diff --git a/sa-builder/src/bitpacking.rs b/sa-builder/src/bitpacking.rs
index f53f0fe..192d918 100644
--- a/sa-builder/src/bitpacking.rs
+++ b/sa-builder/src/bitpacking.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ fn get_rank(c: u8) -> u8 {
     }
 }
 
-const BITS_PER_CHAR: usize = 5;
+pub const BITS_PER_CHAR: usize = 5;
 pub fn bitpack_text(text: &Vec<u8>, sparseness_factor: u8) -> Vec<i64> {
     let sparseness_factor = sparseness_factor as usize;
     let num_ints = (text.len() + (sparseness_factor-1)) / sparseness_factor;
diff --git a/sa-builder/src/lib.rs b/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
index 2c4871b..97dcb93 100644
--- a/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
+++ b/sa-builder/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::error::Error;
 use crate::bitpacking::bitpack_text;
+use crate::bitpacking::BITS_PER_CHAR;
 use clap::{Parser, ValueEnum};
 
 pub mod bitpacking;
@@ -58,10 +59,8 @@ pub fn build_ssa(
     // Build the suffix array using the selected algorithm
     let mut sa = match construction_algorithm {
         SAConstructionAlgorithm::LibSais => {
-            let bits_per_char = 5;
-            let sparseness_factor = 4;
             let mut packed_text = bitpack_text(text, sparseness_factor);
-            libsais64_rs::sais64_long(&mut packed_text, 1 << (bits_per_char * sparseness_factor))
+            libsais64_rs::sais64_long(&mut packed_text, 1 << (BITS_PER_CHAR * sparseness_factor as usize))
         },
         SAConstructionAlgorithm::LibDivSufSort => libdivsufsort_rs::divsufsort64(text)
     }