Best Practices for Best Practices: The Story Behind the BISG Best Practices for Identifying Digital Product

On December 7, 2011, the Book Industry Study Group released BISG Policy Statement POL-1101, Best Practices for Identifying Digital Products, capping an 18-month project by a working group of the BISG Identification Committee. This article chronicles how a diverse group of industry professionals, from every sector of the supply chain, came together to deal with an issue that had polarized the industry since 2005. Based on a presentation made by the author at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Book Industry Study Group, this article delves further into the history and the methodology behind the drafting of the Policy Statement.