The Book Industry Standards and Communications (BISAC) committee, the Book Industry Study Group's main standard-setting forum, has released revised specifications for the placement of the bar code inside the front cover of strippable mass-market paperbacks-known as the “cover 2” bar code-that will improve the read rates of automated sortation equipment.

Automated sorters used by wholesalers, distributors and retailers depend on the cover 2 bar code to count stripped covers for return and to group them by vendor. Accurate reading is an important efficiency issue in this process, BISAC said in a statement, as it is widely understood that some companies deal with bar codes that do not read properly by imposing penalties.

The chosen changes in placement were made to prevent problems in the processing of and returning of books.