22 December 2020
Maintained by BISG since 1995, Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) codes have become a core element of book product metadata, enabling systems across the supply chain to recognize and merchandise print and digital books in catalogs and websites, and library and retail systems. BISAC codes are reviewed and updated annually by members of BISG’s Subject Codes committee, led by Connie Harbison of Baker & Taylor, and based on suggestions from the industry submitted via the BISG.org website.
Though managed, debated, and codified by the BISG Subject Codes Committee, the process for preparing the 2020 update includes contributions from all segments of the book publishing supply chain. The Subject Codes Committee reviewed dozens of suggestions for edits, additions, and codes to be retired.
This year’s update added 155 codes and modified 123 literals, with two inactivations across more than half of the 54 top-level sections. A total of 23 sections had at least one addition to the code list..
Reviewing the committee’s work, Connie Harbison said, “The 2020 edition, as each of the code lists that preceded it, has been a collaborative effort, and each has been an exercise in documenting the evolution of the industry, from a technical perspective and also in terms of consumer demand for books.”
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