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Books industry to use EAN-13 barcodes The Book Industry Study Group, Inc. (BISG) has announced a new Policy Statement advocating the elimination of dual identifiers on physical books and related products.
The Statement, Elimination of Dual Identifiers on Books and Related Products (BISG Policy Statement POL-0701), addresses the problem of dual bar codes on products intended for retail sale by booksellers and general retailers in the United States. Specifically, it addresses which identifier, ISBN (bar coded with a Bookland EAN) or U.P.C. (bar coded with a UPC-12), is recommended for a given product or class of product. Recommendations as to which identifier is appropriate for which products are included in the Statement. For example, the Statement recommends ISBN for maps and U.P.C. for calendars.
Several months of review, feedback and debate involving the full BISG membership preceded the endorsement of the Policy Statement by the BISG Board of Directors during their March 2007 meeting.
Some of the organizations which have indicated support of the Statement include GS1 U.S., the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the American Booksellers Association (ABA), the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Association for Christian Retail (CBA), and Map Link. "Assigning more than one identifier to a book is a practice that provokes higher costs and inefficiencies in so many parts of the book supply chain," said Michael Healy, BISG Executive Director. "The release of this Statement is a small but important step toward greater efficiency in our industry." BISG recommends the implementation of the Policy Statement as soon as practical, with a target date for new publications or product introductions of no later than March 31, 2008. The complete Statement is available online at http://www.bisg.org/documents/policies.html. |
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