BIC Subject Codes

A key part of the ONIX project is to ensure that BIC, the international subject classification standard, meets the requirements of the Australian industry.

TitlePage currently uses the BIC (Book Industry Communication) system to classify titles on TitlePage. BIC have released a new set of codes (BIC Version 2) for categorising titles. BIC2 replaces the interim version 1.1 which was released in August 2002, and which was limited to minor additions and relocations.

BIC2 constitutes the result of a full and thorough review of the BIC scheme, carried out in accordance with clearly defined aims and principles, which has produced some significant changes and advances.

Main Aims of BIC2

The stated aims behind BIC2 can be summarised as follows:

Removal of UK bias
The BIC scheme was originally conceived as a subject classification system for the UK book trade, which led to certain subjects being given an inflated degree of detail or prominence (eg English Law) or being taken out of objectively correct hierarchical sequence (eg British history).

BIC2 represents a re-positioning of the new scheme as an international standard for the English language book trade.

Overhaul of key subject sections to meet users' needs
Certain subject areas within the BIC scheme have come in for particular criticism, as being outmoded or generally unsuitable for the users' needs. Most prominent among these were Law, History, Computing, Children's, Young Adult & Educational, and the combined Language/Literature/Biography section.

Convergence with BISAC
The equivalent scheme in the North American book trade is the BISAC Subject Headings. The long term aim is the unification of these two schemes into a single classification system for the English Language book market. In this review, the BISAC scheme was checked and considered for every section, and, where suitable for BID users' needs, any changes that brought the schemes closer together were adopted.

In March 2007 the TitlePage database was upgraded to accept these new codes and we strongly encourage publishers to convert your codes as soon as possible and start using Version 2 codes.

You can veiw the full list of BIC2 codes below or find further information at www.bic.org.uk. Please feel free to contact the APA at titlepage@publishers.asn.au for further information.

Codes A-K
Codes L-Z
Codes Numerical