ONIX

  • ONIX 2.1 to 3.0: Helping you make the transition

    This is the first in a series exploring the differences between ONIX 2.1 and 3.0, and how to navigate your metadata through the transition. In this first installment, Data Guru Tom Richardson explains why and how data traders ought to adopt ONIX 3.0, and gives an overview of the topics he’ll be covering this summer.

  • ONIX 2.1 Is Riding off into the Sunset

    On December 31, ONIX 2.1 is making like a cowboy and riding off into the sunset after 11 great years on the metadata ranch. If you send or receive ONIX, it’s likely that you have questions. Get your answers here!

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    ONIX 3.0 – A Gnome’s Perspective on Digital Values for the Faint of Heart

    Got ebooks? Here’s a primer on ONIX 3.0 just for you. We’ll get you set up with the ONIX manual, show you which sections to look at, and explain a bit about why things are set up the way they are. Bonus: Your host is a gnome named Biblio. A metagnome, if you will. You’ll…

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    ONIX 2.1 to 3.0 Converters: What They Can and Can’t Do

    Converting ONIX 2.1 to ONIX 3.0 is a very useful way to learn where “stuff” goes in ONIX 3.0 but publishers are confused why, once they’ve done the conversion, it’s just not good enough. I’ve been participating in arguments about it–and, as always, after the fact, came up with a succinct explanation. Be happy you…

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    What Does It Mean to Implement ONIX 3.0?

    It’s a vexing question. I like to explain ONIX for Books by separating out the standard (what you track as metadata) from the technical side (XML, which can be thankfully ignored in this post). ONIX as a standard is a way for two companies to exchange information about books without ambiguity by using published definitions.…

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    Getting Data Dropped: Support and Update Your Records

    BNC BiblioShare has been getting queries from publishers asking why after dropping a record from their ONIX feed it hasn’t disappeared from The 49th Shelf. BiblioShare supplies data to a lot more firms than The 49th Shelf and that list is growing, but we like that you’re paying attention and finding problems in 49thShelf.com. Here’s…

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    A Lesson on Metadata

    Yesterday I took the second of four metadata BISG webinars. It featured our Bibliographic Manager (or, as I like to call him, our Data Czar), Tom Richardson, along side Richard Stark, Director of Product Data at Barnes & Noble. This webinar went over the 31 key data elements in ONIX, what they mean and why…

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    Canadian Bookshelf, eh?

    If you haven’t already visited, Canadian Bookshelf, I would highly recommend you take a little time to do so. The site itself looks great and there is a plethora of great (Canadian) content already there with more to come. I won’t go into all the features and functions of the site here as you can…

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    Proud to Be Canadian? Prove It. In ONIX.

    This is all to say that an awful lot of effort has gone into making sure Canadian authorship is prioritized in Canada, but if we don’t do our part it will be hard it won’t work. We are so proud of our Canadian books. Why aren’t we shouting it from the digital rooftops?

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    Best Practices for E-Books in ONIX

    What are the general guidelines for producing “good” ONIX support for e-books? Quality data exchange requires two things: clarity about how Product Identifiers are being used and the use of the ONIX 3.0 standard. Given that we are lacking both of these things, the answer to how to make a “good” e-book is a bit…