Standards & Metadata

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The Unseen Hand of Metadata

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BNC metadata guru Tom Richardson looks back on how his book-buying habits have changed in the past year, and how the unseen hand of metadata may be at work…

This is the first year I can really see changes in my personal book-buying habits. Like many others, I’ve found that I’m buying books more often again. This has a lot to do with the convenience and direct nature of buying ebooks. (Feeling down at midnight no longer requires scavenging closets for books.) But I’m also buying print more and often based on its object-value; I like a well-made book, with diagrams and illustrations, and not too many photos. But why the change?

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Library Sales, Timely Metadata, and the Canadian Publisher

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BookNet Canada was recently in conversation with the Toronto Public Library about its use of CataList and online catalogues. One interesting point that came up was how the TPL needs online catalogue content earlier (especially from Canadian publishers) in order to facilitate their ordering process. Thanks to Valerie Casselman, Senior Collections Specialist, Adult Content, for contributing this guest post.

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

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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 weren’t involved in my long ones! Read on for an explanation of why ONIX 2.1 to 3.0 converters fall short, and how you can make good use of them anyway.

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Covering your Bases: 2014 Standards Implementation and Business Planning

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This week’s guest blog post is from Christen Thomas, Executive Director of the Literary Press Group of Canada. At Tech Forum’s BookNet 101 event, she’ll be presenting on how to take new standards such as Thema and ONIX 3.0 into account while mapping out a business plan. She will also include copious sports metaphors. You’re up to bat, Christen!

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Five New Year's Resolutions

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On January 1st, certain New Year’s resolutions are always popular—eat better, exercise more, quit smoking (again), finally write that book—but the start of a new year is a great time for business-related resolutions, too. So if you’re looking to get more out of your book-related business, here are five resolutions that can help you start the year off right.

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Better Living Through Better Metadata

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I’m very pleased to announce that a new, fully updated version of the joint BookNet Canada / BISG Best Practices for Product Metadata guide, including guidance for digital products and ONIX 3.0, has been released:
 
Best Practices for Product Metadata: Guide for North American Data Senders and Receivers.
 
Now, what do these new standards mean for your business? What are the first steps you should take to implement them? Have no fear: we’ve got you covered.

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What Does It Mean to Implement ONIX 3.0?

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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. Using the standard involves those companies agreeing between them on what level of detail they need from the ONIX data fields to support their systems and sales.

 

 

BookNet Canada is a non-profit organization that develops technology, standards, and education to serve the Canadian book industry. Founded in 2002 to address systemic challenges in the industry, BookNet Canada supports publishing companies, booksellers, wholesalers, distributors, sales agents, industry associations, literary agents, media, and libraries across the country.

 

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