H.W. Wilson Partners with Bowker: Wilson's Standard Catalog Data Powers the New Bowker's Book Analysis System

New York, New York, June 15, 2005
H.W. Wilson today announced that it has signed an agreement with Bowker to power the new Bowker's Book Analysis System for school and public libraries with the content from H.W. Wilson's Standard Catalogs. The Wilson Standard Catalogs include Children's Catalog, Public Library Catalog, Senior High School Library Catalog, Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, and Fiction Catalog.

The deal brings together two of the most highly regarded information providers in the library business. Both H.W. Wilson and Bowker have marketed bibliographic references to libraries for more than a century.

Bowker's Book Analysis System provides automated holdings gap analyses, eliminating the tedious manual comparisons involved in most collection development. Subscribers to both the Bowker's Book Analysis System and H.W. Wilson's electronic Standard Catalogs will be able to view a comparison of core titles with their library's collection, identifying gaps in their resources and books they'd like to purchase. The Wilson Standard Catalogs also provide comprehensive bibliographic details on each title, plus links to review excerpts and full text reviews.

"Bowker is extremely pleased to be partnering with H.W. Wilson to bring librarians a long-awaited collection development tool which automates a laborious manual comparison process," said Angela D'Agostino, vice president of business development for New Providence, N.J.-based Bowker. "Now our customers can assess their collection based on the core selections of Wilson's highly esteemed advisors and subject specialists, such as Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust."

"Librarians have turned to Wilson Standard Catalogs for help with collection development for generations. We're happy to see the process now made even more efficient and streamlined through Bowker's Book Analysis System," said Deborah Loeding, vice president of sales and marketing for H.W. Wilson.

In publication since 1909, The Wilson Standard Catalogs are all now searchable on WilsonWeb, and grow continuously with new titles. Each is a guide to thousands of books, plus review sources and other professional resources for librarians and school media specialists—powerful aids to collection development and maintenance, selection and purchasing, readers' advisory, and general reference. Entries link to review excerpts and full text reviews from Wilson's Book Review Digest Plus database.

Books are chosen for the Wilson Standard Catalogs by distinguished librarians representing library systems across the U.S. For more on the Wilson Standard Catalogs, visit www.hwwilson.com, or stop by H.W. Wilson Booth 1201 at the ALA Annual Conference, June 25-28.

Bowker's Book Analysis System will be unveiled to library professionals at the upcoming American Library Association (ALA) 2005 Annual Conference at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. For more information or to view a demonstration of the new system, visit Booth 2008 at ALA.

About Bowker
www.bowker.com
Founded in 1872, Bowker is North America's leading provider of bibliographic information, and is also the official agency for assigning ISBNs in the United States. Summary statistics for U.S. Book Production is available on BookWire, Bowker's portal to the book trade, at www.BookWire.com. The company's flagship product, Books In Print(R), is available on the Internet at www.BooksInPrint.com, on CD-ROM and in hardbound print format. For more information, please visit www.Bowker.com or call 1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372).