Towards international book trade EDI standards

The need for EDI standards was highlighted at the ‘Babel’ conference as long ago as 1986. BIC was set up in 1991 to be responsible for their development and promotion. On the European front, it also provides the secretariat for EDItEUR, a pan‐European book sector EDI group which coordinates work in Europe on the UN global EDI standard, EDI FACT. The article ends with an appraisal of the benefits of EDI for all links in the chain.