MAIN NEWS HEADLINES

March 15-31, 2005 Edition

BISG to Cooperate

With UK Book Industry

to Improve Trade

New York, NY/03/06/05—In an effort to improve collaboration, communication and trading efficiencies between members of both organizations, the Executive Directors of the United States’ Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and the United Kingdom’s Book Industry Communication (BIC) signed a Cooperation Agreement Wednesday in New York City. Detailing their commitment to undertake a partnership in support of standards, research and best practice operations within the US and UK book industries, the Cooperation Agreement will build on the established interests of both organizations to combine efforts and further internationally accepted book industry standards.

Many of the challenges facing the book industry are common to both countries and successful cooperation and communication between the two is a fundamental concern of each, states the agreement.

“While there has been successful informal collaboration between BISG and BIC in the past, we definitely recognized the value and benefit of formalizing and defining this collaboration and exploring opportunities for improvement,” said Jeff Abraham, BISG Executive Director. “This Cooperation Agreement is the first step in doing so.”

Another critical driver for creating the Cooperation Agreement according to Brian Green, BIC Executive Director, was the recognized desire of members from both organizations to continue the joint development of interoperable standards and systems for the US and UK book industries. “We need to build on BISG and BIC’s successful collaboration on the development of ONIX and other enabling standards,” said Mr. Green. “This agreement encapsulates our commitment to shared development of global standards.”

As the book industry becomes increasingly global, both Executive Directors say they see a definite need for international organizations such as BISG and BIC to share information and resources whenever and wherever possible. This is the best way, according to Mr. Abraham, to reduce costs, avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, and provide additional benefit for members of both organizations.

The Executive Directors of BISG and BIC will meet regularly in order to focus and review the status of their joint initiatives and projects.