History
The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) began at the annual conference of the Book Manufacturers Institute in November 1975. Here, a few publishers and manufacturers met informally with representatives of several trade associations to discuss the urgent need to improve the industry's research capability. Once begun, this small group invited others to join in sponsoring a seminal study of book industry information needs on which a future program could be based. BISG was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in February 1976 and its Report on Book Industry Information Needs was completed and published in April 1976. The report confirmed the feasibility of a program of major research studies by and about the industry.
As an organization BISG is concerned with the publishing industry as a whole and its membership consists of companies from all sectors of the industry. Trade and professional associations such as the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Association, the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association have all been long standing active members of BISG.
Over the years BISG has published many research reports in response to the needs of its members. Among these are studies of paper availability, book distribution, elementary/high school adoptions, printing capacity cycles, book sales through non-traditional book markets, consumer book buying habits and an informational guide to the top 50 relevant corporate and community sponsored education programs. In conjunction with other organizations, BISG has produced reports on African-American book buyers, small and independent book publishers, and the state of used book sales in the U.S.
Through BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications), BISG has been involved with technological advances such as bar codes and electronic business communications formats. It developed the BISAC Subject Headings, which are a mainstay in the industry and required for participation in many databases. BISAC Subject Headings are also making inroads into library classification. [1]
Brian O'Leary began his tenure as Executive Director of BISG on October 3, 2016. [2]
In 2020, the International Green Book Supply Chain Alliance was formed as a partnership between BISG in the U.S., BookNet Canada, and Book Industry Communication (BIS) in the United Kingdom. [3] These three associations for the book publishing supply chain have formed the consortium in order to address the impact of the industry on the environment.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The WCO works on customs-related matters including the development of international conventions, instruments, and tools on topics such as commodity classification, valuation, rules of origin, collection of customs revenue, supply chain security, international trade facilitation, customs enforcement activities, combating counterfeiting in support of intellectual property rights (IPR), illegal drug enforcement, combating counterfeiting of medicinal drugs, illegal weapons trading, integrity promotion, and delivering sustainable capacity building to assist with customs reforms and modernization. The WCO maintains the international Harmonized System (HS) goods nomenclature, and administers the technical aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin.
In the United States, a group purchasing organization (GPO) is an entity that is created to leverage the purchasing power of a group of businesses to obtain discounts from vendors based on the collective buying power of the GPO members.
SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat panel displays, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), printed and flexible electronics, and related micro and nano-technologies.
The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation is an American/Canadian based Standards Developer Organization (SDO). The Joint Committee, created in 1975, represents a coalition of major professional associations formed in 1975 to develop evaluation standards and improve the quality of standardized evaluation. The Committee has thus far published three sets of standards for evaluations. The Personnel Evaluation Standards was published in 1988 and updated in 2008, The Program Evaluation Standards was published in 1994, and The Student Evaluation Standards was published in 2003.
R. R. Bowker LLC is an American limited liability company domiciled under Delaware Limited Liability Company Law and based in Chatham, New Jersey. Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on published works to the book trade, including publishers, booksellers, libraries, and individuals; its roots in the industry trace back to 1868. Bowker is the exclusive U.S. agent for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). Bowker is the publisher of Books in Print and other compilations of information about books and periodical titles. It provides supply chain services and analytical tools to the book publishing industry. Bowker is headquartered in Chatham, New Jersey, with additional operational offices in England and Australia. It is now owned by Cambridge Information Group.
The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a history of conflict, where various armies, rebel groups, and outside actors have profited from mining while contributing to violence and exploitation during wars in the region. The four main end products of mining in the eastern DRC are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold, which are extracted and passed through a variety of intermediaries before being sold to international markets. These four products, are essential in the manufacture of a variety of devices, including consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, and computers.
A special library is a library that provides specialized information resources on a particular subject, serves a specialized and limited clientele, and delivers specialized services to that clientele. Special libraries include corporate libraries, government libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, museum libraries, news libraries. Special libraries also exist within academic institutions. These libraries are included as special libraries because they are often funded separately from the rest of the university and they serve a targeted group of users.
Judith Appelbaum was an American editor, consultant and author. She was active in the publishing industry for 50 years and was awarded both the Publishers Marketing Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Book Industry Study Group Lifetime Service Award.
The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is a not-for-profit association founded in 1982 and based in Southfield, Michigan. It was originally created to develop recommendations and a framework for the improvement of quality in the North American automotive industry. The association's areas of interest have expanded to include product quality standards, bar code and RFID standards, materials management, EDI, returnable containers and packaging systems, and regulatory and customs issues.
The Health Industry Business Communications Council (HIBCC) is a primary standard-setting and educational organization for healthcare bar coding in the United States. It provides publications, trade shows, educational resources, conferences and training programs.
The North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) is an economic cluster developed in accordance with Michael Porter's theories and strategies regarding industrial clusters. The chemistry-using sectors in North East England, where more than 1,400 businesses are headquartered in the industry's supply chain, formed this Process Industry Cluster. In the north-east of England, the industry employs approximately 35,000 direct workers and around 190,000 indirect workers, who collectively account for more than one-third of the area's industrial economy. Companies in the cluster produce 35% of the pharmaceuticals and 50% of the petrochemicals used in the UK, making this area the only net exporter of goods from the country. The area has more than £13 billion in exports.
Product testing, also called consumer testing or comparative testing, is a process of measuring the properties or performance of products.
The National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD) is an autonomous think tank body established by the Government of India with an agenda to positively impact and promote the development of the cold-chain sector in the country. NCCD was registered under the Society Registration Act, 1860 and given sanction by the Union Cabinet of India on 9 February 2012 in a session chaired by the country's Prime Minister.
In the post-Stonewall era, the role of libraries in providing information and services to LGBTQ individuals has been a topic of discussion among library professionals. Libraries can often play an important role for LGBTQ individuals looking to find information about coming out, health, and family topics, as well as leisure reading. In the past 50 years, advocate organizations for LGBTQ content in libraries have emerged, and numerous theorists have discussed various aspects of LGBTQ library service including privacy concerns, programming, collection development considerations and librarian/staff education needs, as well as special services for juvenile and teen patrons.
Visionary fiction is a fiction genre with New Age or mind, body, spirit themes and perspectives, including consciousness expansion, spirituality, mysticism, and parapsychology. It is sometimes classed as a subtype of speculative fiction. Examples include the novels The Celestine ProphecyThe Alchemist, and Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. The Book Industry Study Group's BISAC subject heading FIC039000 is "FICTION / Visionary & Metaphysical".
Dewey-free refers to library classification schemes developed as alternatives to Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). Dewey-free systems are often based on the BISAC subject headings developed by the Book Industry Study Group, and are typically implemented in libraries with smaller collections. Instead of using numerical notation to indicate a document's shelving location, Dewey-free systems organize documents alphabetically by natural language words. Dewey-free systems have been implemented in both public and school libraries.
BookNet Canada (BNC) is an industry-led, non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. It is partially funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage and is accountable to the Government of Canada for servicing and reporting on the Canadian book industry.
The Association of Specialized, Government, and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA) is a defunct division of the American Library Association (ALA), which is the oldest and largest library association in the world. The ALA Council in June 2020 voted to dissolve ASGCLA and assign its components to other units within ALA and it ceased to exist on September 1, 2020.
The distribution of medications has special drug safety and security considerations. Some drugs require cold chain management in their distribution.
Camille Callison is an Indigenous librarian, archivist, academic, and cultural activist who is a member of the Tsesk iye (Crow) Clan of the Tahltan Nation in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. She is the University Librarian at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. Callison is an advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples and knowledge, particularly as these rights intersect with GLAM institutions. Callison is actively involved across local, national, and international professional associations related to the library and informational needs of Indigenous peoples, including in her role as co-lead of the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA).
