Bowker Introduces PubTrack(TM) Higher Education, New Sales Analysis Resource for Academic Book Publishers


NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ--(Marketwire - August 14, 2007) - Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information management, today announced the introduction of PubTrack Higher Education, a Web-based business intelligence tool for higher education publishing professionals.

PubTrack Higher Education is the first sales analysis resource for the higher education market that provides timely and accurate data regarding textbook sales, tracks books-in-use on college campuses nationwide, and analyzes market share data in ways that matter to publishers.

The new product is the next generation of MIR (Monument Information Resource), the leading provider of college publishing intelligence for academic publishers, which was acquired by Bowker in 2004.

"PubTrack Higher Education provides publishers with crucial business intelligence by gathering actual Point-of-Sale and Book-in-Use data about which titles are adopted and purchased at colleges and universities across North America," said Kelly Gallagher, general manager of the business intelligence business unit for Bowker. "We collect this data for over 60% of the full-time student enrollment, in two- and four-year colleges enabling higher education publishers to have transparency into purchasing and adoption trends on approximately 11 million students. This information is powerful because it allows publishers to make more calculated business decisions based on totally objective market information."

According to Gallagher, PubTrack Higher Education collects data about textbooks used within specific courses from more than 1,800 U.S. college bookstores. The aggregated data is then organized and made available to subscribers through a variety of flexible search options and with a number of benchmark reports, such as summaries by publisher, discipline, course and books-in-use.

"PubTrack Higher Education is a powerful next generation resource for editors, marketing managers, sales professionals and management teams at higher education publishing companies," said Gallagher. "This new platform provides accurate sales data, adoption trends and comprehensive market intelligence that can't otherwise be obtained from one source."

About Bowker

Bowker is the world's leading source for bibliographic information. The company provides searching, analytical, promotional, and ordering services to publishers, booksellers, libraries, and patrons through national and international brands, including: Books In Print®, Global Books In Print®, Syndetic Solutions™, Pubnet®, PubEasy®, PubTrack™ and more. In the U.S., Australia and Puerto Rico, Bowker is also the exclusive ISBN and SAN Agency and a DOI registration agency for the publishing industry. Bowker is headquartered in New Providence, New Jersey, with operations in East Grinstead, England, and Port Melbourne, Australia. For more company details, please visit www.Bowker.com.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Daryn Teague Teague Communications 661.297.5292