Book Data 1990: a progress report
| Published date | 01 January 1990 |
| Pages | 10-19 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040429 |
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Author | David Martin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
10 -
VINE
78
Book Data 1990: a progress report
by
David Martin
Book Data
T
his year Book Data reaches its third birth-
day. The past twelve months have seen
steady growth in publisher support and in con-
solidating our position as a supplier of informa-
tion services to the home and export book trade.
The year ahead will see a series of new product
launches in a variety of media.
The list of participating publishers - from AA
to Zwan-Pluto - now includes some 900 main
imprints accounting for more than 25,000 titles
a year, and there is every sign that publisher
subscriptions will continue to grow at least as
fast as they have over the past twelve months.
This process is increasingly influenced by the
fact that several important bookselling groups
at home and abroad have decided to build then-
own internal and/or marketing information sys-
tems on the use of Book Data records, and are
adding their weight to the persuasion which can
be brought to bear on publishers who have not
yet joined.
BOOKFAST
The most important development in Book Data
services last year was the launch in October
1989 of BOOKFAST, a PC-based system
which combines Book Data records with the
HEADFAST retrieval system from Head Soft-
ware International.
BOOKFAST uses floppy disks as
a
distribution
medium for monthly files of recent and forth-
coming titles, with short descriptions and con-
tents lists. The system supports enquiry by a
wide variety of search keys, including the full
text of descriptions and contents lists; sorting
and printing in formats ranging from a single-
line order summary to a full information sheet;
downloading to hard or floppy disk; and trans-
fer of selected records to word processing or
desktop publishing systems.
BOOKFAST requires an IBM-compatible PC
with available hard disk capacity between 6 and
30 Mbytes, depending on the option chosen.
The options currently available are for
a
month-
ly database covering new titles to be published
in three months' time (BOOKFAST
1),
or for a
monthly 'rolling file' which goes three months
back and up to four months forward
(BOOKFAST
7).
Either service is available in
sections covering books for the general adult
reader, academic and professional books, and
books for children and schools.
BOOKFAST 1, because of its shorter timespan
and smaller size, carries a richer record, de-
signed to enable users to download into their
own databases in a format which suits them. It
therefore carries variant forms of some of the
key data elements. BOOKFAST 7 can also
support downloading, but with
a
more restricted
choice of data content.
Booksellers in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Den-
mark, Finland and Germany are already using
BOOKFAST to select books for stock, to pro-
duce catalogues and mailshots, and to build
inhouse databases. Publishers are starting to
use BOOKFAST files of their own titles to
produce subject catalogues and to respond to
individual customer requests.
The most important elements in BOOKFAST's
acceptance to date are the ease of use and high
performance of the HEADFAST software, and
the richness of content of Book Data records.
For much of the book
trade,
BOOKFAST is the
most convenient way of using Book Data rec-
ords to support active selling of new titles - and
there is real evidence that participating publish-
ers
are
winning increased sales in those markets
where Book Data is strong.
Book Data and Libraries
So what does this mean for the library world?
It can only be good for the longer term that
a secure foundation has been built for an oper-
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