The BookNet Canada team has been slaving away for over a year developing the ultimate paperless catalogue (special thanks to Carol Gordon and Meghan MacDonald), and we’re almost set to launch. BNC CataList is an online catalogue that’s going to take the heavy lifting out of building a catalogue.
Stop Being an Enabler: BISG E-Book ISBN Study Findings
Tom and I called in to the BISG meeting on Thursday (January 13, 2011) where the findings of the Identification of eBooks Research Project [pdf - slides] were revealed and discussed.
The results of this research are pretty distressing for someone who works with standards every day, but also (sadly) not at all surprising. Here are the key findings from the report…
Proud to Be Canadian? Prove It. In ONIX.
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 ambiguous. Use the following as a starting point, ask questions of your trading partners, and—please!—comment on this post.
BNC 101: On Sale Date
BNC 101: Publication Dates
ONIX Is Easy
At BookNet, we sometimes find ourselves trying to defend ONIX . People are often asking, “Why can’t it be easy?” But it is. After the last time I heard this I thought that a review of why ONIX is easy was due.
BookNet Beta: BiblioShare Image Service
So you are looking for cover images for books available in Canada, or perhaps Canadian books? Well, as part of BookNet Canada’s (BNC) BiblioShare project we have been aggregating cover images from publishers/suppliers, and we are now making those same images available to you to use in your projects…free of charge…within reason.
BiblioShare by the Numbers
BookNet has been collecting/aggregating bibliographic information actively since January, 2010. It has been a tough, but interesting, slog as we build systems, recruit data providers, validate data and help publishers improve their metadata. We are not anywhere near done and we plan on continuing on all fronts, but I thought it might be a good time to share just where we are…
Give the Backlist a Chance
Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This has me thinking about backlist. We spend a lot of time talking about the future and worrying about the frontlist, but what can set a publisher apart from the rest is a profitable backlist and arguably what can set a bookseller apart from the rest is thoughtful curating of backlist titles.
