If you’ve been a friend to BookNet for a while, you know we preach Thema as the perfect complement to BISAC. Why, you ask? Thema offers flexibility and a level of detail craved by both retailers and readers. It allows you to highlight aspects of your book that may otherwise be overlooked, but that, if made available to data-receivers, could easily become the reason why your book is listed in a search result, discovered, read, or purchased.
Mastering Thema is like any other skill; at first, it requires a bit of time and effort to learn and understand the ins and outs, but once you get it, see it in action, and use it, it’ll become second nature. You may even end up joining our metadata committee or submitting ideas for future additions. So, where to start? Below, we’ll share a series of resources that will help you understand the capabilities of this subject classification scheme and that we hope will prompt you to get started and use it. Got questions? Reach out to our standards team at standards@booknetcanada.ca.
Getting started with Thema
What is Thema and who maintains it?
Thema is an international, multilingual, hierarchical subject category scheme designed to meet the needs of publishers, retailers, and trade intermediaries in all sectors of the global book publishing business. It is managed by EDItEUR and an international group of stakeholders, and is free to use. Thema aims to enhance the merchandising, discoverability, and potential sales of books by simplifying the communication of accurate and detailed subject information across international markets and reducing the need to maintain numerous national subject schemes.
Watch this video introduction to Thema delivered by EDItEUR’s Chris Saynor. Follow along with the transcript.
Is Thema a static subject classification system?
No, Thema is constantly evolving and adapting to the needs of the market and the interests of readers. A good example of this is the upcoming additions to Thema relevant to romance titles.
A good way to keep up with what’s new for Thema, in addition to subscribing to our weekly newsletter, is to bookmark this page from the EDItEUR site, where they share the latest documentation and resources.
What are some business-case reasons to adopt Thema?
You should use Thema because:
It boosts the discoverability of your titles in an increasingly digital market.
It provides retailers with the information they need to find the books their customers are asking for, even the very niche, hyper-specific ones.
It’s a multilingual subject category scheme used in the trade of books and rights in international markets.
It’s the only subject classification system used to sell books and rights in Quebec.
It’s a great tool to highlight Canadian content in a very granular way. An example of this is the countless applications of National extensions in Thema.
It’s used by all the storefronts outside of North America, including Amazon.
Providing Thema subject codes and qualifiers for all new titles is a requirement for the SalesData-BiblioShare Rebate.
North American retailers are ready and waiting to ingest Thema subjects as of 2023.
What are some examples of the use of Thema?
The best way to see the capabilities of Thema in action is through examples:
Review this resource from EDItEUR featuring worked examples of the use of Thema for books about a wide range of topics, including the For Dummies series, textbooks, and books in multiple languages.
The Using Thema documentation, which gets a new issue for each new release of Thema, contains excellent examples of the use of this subject classification scheme. We especially recommend reviewing: Using Thema 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The latter is great for thinking about Canadian content.
The Using Thema to identify diverse content series on the BookNet blog features multiple titles by Canadian contributors.
Review examples of how to highlight content and contributors relating to Indigeneity and Indigenous Nations and peoples using ONIX and Thema, which features fiction and non-fiction titles, titles in multiple languages, as well as titles for adults and children.
Review additional examples of the use of Thema for titles related to themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Is there an easy way to translate BISAC into Thema?
Yes! BookNet Canada and the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) developed the BISAC to Thema translator, which is updated regularly when new codelists are released and available for free. Learn more about this time-saving tool here.
What can Thema do for the discoverability of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis publishers and books by Indigenous authors?
A lot. Thanks to the advocacy and hard work of BookNet Canada, the Société de Gestion BTLF, and EDItEUR, the latest developments and additions made to Thema include a set of best practices focused on highlighting content and contributors relating to Indigeneity and Indigenous Nations and peoples. Learn about this subject through this webinar, or jump right in by checking out the following documentation:
How can I find the latest list of categories and qualifiers?
Bookmark the Thema browser. Here are the basics of navigating this tool:
An ellipsis indicates that a category has more detailed subcategories
Click on a category heading to reveal these ‘descendant’ subcategories
Indentation indicates the ancestors and descendants of a category
Click on the “✽” or “?” to see or hide the usage notes
Search for categories (for example, “celebrity”) using the search field at the top
Searches are not case-sensitive, and search both the category headings and any notes
You don’t need to use complete words (e.g., “celeb”)
You can also search for Thema codes — these searches must be exact (e.g., “MFGV”)
Click on a search result category to see it in context with its ancestor and descendant categories
A click on “Category heading” or a blank search returns you to the top level of the hierarchy
Click on the notation to copy the code to the clipboard (ready for pasting elsewhere)
Download a quick reference sheet
What are some common myths around the use of Thema?
Some common myths include thinking that Thema is just for the English language markets or that it's “too new” or “too complex.” All these and more myths are debunked by the EDItEUR team in this product information message.
Ready to start your Thema journey? Well, you’re in for a treat. If, while navigating this new territory, you feel lost or confused, we recommend:
Reviewing the EDItEUR website and its very thorough documentation
Joining the Thema email discussion list for general implementation queries. The list acts as the forum for asking questions about the interpretation of Thema standards, for raising any practical problems which may need to be addressed in future releases, and participating in discussions aimed at finding the most appropriate solutions to your subject categorization problems.
Safe travels!
Why and how should you use Thema? Here’s a series of resources that will help you understand its capabilities and help you get started in implementing it!