Introduction

BIC periodically creates and hosts workshops exclusively for its members. Listed below you’ll find summary information about previous workshops (held both online and in person) that BIC has held over the years to give you an idea of the types of supply chain topics we cover.
How do we decide which topics to cover? We listen to our members’ needs and suggestions, and any of our 5 strategic committees may request areas to be covered. Frequently, the findings of a BIC workshop will subsequently lead to a fully scoped project as the need for further clarification or creation of industry best practices or standards becomes apparent.

If you’re a BIC member and have a suggestion for a workshop please get in touch.


BIC’s Doing Business Across Borders

29th September 2022

Introduction

In September 2022 BIC held a workshop to explore the challenges that our industry faces when doing business across international borders, and the associated legal requirements governing the import and export of physical book and book related products.  This was a precursor to further work to map process flows as well as agree and document best practice during 2023 and 2024.

Contact us to receive a copy of the BIC Doing Business across Borders report (BIC members only).


BIC’s Open Access in the Book Industry Workshop

24th and 25th October 2022

Introduction

With the increasing prevalence of OA as a publishing model, BIC hosted a two-part online workshop to help members develop their understanding of the possibilities and challenges of OA.

Part One
In part one, we learnt about different types of OA business model, how to go about narrowing down that list to find a model that suits your business, and the considerations that go into implementing them. It included a discussion on mixed-model books, touching both hybrid books incorporating a mix of copyright and open content, and freemium books where versions are available both openly and commercially

Part Two
In part two the focus switched to identifying the policies and mandates which may apply to your books, how to determine which Creative Commons license suits a book or chapter, handling third-party licensing questions, managing multi-format issues, and other nitty-gritty questions.

Contact us to receive a copy of the BIC Open Access in the book industry report (BIC members only).


BIC’s Two Digital Audio Workshops (online)

26th and 27th April 2021

Exploring the common challenges posed by the digital audio supply chain with regards to 1) Content and 2) Metadata

1) Creation and delivery of content
2) Creation and delivery of metadata (27th April 2021, 2.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. BST)

Introduction

Given the enduring boom in popularity of the digital audiobook, BIC began making steps towards mapping the audiobook supply chain. With a map in place, steps can later be made towards agreeing and documenting Best Practice Guidelines to the benefit of the industry. To this end, BIC invited representatives from its member organisations to attend its first series of audiobook online workshop on 26th and 27th April 2021. These 2 workshops were a first step in exploring various aspects of the audiobook supply chain with the aim of creating an audiobook supply chain map.

What happened after the workshops?

After the workshops, BIC utilised the information gathered to draft a top level, early version of the audiobook supply chain and distributed a workshop summary of findings. BIC has now begun working with its member organisations to agree and document Best Practice Guidelines for the audiobook supply chain.


Communicating Price Details in ONIX Workshop (in person, London)

Thursday 5th September 2019, 1.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m. (BST)

Prices are one of the key data types in ONIX – and as a commercial standard that aims to enable automation of e-commerce, getting prices right and ensuring they are interpreted correctly by recipients is critical. And yet as books are increasingly sold into more complex markets, or with more complex pricing models, publishers and distributors are not always clear on what can be transmitted, what are the best practices, or how their existing price information is interpreted.

This BIC workshop discussed best practice for communicating pricing details in ONIX records. It outlined the rationale for getting your metadata right, the specification to follow and how to carry out the work correctly. The workshop also included an open discussion about the issues, errors and/or omissions experienced by the delegates. The workshop considered both simple, ‘traditional’ print pricing and more complex eBook models and advanced use cases, e.g., price conditions and price constraints, tax details, discounts etc. using the latest new features of ONIX 3.0.3.

Further reading

Sections on the composite in:
ONIX 2.1 Specification
BIC / Nielsen BookData Guidelines for ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0 Specification
ONIX 3.0 Implementation and Best Practice Guide


BIC Physical Supply Chain Map Workshop (in person, London)

Wednesday 18th July 2018, 2.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. (BST)

This BIC workshop offered an opportunity for BIC members with a strong interest in a healthy physical supply chain to contribute to charting a supply chain map for books. The last time the supply chain was mapped in this way, the work was undertaken in 1997/8 by KPMG and it led to the Industry Returns Initiative and several other projects which significantly improved the book supply chain. Now, BIC wants to take a fresh look at the physical supply chain, charting the organisations, products, workflows and standards to identify current issues and future opportunities, and to enable BIC to continue its work to improve the book supply chain for the benefit of all.

Scope of the BIC Physical Supply Chain Map Workshop

The intention was not to deliver the whole project in this one workshop but rather do preparatory work to set the project in motion and identify the key areas which need to be addressed which included:

  • Identifying entities, e.g., types of supply chain organisations with examples
  • Identifying data flows and physical movements between entities
  • Identifying a timeline connecting workflows between entities
  • Charting a high-level map showing entities and data flows/physical movements
  • Identifying standards in use in the book industry
  • Identifying standards in use outside the book industry or tangential, e.g. used by one type of entity
  • Documenting issues related to workflows, standards, etc.
  • Identifying a methodology for research, discussion and presentation of deliverables

The target outcomes for this workshop included: Timeline, Scope Chart, Standards, Main Flows / Movements, and Methodology for further work.


Communicating Price Details in ONIX Workshop (in person, London)

Wednesday 26th July 2017 and Thursday 23rd November 2017, 2.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. (GMT)

Prices are one of the key data types in ONIX – and as a commercial standard that aims to enable automation of e-commerce, getting prices right and ensuring they are interpreted correctly by recipients is critical. And yet as books are increasingly sold into more complex markets, or with more complex pricing models, publishers and distributors are not always clear on what can be transmitted, what are the best practices, or how their existing price information is interpreted. 

This BIC Workshop explored the broad range of types of price and business model, and discuss best practice for communicating these pricing details in ONIX records. It outlined the rationale for getting this metadata right, the specification to follow and discuss what variations the standards may need to include in the future. The Workshop also included an open discussion about the issues, errors and/or omissions experienced by the delegates with current metadata. The Workshop considered both simple, ‘traditional’ print pricing and more complex eBook models and advanced use cases, e.g. price conditions and price constraints, tax details, discounts etc. using the latest new features of ONIX 3.0.3.

Further reading

Sections on the composite in:
ONIX 2.1 Specification
BIC / Nielsen BookData Guidelines for ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0 Specification
ONIX 3.0 Implementation and Best Practice Guide


Best Practice for Embedding HTML Markup in ONIX Workshop

Thursday 20th April 2017, 2.00 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. (BST)

HTML is used in ONIX records to provide formatting in various ONIX data elements, i.e., multiple paragraphs, bold or italic text, bullet points, etc. An array of issues, errors and/or omissions can occur when embedding HTML in this way. These errors affect both data providers and data recipients detrimentally and come about for a variety of reasons including the differing delivery methods of HTML by data providers (some of which are standardised whilst others are not). The huge variety of errors consequently result in many data recipients having little option but to ignore or else strip out any and all markup in the ONIX files they receive; and many do strip out the HTML markup from the records they receive even if the data provider is one of the few that has embedded the HTML correctly. 

This BIC workshop described best practice for embedding HTML in ONIX records. It outlined the rationale for getting your metadata right, the specification to follow and how to carry out the work correctly. The workshop also included an open discussion about the issues, errors and/or omissions experienced by its delegates.

Further reading

http://www.editeur.org/files/ONIX%203/APPNOTE%20HTML%20markup%20in%20ONIX.pdf