Bowker and Ingram Form Agreement
on Book in Hand and Syndetic Solutions

New Providence, N.J. – May 25, 2005 – R. R. Bowker LLC announced today that it has joined forces with Ingram Book Group to provide the most robust and accurate bibliographic content in the book industry. Bowker is a leading provider of bibliographic information and publishes the comprehensive book database, Books In Print. Ingram is a leading wholesale distributor, with the largest selection of in-stock book product available anywhere in the world.

“We are excited to enter into an agreement that leverages the strength of our respective organizations for the benefit of our customers,” said Michael Cairns, President of Bowker. “As a result, the industry will have more accurate and descriptive content upon which to base its book buying and selling decisions.”

Bowker’s data products, including Books In Print, booksinprint.com, and globalbooksinprint.com, will now include high-quality data gathered by Ingram’s newly enhanced “Book in Hand” processing system. With “Book in Hand” processing, Ingram and Bowker will capture and verify descriptive title information directly from the physical book product. Though publishers regularly provide bibliographic information prior to a book’s publication, important details such as the book’s final cover, publication date, and page count are sometimes inaccurate, or left out, because books evolve during their development. “With ‘Book in Hand’ processing, Ingram and Bowker are able to get superior, up-to-date descriptive content by going straight to the source -- the finished book itself,” said Kent Freeman, Ingram’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. “By joining forces, Ingram and Bowker will be able to verify and maintain accurate data on almost all of the roughly 190,000 new titles published annually, according to Bowker’s Books In Print database.”

As part of the agreement, Bowker and Ingram will extend their relationship on the provision of descriptive content through Syndetic Solutions, which was acquired by Bowker in September 2004. Syndetic Solutions provides descriptive content to online catalogs of public and academic libraries. Ingram has long provided bibliographic information to Syndetic Solutions, and worked with Bowker during the development of the Books In Print CD-ROM for retail bookstores. The new agreement will provide Bowker with access to all cover images and descriptions that Ingram captures, though both companies will continue to sell and market their products separately.

“We have always thought that it makes sense to work with Bowker on the creation and dissemination of bibliographic data,” said Jim Chandler, President & CEO of Ingram Book Group. “This new agreement extends our relationship on Syndetic Solutions and creates the leading source of ‘Book In Hand’ information for the industry.”

ABOUT INGRAM BOOK GROUP
Ingram Book Group is a leading wholesaler of trade books, spoken audio, and magazines. Ingram and its OneSource^SM partners provide immediate access to the largest selection of books and book-related products in the industry. Ingram's operating units include Ingram Book Company, Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., and Tennessee Book Company LLC.

ABOUT R.R. BOWKER
Founded in 1872, R.R. Bowker is North America’s leading provider of bibliographic information, and is also the official ISBN agency for the United States and Puerto Rico. The company’s flagship product, Books In Print®, 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, call 1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372), or e-mail marketing@bowker.com.