R.R. Bowker and Baker & Taylor have reached an agreement for B&T to provide its inventory information on Bowker's Books in Print CD-ROM products. The arrangement replaces a similar service that Ingram had provided for Bowker. The change will be effective with the May release of the Books in Print CD-ROM.
When Books in Print users select B&T for inventory data, they receive information about available stock with quantities on hand and on order at B&T's warehouses in New Jersey, Georgia, Illinois and Nevada.
Users of the Books in Print CD-ROM who have a 32-bit Internet connection will continue to have instant access to updated inventory levels from 25 suppliers across North America and will notice little difference in the new release of the product. With the addition of B&T inventory information, however, they will be able to find most of the titles that are carried at that moment by U.S. wholesalers.
BIP CD-ROM users without an active 16-bit Internet connection will find the structure of the new B&T format almost the same as Ingram's. The title code index, record display, title data, publisher price and vendor availability information remain identical for users. B&T plans to soon add retail prices and discount codes as well as "y/n indicators" for returnable items.
"This new alliance with B&T allows us to provide our customers with a user-friendly inventory resource they can rely on to successfully run their businesses," said Bowker president Michael Cairns in a prepared statement.
BIP lists more than 4.5 million forthcoming, in-print and out-of-print book titles as well as audio and video titles. BIP is available on the Internet at www.booksinprint.com, on CD-ROM and in hardbound print format.
Earlier this year, Bowker announced that Barnes & Noble has designated BIP as its source for all bibliographic data for North American publishers.
