Spring Arbor Converting to new
BISAC Bible category codes

Oct. 25, 2007--Ingram Book Group and Spring Arbor Distributors plan to complete the conversion from Christian Product Category (CPC) codes for Bibles to new Bible BISAC codes by Nov. 2, 2007, according to Wendell Lotz, Ingram’s product database development VP. The new codes are included in the recently approved BISAC Subject Codes List, 2007 Edition.

Bible publishers should begin coding Bible products with the BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) standard by Jan. 1, 2008. The transition to BISAC codes for Christian books began last year.

BISAC is the Book Industry Study Group’s standards committee. The coding transition is part of a Christian Retail Solutions Committee (CRSC) initiative to align category coding for Christian books and Bibles to a single category-coding standard used by the North American publishing industry. The move simplifies coding management and administration for Christian publishers who otherwise would have to track and present dual codes if selling in multiple retail channels.

Because of the complexity of Bible coding, the BISAC Subject Codes committee created a separate BIB (Bible) category classification, removing Bibles from BISAC’s Religion category.

The Ingram/Spring Arbor conversion starts with the addition of the separate Bible categories and the movement of all Bible titles formerly in BISAC’s Religion (REL) section to the new Bible classification. Once the titles are moved, Ingram will delete relevant REL categories formerly used to categorize Bibles.

Lotz, a proponent of the BISAC transition, said Ingram and Spring Arbor could not quantify how much time and money would be saved at the wholesaler/distributor by moving to a single coding system, but he said the company believes elimination of the CPC categories for books and Bibles has reduced the amount of intellectual time and effort the company spends on each Religion title.

“We are sure we are more productive in processing those titles for our database,” Lotz said.

Lotz and his team have tracked multiple coding systems and have been adding comparable BISAC codes to Christian titles for more than 10 years. For the past year, the company has been applying various BISAC codes endorsed by the CRSC.

Lotz said Ingram and Spring Arbor decided not to convert thousands of backlist titles to the new BISAC coding, believing the effort wouldn’t be beneficial. However, if the BISAC Subject Codes Committee deletes or inactivates old BISAC classifications and terms, Ingram will delete them, too, and move backlist titles to new BISAC classifications.

For more information, see the Product Coding Committee updates and CPC/BISAC Transitions.

Return to home page

.