednesday from 11 A.M. to 12 P.M. Planned meetings can be seen here.

  • Book Publishing Next oversees BISG's efforts to transform supply chain communications. It meets in odd-numbered months on the first Wednesday from 11 A.M. to 12 P.M. Planned meetings can be seen here. 

Committee FAQ

No; industry sales data is available through NPD Bookscan (subscription required) and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), which releases monthly updates of its member company sales. The AAP also produces an annual estimate of the size of the U.S. book publishing market. That report, which is typically released mid-year for the period ending the prior December 31, can be purchased from AAP.

BISG does not sell barcodes for books. A number of companies based in the U.S. market can provide art, film, or a digital file of a barcode that contains an ISBN and in many cases a price extension for the book. These companies are listed in our section on Barcodes and Labels, but BISG does not endorse or represent any of these providers.

No, this is no longer required. Publishers are encouraged to discuss their plans to omit the price extension with their trading partners. A survey of retailers and publishers suggests that not all retailers require the price extension, but some larger retailers do still look for the price extension. BISG's statement on the price extension can be found here.

Explore Our Committees

Metadata Committee       Rights Committee      Subject Codes Committee      Workflow Committee

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