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| Parent company | Cambridge Information Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1868; 157 years ago (1868) |
| Founder | Frederick Leypoldt Company named afterRichard Rogers Bowker, who acquired Leypoldt's business in 1878. |
| Headquarters location | Chatham, New Jersey |
| Key people | Beat Barblan, General Manager[1] |
| Publication types | Books |
| Official website | www |
R. R. Bowker LLC (trading asBowker) is an American limited liability company domiciled underDelaware Limited Liability Company Law and based inChatham, New Jersey.[2] Among other things, Bowker provides bibliographic information on published works to the book trade, including publishers, booksellers, libraries, and individuals; its roots in the industry trace back to 1868. Bowker is the exclusive U.S. agent for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). Bowker is the publisher ofBooks in Print and other compilations of information about books andperiodical titles. It providessupply chain services and analytical tools to the book publishing industry.[3] Bowker is headquartered inChatham, New Jersey, with additional operational offices in England and Australia. It is now owned byCambridge Information Group.[4]
The company was founded in New York City byFrederick Leypoldt, a German immigrant who worked as abookseller and recognized the need for goodbibliographic information to make the book business more efficient. He established the monthlyLiterary Bulletin, his first periodical, in 1868. In 1870 Leypoldt issued the first edition of hisAnnual American Catalogue, the forerunner forBooks in Print. In 1872 he published the first issue ofPublishers Weekly, in 1873 the firstPublishers' Uniform Trade-List Annual (later thePublishers Trade List Annual), and in 1876 the first issue ofLibrary Journal. In 1878 Leypoldt's company was acquired byRichard Rogers Bowker. Leypoldt and Bowker also founded two influential standard book-industry references:Literary Marketplace andUlrich's Periodicals Directory.[5]
In 1967, theXerox Corporation acquired the R. R. Bowker company, and then, in 1985, sold it to Reed International (nowRELX Group). That same year, in 1985,Publishers Weekly—after 113 years as a part of R. R. Bowker—was transferred to theCahners Publishing Company.[6] In 1991, Reed's reference division moved toChatham, New Jersey.[7] In 2001,Cambridge Information Group acquired Bowker.[8] After the sale, In 2007, Cambridge Information Group soldLiterary Marketplace and other directories toInformation Today Inc.[9] Cambridge Information Group mergedCambridge Scientific Abstracts withProQuest Information and Learning to form ProQuest LLC, a privately held Delaware-domiciled limited liability company based inAnn Arbor, Michigan. R. R. Bowker LLC was repositioned as anaffiliate of ProQuest.[clarification needed][10]
Bowker is the United States provider ofInternational Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), a code for identifying commercial books devised byGordon Foster in 1967. An ISBN is currently placed on a book to uniquely identify it. ISBNs are available one at a time and in blocks up to 100,000 for a set fee.[12] ISBNs may be purchased and maintained at Bowker's My Identifiers website. Many countries, including the UK,Italy,Germany,Spain, to name a few, charge for ISBNs. Canada and Mexico provide ISBNs free of charge as their ISBN agencies are government funded.[13][14] As of 2016[update], Bowker USA charges $125 for one ISBN[15] and offers substantial[weasel words] discounts on volume purchases.
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