BISAC Basics

From AAUP-Wiki

BISAC stands for Book Industry Standards and Communication, a set of standards developed by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). See their publication, Product Metadata Best Practices (http://www.bisg.org/docs/Best_Practices_Document.pdf).

The BISAC standards overriding purpose is to detail what metadata should export and supply to the various electronic dissemination channels (Amazon.com, your distributor, etc.) and how you should supply that metadata, no matter what form of transmission (ONIX or otherwise) you use.

The BISAC Core Metadata Elements

1. ISBN-10/ISBN-13/EAN.UCC-13 α

2. Title α

3. Contributor(s) β

4. Publisher/Imprint/Brand Name α

5. Price β

6. Publisher’s Proprietary Discount Code α

7. Publisher Status Code α

8. Product Availability Code α

9. Product Form (Format/Binding/Packaging) α

10. Publication Date α

11. Strict On Sale Date γ

12. BISAC Subject α

13. Language of Product Content γ

14. Series γ

15. Edition Number γ

16. Edition Type/Description γ

17. Volume Number γ

18. ONIX Audience Code α

19. Age Range of Target Audience γ

20. Case Pack/Carton Quantity α

21. Replaces/Replaced By γ

22. Territorial Rights α

23. Bar Code Indicator β

24. Weight and Dimensions α

25. Return Code α

26. Page Count, Running Time, and Extent γ

27. Distributor/Vendor of Record γ

28. Number of Pieces γ

29. Textual Description of Product α

30. Illustration Details γ

31. Digital Image of Product α

α. This data point must be populated in every product record.

β. An indication must be given if there is no applicable data.

γ. This data is required on all products where such data is applicable.