A guest post by:
Brian F. O’Leary, Executive Director, Book Industry Study Group
ONIX for Books is the metadata standard used by publishers to communicate bibliographic, commercial, and marketing information to supply-chain partners. It was created in the second half of the 1990s, around the time that online bookselling began to grow, and it has been regularly updated in the two decades since.
ONIX for Books is maintained and updated by EDItEUR, a U.K.-based standards organization that also oversees Thema, the subject-code classification system used outside of North America, and other standards. The standard’s current version, ONIX 3.0.6, was released in 2019. New versions are released as warranted.
Beyond updating the operating versions of ONIX, EDItEUR also maintains the standard’s code lists. These lists provide machine-readable ways to describe various aspects of a book, using language-independent (often numerical) code values that provide essential information about things like business models (including lending) and territories where a book may be lent or sold. An ONIX message using a particular code value is understandable and unambiguous, independent of the languages used by sender and recipient of the data.
The Book Industry Study Group is responsible for implementing and updating the ONIX standard in the United States. Its metadata committee communicates regularly with EDItEUR about updates, changes, and use cases. Led by BISG and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the United States adopted ONIX earlier than most other markets, at a time when ONIX 2.1 was the most current standard.
While early adoption provided significant benefits, it also created an impediment for moving to the current standard. ONIX is widely used by U.S.-based publishers, but the dominant version remains ONIX 2.1, first released in the early 2000s, sunset in 2014 and “frozen” since 2016. Efforts to promote use of ONIX 3.0.x in the U.S. market are ongoing.
The largest publishers and many medium-size publishers provide ONIX as XML files that are distributed on a regular schedule, often weekly. While ONIX was built with XML in mind, ONIX metadata can be provided in other ways, including Excel worksheets and tab-delimited files. Metadata recipients, including wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and industry partners that aggregate or manage publisher metadata, typically take the information in its native format and ingest it into their own systems.
How does ONIX relate to libraries and eBooks?
Metadata contained in ONIX for Books maps readily to MARC data, the format used by libraries. Certain data contained in MARC is not collected in ONIX, and some ONIX fields are not part of a MARC record. This disconnect or tension is understandable, as publishers, their commercial partners, and libraries have different priorities when it comes to describing a book.
ONIX files typically contain subject-code metadata, most often BISAC codes, that some libraries use to categorize (shelve) a book. BISAC codes were developed in the 1990s to help retailers shelve similar books together. The BISAC codes offer more than 5,000 specific subject headings across four dozen primary categories. The literals (text descriptions) are understood by the trade, though they are often written in a way that a book reader would understand. The alphanumeric codes are neither hierarchical nor taxonomic, an important consideration in library settings.
Metadata provided in the ONIX 3.0.x format also contains information about accessibility (meeting the needs of print-impaired audiences) and licensing models. Code list 196 currently gives publishers 14 ways to describe the level of accessibility in a digital book. These range from “Inaccessible” to “short alternative descriptions”, “full alternative descriptions”, “compatibility tested”, and “publisher contact for further accessibility information”.
A similar degree of flexibility and detail is available for licensed content. Using code lists, a publisher can describe things like time-limited or multi-user licenses. The maximum number of days that a product may be made available can also be set, as can the last date a re-download is allowed. Home use and classroom use can also be defined, and where applicable, open-access statements may be included.
This is not a full list of accessibility or licensing options. More information is available without charge at the EDItEUR web site, where a searchable code list provides significant detail. Libraries that access digital content through aggregators like OverDrive and Biblioteca benefit from the ONIX that publishers sent to these companies, which then use the information to set up access for their library clients.
Where can I learn more?
BISG serves as the national resource for the U.S. book industry supply chain. It works to solve problems that affect two or more parts of the industry, and its members include a range of libraries and consortia. Its metadata committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month to consider issues, opportunities, and trends in the industry. Participation is typically limited to members, but BISG invites any library with a question or challenge to join the discussion. Emailing BISG at info@bisg.com is the easy first step.
In Canada, Booknet Canada is the BISG equivalent, with a broad mandate to promote the Canadian book industry, including sales to and distribution through libraries. BISG and Booknet Canada collaborate wherever possible, while respecting the differences in how publishing works in their respective markets.
As noted above, EDItEUR is the entity responsible for the ONIX for Books standard. They make their content freely available on their web site, and they respond to country groups, typically represented by organizations like BISG. The best options for learning more about ONIX are often in these national organizations, but specific questions can be directed to EDItEUR, as well.
What can I do to help?
Understanding what ONIX is (and is not) is a good place to start. We welcome questions, which help us understand where we could be doing more or doing things better.
As an example: In 2017, a question at a joint NISO-BISG event at ALA led to a conversation with the Library of Congress, then working on an update to the Catalogue-in-Publication portal. A group of BISG members worked with the LOC team to map ONIX to their portal fields, with the goal of streamlining the CIP application process.
Best practices start with a conversation. BISG and its companion organizations were created to help the industry work better. We want to hear your thoughts on how we can continue to deliver on that promise.