Transcript: #StandardsGoals for 2025: Standards & certification roundup - Tech Forum 2025
booknetcanada
167 views
19 slides
May 05, 2025
Slide 1 of 19
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
About This Presentation
Book industry standards are evolving rapidly. In the first part of this session, we’ll share an overview of key developments from 2024 and the early months of 2025. Then, BookNet’s resident standards expert, Tom Richardson, and CEO, Lauren Stewart, have a forward-looking conversation about what�...
Slide Content
1
Nataly Alarcón : Hello, welcome to your 2025 standards update from BookNet, the go- to
supply chain organisation for book standards updates and related professional development
content in the Canadian book industry.
Before I continue, I would like to acknowledge that BookNet Canada's operations are remote
and that my colleagues and I contribute our work from the traditional territories of the
Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Wyandot, the Mi'kmaq,
the Ojibwa of Fort William First Nation, the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which
includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie, and the Métis, the original nations
and peoples of the lands we now call Beeton, Brampton, Guelph, Halifax, Thunder Bay,
Toronto, Vaughan, and Windsor.
We encourage you to visit the native-land.ca website to learn more about the peoples whose
land you are joining from today. Moreover, BookNet endorses the Calls to Action from the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and supports an ongoing shift from
gatekeeping to spacemaking in the book industry. The book industry has long been an
industry of gatekeeping. Anyone who works at any stage of the book supply chain carries a
responsibility to serve readers by publishing, promoting and supplying works that represent
the wide extent of human experiences and identities in all that complicated intersectionality.
We at BookNet are committed to working with our partners in the industry as we move
towards a framework that supports spacemaking which ensures that marginalised creators
and professionals all have the opportunity to contribute, work and lead.
Last year's update was focused on BISAC. The content from that presentation is as important
today as it was back in 2024. In it, we shared information on the additions and changes made
to the BISAC list in 2023, which are particularly important to publishers of Indigenous
content. You can find the recording of that session on the metadata section of the Tech
Forum website.
Now, in this presentation, we will expand our horizons to take stock of what's new or
changed in 2024, as well as during the first months of 2025 in the standards world. To start,
let's talk about ONIX. ONIX, the international standard for representing and communicating
book industry product information, also known as metadata, in electronic form, is constantly
evolving to meet the needs of the book supply chain. During the next few minutes, I will
walk you through some of the most significant updates and changes made to the ONIX
codelist in releases 64 to 69. However, I strongly recommend reviewing EDItEUR's detailed
release notes, which can be found on their website or on the BookNet blog, where for each
codelist release, we share key highlights relevant to the Canadian book supply chain.
In early 2024, EDItEUR, the organisation that develops and maintains this standard, released
ONIX codelist 64, which includes updates related to list 9, product classification type, list 17,
contributor role, list 196, e-publication accessibility details. Updates to this list include
clarifications to code 00, accessibility summary, and 52, all non- decorative content supports
reading without sight, plus some other additions worth reviewing, especially by anyone
aiming to comply with the European Accessibility Act. But don't worry, we'll talk more
about this regulation later in the presentation.
Nataly Alarcón : Hello, welcome to your 2025 standards update from BookNet, the go- to
supply chain organisation for book standards updates and related professional development
content in the Canadian book industry.
Before I continue, I would like to acknowledge that BookNet Canada's operations are remote
and that my colleagues and I contribute our work from the traditional territories of the
Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Wyandot, the Mi'kmaq,
the Ojibwa of Fort William First Nation, the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, which
includes the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie, and the Métis, the original nations
and peoples of the lands we now call Beeton, Brampton, Guelph, Halifax, Thunder Bay,
Toronto, Vaughan, and Windsor.
We encourage you to visit the native-land.ca website to learn more about the peoples whose
land you are joining from today. Moreover, BookNet endorses the Calls to Action from the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and supports an ongoing shift from
gatekeeping to spacemaking in the book industry. The book industry has long been an
industry of gatekeeping. Anyone who works at any stage of the book supply chain carries a
responsibility to serve readers by publishing, promoting and supplying works that represent
the wide extent of human experiences and identities in all that complicated intersectionality.
We at BookNet are committed to working with our partners in the industry as we move
towards a framework that supports spacemaking which ensures that marginalised creators
and professionals all have the opportunity to contribute, work and lead.
Last year's update was focused on BISAC. The content from that presentation is as important
today as it was back in 2024. In it, we shared information on the additions and changes made
to the BISAC list in 2023, which are particularly important to publishers of Indigenous
content. You can find the recording of that session on the metadata section of the Tech
Forum website.
Now, in this presentation, we will expand our horizons to take stock of what's new or
changed in 2024, as well as during the first months of 2025 in the standards world. To start,
let's talk about ONIX. ONIX, the international standard for representing and communicating
book industry product information, also known as metadata, in electronic form, is constantly
evolving to meet the needs of the book supply chain. During the next few minutes, I will
walk you through some of the most significant updates and changes made to the ONIX
codelist in releases 64 to 69. However, I strongly recommend reviewing EDItEUR's detailed
release notes, which can be found on their website or on the BookNet blog, where for each
codelist release, we share key highlights relevant to the Canadian book supply chain.
In early 2024, EDItEUR, the organisation that develops and maintains this standard, released
ONIX codelist 64, which includes updates related to list 9, product classification type, list 17,
contributor role, list 196, e-publication accessibility details. Updates to this list include
clarifications to code 00, accessibility summary, and 52, all non- decorative content supports
reading without sight, plus some other additions worth reviewing, especially by anyone
aiming to comply with the European Accessibility Act. But don't worry, we'll talk more
about this regulation later in the presentation.
2
Later on, in March, codelist 65 was released. Some changes of particular note include the
addition of new codes to list 17, contributor role, to reflect considerations expressed in the
late Dr. Gregory Younging's "Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and
about Indigenous Peoples." The codes are A28, interpreted through, which shall be used with
narratives drawn from an oral tradition where no ownership of the narrative is claimed, and
code B33, transcribed by, or as told to, which shall be used with narratives drawn from an
oral tradition and with B03, retold by, B07, as told by, or A28, interpreted through. These
additions happened as a result of advocacy by BookNet and were endorsed by the Canadian
National Bibliographic Committee. And if you're interested in learning more about Dr.
Gregory Younging's work, I encourage you to watch the recording from one of our recent
Tech Forum presentations all about the second edition of his book, "Elements of Indigenous
Style."
In July, codelist 66 was published. In this release, there were additions made to list 17,
contributor role, specifically the addition of code B34 for sensitivity reader/editor, which is
expected to reflect a reader or editor responsible for ensuring the text is free of offensive,
potentially offensive, or insensitive language, is inclusive, and free from bias, and avoids
stereotypical characterisation. List 79, product form feature type had some significant
additions, especially relevant to those who are looking to comply with the EU Deforestation
Regulations, EUDR. The codes added are code 50, EUDR due diligence reference, code 47,
EUDR raw material location (interior or full product), code 48, EUDR raw material location
(binding), code 49, EUDR raw material location (other). We'll share additional resources
related to the EUDR and other regulations later on, but we highly encourage you to read the
document summarising the changes made to this codelist available on the EDItEUR website
and the BookNet blog. Other changes made to this particular list include the addition of
codes related to product safety and updates made to codes part of the list 175, product form
detail.
Closing the year in November, codelist 67 was released. The following lists saw some
changes. List 17, contributor role. List 71, sales restriction type. List 79, product form feature
type, which includes some clarifying edits made to the EUDR-related codes. List 198,
product contact type. And list 239, supply contact role. List 158, resource content type. And
finally list 203, ONIX adult audience rating.
In January 2025, codelist 68 was released. The following lists saw some changes and
additions. List 17, contributor role now includes code B35 to reflect the role of image
descriptions by, which EDItEUR defines as the creator of alternative image descriptions for
accessibility purposes. List 73, website role, now includes code 52 to reflect the type of
website for publishers or third- party contact form for which EDItEUR gives an example of a
web page providing an interactive contact form for safety-related issues. Publishers and data
centers interested in supporting the EU's general product safety regulation will find value in
this new code addition.
The additions made to list 74, language, continue the expansion of this list with codelist 63's
numerous additions to include several publishing languages used by First Nations, Inuit and
Métis people in the lands we now call Canada. In this release, code OKA for the Nsyilxcən
language was added.
Later on, in March, codelist 65 was released. Some changes of particular note include the
addition of new codes to list 17, contributor role, to reflect considerations expressed in the
late Dr. Gregory Younging's "Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and
about Indigenous Peoples." The codes are A28, interpreted through, which shall be used with
narratives drawn from an oral tradition where no ownership of the narrative is claimed, and
code B33, transcribed by, or as told to, which shall be used with narratives drawn from an
oral tradition and with B03, retold by, B07, as told by, or A28, interpreted through. These
additions happened as a result of advocacy by BookNet and were endorsed by the Canadian
National Bibliographic Committee. And if you're interested in learning more about Dr.
Gregory Younging's work, I encourage you to watch the recording from one of our recent
Tech Forum presentations all about the second edition of his book, "Elements of Indigenous
Style."
In July, codelist 66 was published. In this release, there were additions made to list 17,
contributor role, specifically the addition of code B34 for sensitivity reader/editor, which is
expected to reflect a reader or editor responsible for ensuring the text is free of offensive,
potentially offensive, or insensitive language, is inclusive, and free from bias, and avoids
stereotypical characterisation. List 79, product form feature type had some significant
additions, especially relevant to those who are looking to comply with the EU Deforestation
Regulations, EUDR. The codes added are code 50, EUDR due diligence reference, code 47,
EUDR raw material location (interior or full product), code 48, EUDR raw material location
(binding), code 49, EUDR raw material location (other). We'll share additional resources
related to the EUDR and other regulations later on, but we highly encourage you to read the
document summarising the changes made to this codelist available on the EDItEUR website
and the BookNet blog. Other changes made to this particular list include the addition of
codes related to product safety and updates made to codes part of the list 175, product form
detail.
Closing the year in November, codelist 67 was released. The following lists saw some
changes. List 17, contributor role. List 71, sales restriction type. List 79, product form feature
type, which includes some clarifying edits made to the EUDR-related codes. List 198,
product contact type. And list 239, supply contact role. List 158, resource content type. And
finally list 203, ONIX adult audience rating.
In January 2025, codelist 68 was released. The following lists saw some changes and
additions. List 17, contributor role now includes code B35 to reflect the role of image
descriptions by, which EDItEUR defines as the creator of alternative image descriptions for
accessibility purposes. List 73, website role, now includes code 52 to reflect the type of
website for publishers or third- party contact form for which EDItEUR gives an example of a
web page providing an interactive contact form for safety-related issues. Publishers and data
centers interested in supporting the EU's general product safety regulation will find value in
this new code addition.
The additions made to list 74, language, continue the expansion of this list with codelist 63's
numerous additions to include several publishing languages used by First Nations, Inuit and
Métis people in the lands we now call Canada. In this release, code OKA for the Nsyilxcən
language was added.
3
List 79, product form feature type now includes codes 54, which allows data centers to share
an EUDR stock present attestation, which serves as a confirmation that all stock provided to
suppliers in the EU predates the publishers appropriate EUDR deadline.
As a reminder, the deadline for compliance is December 30th, 2025 or June 30th, 2026 for
micro and small enterprises. This replaces the need for a due diligence statement or DDS but
not the obligation to provide documentation if requested. Of note, any subsequent stock
would require submissions of a DDS which would include an equivalent statement making
this code redundant. So, it's a good practice to remove this value when DDS information is
added.
Finally, list 262, carbon/GHG emissions certification scheme. The new addition to this list
has a Canadian connection. It follows the launch of two free-to-use sustainable publishing
tools. Carbon calculators, designed specifically for publishing industry professionals,
emerged from a collaboration between New Society Publishers and ECW Press, with funding
from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Digital Greenhouse Grant. To reflect per
book carbon calculations measured through sustainable publishing tools, data centers should
use code 202. If you're interested in learning more about the sustainable publishing tools, I
encourage you to check out the link on the accompanying resources page for information on
how to access the tools and a training video.
More recently in February, EDItEUR released ONIX codelist 69. This update impacted
multiple lists, including list 17, contributor role. List 45, publishing role. List 73, website
role, and more. Of note for this release, codes 12 and 13 to 17 of the list 27 subject scheme
identifier have been deprecated and will be dropped from this codelist as part of a future
version change. These codes relate to the BIC subject standard, which has been replaced by
Thema and was declared up to lead by BIC as of February 2024.
Now, as mentioned at a recent Tech Forum session, "On the rise: Book subjects on the move
in the Canadian market," where my colleagues Lily Dwyer and Kalpna Patel shared how
special edition books are all the rage. As this trend firmly entrenches itself into production
workflows, EDItEUR has added codes and cleaned up the notes for others. To dive deeper
into this, we'd recommend focusing on the additions made to list 79, product form feature
type, list 158, resource content type, list 175, product form detail, as well as list 258, special
finish.
EU regulations continue to be at the forefront of the standards work developed by EDItEUR.
For list 79, EU regulations, for example, code 13, GPSR description, has changed to reflect
correct naming as well as a note clarification for EU general product safety regulation and
toy safety directive hazard warning. Similarly, clarifications were added in the instructions of
code 47 EUDR raw material locations, which affects codes 48 and 49 and in the instructions
of code 51 EUDR due diligence.
Finally, for list 196, e-publication accessibility details, clarifying edits were made to the
notes for existing code 28 for full alternative audio descriptions as well as 31 to indicate
accessible controls provided. New codes were added as well. Code 41 will indicate page list
navigation to flag that an e-book includes page number navigation based on print equivalent
page numbers or digital-only static page breaks.
List 79, product form feature type now includes codes 54, which allows data centers to share
an EUDR stock present attestation, which serves as a confirmation that all stock provided to
suppliers in the EU predates the publishers appropriate EUDR deadline.
As a reminder, the deadline for compliance is December 30th, 2025 or June 30th, 2026 for
micro and small enterprises. This replaces the need for a due diligence statement or DDS but
not the obligation to provide documentation if requested. Of note, any subsequent stock
would require submissions of a DDS which would include an equivalent statement making
this code redundant. So, it's a good practice to remove this value when DDS information is
added.
Finally, list 262, carbon/GHG emissions certification scheme. The new addition to this list
has a Canadian connection. It follows the launch of two free-to-use sustainable publishing
tools. Carbon calculators, designed specifically for publishing industry professionals,
emerged from a collaboration between New Society Publishers and ECW Press, with funding
from the Canada Council for the Arts through the Digital Greenhouse Grant. To reflect per
book carbon calculations measured through sustainable publishing tools, data centers should
use code 202. If you're interested in learning more about the sustainable publishing tools, I
encourage you to check out the link on the accompanying resources page for information on
how to access the tools and a training video.
More recently in February, EDItEUR released ONIX codelist 69. This update impacted
multiple lists, including list 17, contributor role. List 45, publishing role. List 73, website
role, and more. Of note for this release, codes 12 and 13 to 17 of the list 27 subject scheme
identifier have been deprecated and will be dropped from this codelist as part of a future
version change. These codes relate to the BIC subject standard, which has been replaced by
Thema and was declared up to lead by BIC as of February 2024.
Now, as mentioned at a recent Tech Forum session, "On the rise: Book subjects on the move
in the Canadian market," where my colleagues Lily Dwyer and Kalpna Patel shared how
special edition books are all the rage. As this trend firmly entrenches itself into production
workflows, EDItEUR has added codes and cleaned up the notes for others. To dive deeper
into this, we'd recommend focusing on the additions made to list 79, product form feature
type, list 158, resource content type, list 175, product form detail, as well as list 258, special
finish.
EU regulations continue to be at the forefront of the standards work developed by EDItEUR.
For list 79, EU regulations, for example, code 13, GPSR description, has changed to reflect
correct naming as well as a note clarification for EU general product safety regulation and
toy safety directive hazard warning. Similarly, clarifications were added in the instructions of
code 47 EUDR raw material locations, which affects codes 48 and 49 and in the instructions
of code 51 EUDR due diligence.
Finally, for list 196, e-publication accessibility details, clarifying edits were made to the
notes for existing code 28 for full alternative audio descriptions as well as 31 to indicate
accessible controls provided. New codes were added as well. Code 41 will indicate page list
navigation to flag that an e-book includes page number navigation based on print equivalent
page numbers or digital-only static page breaks.
4
Code 53 will indicate described math content to indicate a book contains textual description
of mathematical content either as an alternative description attached to an image of the
content or in addition to MathML or LaTeX. Meanwhile, code 54 will indicate accessible
chemistry content as LaTeX. If you are wondering why there seems to be repetition in the
updates and changes made across codeless releases, it helps to keep in mind that EDItEUR
and its partners work on continuously improving ONIX to better serve the supply chain. This
sometimes translates into small, continuous additions and changes. For this reason, we
encourage you to first keep an eye on our blog for future codeless releases and second, read
the detailed notes EDItEUR provides with each release.
That said, the codeless releases are not all that is new for ONIX. During this already busy
time, the EDItEUR team released ONIX 3.1.1 in March and ONIX 3.1.2 in November. Here
is a snippet from the EDItEUR document summarising the changes and additions made in
ONIX 3.1.1. This revision comes only 12 months after the publication of release 3.1.
EDItEUR normally aims for a two-year cadence to revisions of ONIX, but in this instance,
the new functionality was requested by a group of ONIX users and national groups to meet
an urgent need to express an 'EU text and data mining (TDM) opt-out' on marketing
collateral.
And here is a snippet from the EDItEUR document summarising the changes and additions
made in ONIX 3.1.2. This is a very minor update of ONIX 3.1, with the addition of a single
new field <PostalCode> or <xS90>. In turn, and alongside some existing fields, this enables
the inclusion of full postal addresses within <ProductContact> and <SupplyContact>
enabling publishers and others to supply retailers with postal addresses related to product
safety. This is a requirement for the upcoming EU General Product Safety Regulation. GPSR
applies to essentially all consumer products. The only other changes in 3.1.2 are an increase
in suggested maximum length of the text in <ProductFormFeatureDescription> to allow
longer lists of GPS coordinates for EUDR, and the addition of the new <PostalCode> tag in
<EventOccurrence> because all the other elements of a street address were already present
there.
The release of ONIX 3.1.2 follows a series of edits and inclusions to the ONIX codelist over
the past several years. Our team at BookNet acknowledges the dedication of the EDItEUR
team, and Graham Bell and Chris Saynor for their work to stay on top of an ever-evolving
regulatory environment coming out of the EU, coordinating feedback from a global ONIX
user base in order to support global trade and sustaining an aggressive series of releases. The
ONIX 3.1 specification, the implementation and best practice guide and various schema files
available from EDItEUR have been updated and are available for download on the EDItEUR
website. To make things easier, we have shared all those resources mentioned in this
presentation in a document which can be accessed on the Tech Forum website.
As you hopefully know by now, we are big fans of the work EDItEUR does. To expand the
reach of the resources they create, we share bits and pieces, mostly from ONIX application
notes on our blog series, "Advice worth reading from EDItEUR." These notes are short,
white papers that look in depth at a single ONIX topic that users are asking about or that
EDItEUR is aware can be problematic. They are intended to support their very detailed and
extremely well-organised documentation.
Code 53 will indicate described math content to indicate a book contains textual description
of mathematical content either as an alternative description attached to an image of the
content or in addition to MathML or LaTeX. Meanwhile, code 54 will indicate accessible
chemistry content as LaTeX. If you are wondering why there seems to be repetition in the
updates and changes made across codeless releases, it helps to keep in mind that EDItEUR
and its partners work on continuously improving ONIX to better serve the supply chain. This
sometimes translates into small, continuous additions and changes. For this reason, we
encourage you to first keep an eye on our blog for future codeless releases and second, read
the detailed notes EDItEUR provides with each release.
That said, the codeless releases are not all that is new for ONIX. During this already busy
time, the EDItEUR team released ONIX 3.1.1 in March and ONIX 3.1.2 in November. Here
is a snippet from the EDItEUR document summarising the changes and additions made in
ONIX 3.1.1. This revision comes only 12 months after the publication of release 3.1.
EDItEUR normally aims for a two-year cadence to revisions of ONIX, but in this instance,
the new functionality was requested by a group of ONIX users and national groups to meet
an urgent need to express an 'EU text and data mining (TDM) opt-out' on marketing
collateral.
And here is a snippet from the EDItEUR document summarising the changes and additions
made in ONIX 3.1.2. This is a very minor update of ONIX 3.1, with the addition of a single
new field <PostalCode> or <xS90>. In turn, and alongside some existing fields, this enables
the inclusion of full postal addresses within <ProductContact> and <SupplyContact>
enabling publishers and others to supply retailers with postal addresses related to product
safety. This is a requirement for the upcoming EU General Product Safety Regulation. GPSR
applies to essentially all consumer products. The only other changes in 3.1.2 are an increase
in suggested maximum length of the text in <ProductFormFeatureDescription> to allow
longer lists of GPS coordinates for EUDR, and the addition of the new <PostalCode> tag in
<EventOccurrence> because all the other elements of a street address were already present
there.
The release of ONIX 3.1.2 follows a series of edits and inclusions to the ONIX codelist over
the past several years. Our team at BookNet acknowledges the dedication of the EDItEUR
team, and Graham Bell and Chris Saynor for their work to stay on top of an ever-evolving
regulatory environment coming out of the EU, coordinating feedback from a global ONIX
user base in order to support global trade and sustaining an aggressive series of releases. The
ONIX 3.1 specification, the implementation and best practice guide and various schema files
available from EDItEUR have been updated and are available for download on the EDItEUR
website. To make things easier, we have shared all those resources mentioned in this
presentation in a document which can be accessed on the Tech Forum website.
As you hopefully know by now, we are big fans of the work EDItEUR does. To expand the
reach of the resources they create, we share bits and pieces, mostly from ONIX application
notes on our blog series, "Advice worth reading from EDItEUR." These notes are short,
white papers that look in depth at a single ONIX topic that users are asking about or that
EDItEUR is aware can be problematic. They are intended to support their very detailed and
extremely well-organised documentation.
5
The subject of the first applications notes document we highlighted in 2024 is "ONIX records
for books in multiple markets." In the notes, EDItEUR shares context as to why this
seemingly straightforward endeavour may end up being quite complicated to tackle when,
for example, instead of the originating publisher, another publisher or a sales agent is
appointed to take responsibility for the product in a particular market. This is a very common
case, and revenue- relevant contradictions and confusion can arise when there are two ONIX
records for the same product that have not been aligned.
This application note also covers another common case where two publishers are producing
similar products and similar metadata independently of each other. For example, when
publishing rights are split on geographical lines. The application notes are thorough and
designed to leave you with more answers than questions, but if you're short on time or only
need a quick refresher, the EDItEUR team includes a summary at the end where they give
you all the key information in a TLDR format. As mentioned earlier, the application notes
are created to answer common questions or tackle particularly complex topics, for example,
accessibility metadata. It is known that ONIX has been a key tool to help communicate
accessibility information about a book, but these days, thanks to the soon- to-be enforced
regulation coming from the European Union, publishers are paying even more attention to
this piece of metadata. Remember that earlier when talking about the release of codelist 64, I
mentioned the European Accessibility Act? If you are a publisher who sells or is planning on
selling digital books, e-books or audiobooks in the European Union, starting June 28th, you
will be asked to comply with this new regulation.
Now, regulation aside, publishers, even those who do not sell their books in the European
market, should aim to make their books as accessible as possible, and this includes providing
accurate and complete accessibility metadata. To help with this, EDItEUR created the
"Providing accessibility metadata in ONIX" application note, an advanced document that
supplements the existing application note, "Accessibility metadata in ONIX," which is the
recommended starting point for anyone looking to learn more about this subject. In the
advanced note, EDItEUR starts by answering why accessibility metadata is important in
ONIX. Then they highlight the relevant codelists and later on dive deep into accessibility
metadata for physical publications, braille and tactile titles, large print titles, adapted titles, as
well as digital publications.
But this is not all. They also talk about Thema and accessibility, provide tips on how to keep
accessibility metadata up to date, and share examples of the potential applications of the
codelist, including suggestions for the mapping to schema.org. This document is a must -read
for anyone creating or distributing metadata, whether you are just starting to consider
including accessibility metadata, or you want to see if there's anything that has changed or
improved since the last time you reviewed your workflows.
Another EU regulation that is shaking the book industry is the General Product Safety
Regulation, or GPSR, which came into effect on December 13, 2024. These rules compel
anyone selling products into the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 countries
of the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. The GPSR mandates that nearly every
product, even those one will generally consider to be safe, such as books, must adhere to the
regulation if that product is to be sold in the European Economic Area. To help publishers
The subject of the first applications notes document we highlighted in 2024 is "ONIX records
for books in multiple markets." In the notes, EDItEUR shares context as to why this
seemingly straightforward endeavour may end up being quite complicated to tackle when,
for example, instead of the originating publisher, another publisher or a sales agent is
appointed to take responsibility for the product in a particular market. This is a very common
case, and revenue- relevant contradictions and confusion can arise when there are two ONIX
records for the same product that have not been aligned.
This application note also covers another common case where two publishers are producing
similar products and similar metadata independently of each other. For example, when
publishing rights are split on geographical lines. The application notes are thorough and
designed to leave you with more answers than questions, but if you're short on time or only
need a quick refresher, the EDItEUR team includes a summary at the end where they give
you all the key information in a TLDR format. As mentioned earlier, the application notes
are created to answer common questions or tackle particularly complex topics, for example,
accessibility metadata. It is known that ONIX has been a key tool to help communicate
accessibility information about a book, but these days, thanks to the soon- to-be enforced
regulation coming from the European Union, publishers are paying even more attention to
this piece of metadata. Remember that earlier when talking about the release of codelist 64, I
mentioned the European Accessibility Act? If you are a publisher who sells or is planning on
selling digital books, e-books or audiobooks in the European Union, starting June 28th, you
will be asked to comply with this new regulation.
Now, regulation aside, publishers, even those who do not sell their books in the European
market, should aim to make their books as accessible as possible, and this includes providing
accurate and complete accessibility metadata. To help with this, EDItEUR created the
"Providing accessibility metadata in ONIX" application note, an advanced document that
supplements the existing application note, "Accessibility metadata in ONIX," which is the
recommended starting point for anyone looking to learn more about this subject. In the
advanced note, EDItEUR starts by answering why accessibility metadata is important in
ONIX. Then they highlight the relevant codelists and later on dive deep into accessibility
metadata for physical publications, braille and tactile titles, large print titles, adapted titles, as
well as digital publications.
But this is not all. They also talk about Thema and accessibility, provide tips on how to keep
accessibility metadata up to date, and share examples of the potential applications of the
codelist, including suggestions for the mapping to schema.org. This document is a must -read
for anyone creating or distributing metadata, whether you are just starting to consider
including accessibility metadata, or you want to see if there's anything that has changed or
improved since the last time you reviewed your workflows.
Another EU regulation that is shaking the book industry is the General Product Safety
Regulation, or GPSR, which came into effect on December 13, 2024. These rules compel
anyone selling products into the European Economic Area, which includes the 27 countries
of the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. The GPSR mandates that nearly every
product, even those one will generally consider to be safe, such as books, must adhere to the
regulation if that product is to be sold in the European Economic Area. To help publishers
6
and data centers determine how information related to this and other safety regulations can
be communicated in the supply chain, EDItEUR released the "Product safety requirements in
ONIX 3" application note.
One important note from the EDItEUR team highlights that regulations linked to safety and
security are often updated, and they vary between countries, so publishers and distributors
should always check on the current regulations specific to the jurisdictions in which they
operate. They also said, "If there are aspects of regulations for safety that need to be
conveyed in an ONIX file that you cannot find in the current codelists, please contact
EDItEUR."
As you can see, a lot of the changes and additions made to ONIX have been driven by the
need to comply with the new regulations. In addition to what we have already shared, we
have a series of resources created by us and other organisations that will help you understand
the scope of these regulations and figure out the next steps towards compliance.
The first is a webinar where Chris Saynor and Wendy Reid guide Canadian publishers
through the essentials of the EAA. They talk about the role of metadata and ONIX in
compliance, they explore key accessibility standards and resources developed by the W3C,
and they share how Kobo is preparing to align with the EAA. You can find the recording,
slides, transcript, and a list of key resources mentioned in this presentation on the Tech
Forum website.
Then, for a deeper dive, we recommend watching the recordings from the webinar series all
about the EAA hosted by our UK sister organisation Book Industry Communication. In this
series, they explore topics such as fixed layout, alt text for digital books, EPUB and PDF,
and metadata. And if you want even more content related to accessibility that also touches on
the EAA, we recommend listening to our podcast interview with Wendy about the work the
W3C has been doing.
As for the EUDR, back in September, we co-hosted with the Book Industry Study Group, the
EUDR and ONIX webinar led by Graham Bell. In this webinar, Graham discusses the impact
of the EUDR, the responsibilities it places on publishers, distributors, and retailers both
within and outside the European Union, and the need for data collection and record keeping
about the sources of raw materials used in the book industry. He also describes how ONIX is
used to communicate some of the key metadata required for compliance with the regulations.
Additionally, back in December, we invited Simon Crump, environmental consultant for
BIC, to our podcast to discuss this regulation and its impact on the book industry. In this
conversation, Simon offers insights on how the EuDR affects the book supply chain,
practical steps for Canadian publishers who align with the regulation, as well as resources for
non-European publishers aiming to understand compliance requirements.
Another way to learn even more about the EUDR is by exploring the content on the BIC's
Green Hub, where they share updates and resources related to this particular legislation.
Now, shifting gears to the GPSR, you can learn more about this regulation on the BIC
website. We recommend reading the white paper, BIC Bites, "Introduction to General
Product Safety Regulations." And we also recommend watching the recording of "European
and data centers determine how information related to this and other safety regulations can
be communicated in the supply chain, EDItEUR released the "Product safety requirements in
ONIX 3" application note.
One important note from the EDItEUR team highlights that regulations linked to safety and
security are often updated, and they vary between countries, so publishers and distributors
should always check on the current regulations specific to the jurisdictions in which they
operate. They also said, "If there are aspects of regulations for safety that need to be
conveyed in an ONIX file that you cannot find in the current codelists, please contact
EDItEUR."
As you can see, a lot of the changes and additions made to ONIX have been driven by the
need to comply with the new regulations. In addition to what we have already shared, we
have a series of resources created by us and other organisations that will help you understand
the scope of these regulations and figure out the next steps towards compliance.
The first is a webinar where Chris Saynor and Wendy Reid guide Canadian publishers
through the essentials of the EAA. They talk about the role of metadata and ONIX in
compliance, they explore key accessibility standards and resources developed by the W3C,
and they share how Kobo is preparing to align with the EAA. You can find the recording,
slides, transcript, and a list of key resources mentioned in this presentation on the Tech
Forum website.
Then, for a deeper dive, we recommend watching the recordings from the webinar series all
about the EAA hosted by our UK sister organisation Book Industry Communication. In this
series, they explore topics such as fixed layout, alt text for digital books, EPUB and PDF,
and metadata. And if you want even more content related to accessibility that also touches on
the EAA, we recommend listening to our podcast interview with Wendy about the work the
W3C has been doing.
As for the EUDR, back in September, we co-hosted with the Book Industry Study Group, the
EUDR and ONIX webinar led by Graham Bell. In this webinar, Graham discusses the impact
of the EUDR, the responsibilities it places on publishers, distributors, and retailers both
within and outside the European Union, and the need for data collection and record keeping
about the sources of raw materials used in the book industry. He also describes how ONIX is
used to communicate some of the key metadata required for compliance with the regulations.
Additionally, back in December, we invited Simon Crump, environmental consultant for
BIC, to our podcast to discuss this regulation and its impact on the book industry. In this
conversation, Simon offers insights on how the EuDR affects the book supply chain,
practical steps for Canadian publishers who align with the regulation, as well as resources for
non-European publishers aiming to understand compliance requirements.
Another way to learn even more about the EUDR is by exploring the content on the BIC's
Green Hub, where they share updates and resources related to this particular legislation.
Now, shifting gears to the GPSR, you can learn more about this regulation on the BIC
website. We recommend reading the white paper, BIC Bites, "Introduction to General
Product Safety Regulations." And we also recommend watching the recording of "European
7
Directives, ONIX and the importance of metadata in the international book supply chain," a
webinar hosted by BISG where Chris Saynor provided an overview of the three European
directives.
Let's talk about Thema. At BookNet, we are big fans of Thema. We recommend that
Canadian data standards and receivers support both BISAC subject headings as well as
Thema subject categories to fulsomely represent book products for sale in Canada.
Back in October 2024, EDItEUR released Thema version 1.6. This version contains 131 new
subject categories and 411 new qualifiers. As with all previous Thema updates, this is an
additions-only update, meaning that all versions of Thema remain fully backward compatible
with their predecessors and no existing category has changed its meaning, though there are
some minor updates to the exact wording to improve clarity and aid in translation.
Some of the key additions include, first, qualifiers for the literature of a particular place. This
refers to groupings of books that are part of the culture of a place and related to the setting of
a story, the nationality of the author, and the country of publication. It also includes new
qualifiers to highlight books about or in support of individual UN Sustainable Development
Goals, or SDGs, as well as expansion of the range of popular fiction genre categories,
particularly within romance. And, finally, greater geographical coverage of Ukraine,
Australia, and Canada.
To celebrate the release of Thema version 1.6, our Tech Forum team hosted a webinar with
Chris Saynor of EDItEUR and Isabelle Gaudet-Labine of BTLF to share updates to Thema
and their applications to the Canadian market. As with all things Tech Forum, the recording
and resources can be found on the bnctechforum.ca website.
Our love for Thema doesn't end there. We continue to share real-life examples of the use of
Thema in our "Using Thema to identify diverse content in product metadata" blog series,
where we illustrate how Thema can complement BISAC while improving not only
discoverability but also subject classification accuracy. In addition to all this, we continue to
support and maintain the BISAC to Thema translator, which makes use of mapping to give
publishers an easy way to translate the BISAC codes they already use into Thema codes that
they shall be using. After all, BISAC and Thema are actually complementary subject systems
that are stronger together for the North American market, compared to using just one subject
coding system over the other.
By now, you may be wondering, what about BISAC? As mentioned at the beginning of the
presentation, the 2023 updates made to BISAC are particularly important to publishers of
Indigenous content. If you're not familiar with these yet, we have a written resource as well
as a presentation summarising key changes and additions. More recently, BISG released the
2024 update. To learn about the changes for this list as well as the process used to create the
update, we encourage you to watch this BISG webinar.
When it comes to the 2024 updates, there are a number of notable contributions from the
Canadian market participants. For example, the BISG Subject Codes Committee has added a
code for non-binary and genderqueer under the following subject ranges: Comics & Graphic
Novels/LGBTQ+, Fiction/Erotica/LGBTQ+, Fiction/LGBTQ+, Fiction/Romance/LGBTQ+,
Directives, ONIX and the importance of metadata in the international book supply chain," a
webinar hosted by BISG where Chris Saynor provided an overview of the three European
directives.
Let's talk about Thema. At BookNet, we are big fans of Thema. We recommend that
Canadian data standards and receivers support both BISAC subject headings as well as
Thema subject categories to fulsomely represent book products for sale in Canada.
Back in October 2024, EDItEUR released Thema version 1.6. This version contains 131 new
subject categories and 411 new qualifiers. As with all previous Thema updates, this is an
additions-only update, meaning that all versions of Thema remain fully backward compatible
with their predecessors and no existing category has changed its meaning, though there are
some minor updates to the exact wording to improve clarity and aid in translation.
Some of the key additions include, first, qualifiers for the literature of a particular place. This
refers to groupings of books that are part of the culture of a place and related to the setting of
a story, the nationality of the author, and the country of publication. It also includes new
qualifiers to highlight books about or in support of individual UN Sustainable Development
Goals, or SDGs, as well as expansion of the range of popular fiction genre categories,
particularly within romance. And, finally, greater geographical coverage of Ukraine,
Australia, and Canada.
To celebrate the release of Thema version 1.6, our Tech Forum team hosted a webinar with
Chris Saynor of EDItEUR and Isabelle Gaudet-Labine of BTLF to share updates to Thema
and their applications to the Canadian market. As with all things Tech Forum, the recording
and resources can be found on the bnctechforum.ca website.
Our love for Thema doesn't end there. We continue to share real-life examples of the use of
Thema in our "Using Thema to identify diverse content in product metadata" blog series,
where we illustrate how Thema can complement BISAC while improving not only
discoverability but also subject classification accuracy. In addition to all this, we continue to
support and maintain the BISAC to Thema translator, which makes use of mapping to give
publishers an easy way to translate the BISAC codes they already use into Thema codes that
they shall be using. After all, BISAC and Thema are actually complementary subject systems
that are stronger together for the North American market, compared to using just one subject
coding system over the other.
By now, you may be wondering, what about BISAC? As mentioned at the beginning of the
presentation, the 2023 updates made to BISAC are particularly important to publishers of
Indigenous content. If you're not familiar with these yet, we have a written resource as well
as a presentation summarising key changes and additions. More recently, BISG released the
2024 update. To learn about the changes for this list as well as the process used to create the
update, we encourage you to watch this BISG webinar.
When it comes to the 2024 updates, there are a number of notable contributions from the
Canadian market participants. For example, the BISG Subject Codes Committee has added a
code for non-binary and genderqueer under the following subject ranges: Comics & Graphic
Novels/LGBTQ+, Fiction/Erotica/LGBTQ+, Fiction/LGBTQ+, Fiction/Romance/LGBTQ+,
8
Social Science/LGBTQ+ Studies, Young Adult Fiction/LGBTQ+, Young Adult
Nonfiction/LGBTQ+, Juvenile Fiction/LGBTQ+, Juvenile Nonfiction/LGBTQ+. The last
three are branches newly created. I also would like to mention that this work is thanks to an
initial request by Jamie Ferrin at Penguin Random House Canada and was endorsed by the
Canadian National Bibliographic Committee.
Another major set of additions is largely thanks to Blake Sproule and the team at Playwrights
Canada Press who dropped their proposal list to the BISG Subject Codes Committee for the
subject additions under the DRAMA subject tree. There are over 20 changes to the DRAMA
section, including new codes for adaptations, monologues and scenes, and a robust branch
for subjects and themes. Additional notable changes for the 2024 edition is a major
reorganisation of art subjects and a renaming of the Foreign Language Study tree to the more
neutral and respectful Language Study. To understand the breadth of the changes, please
refer to the BookNet's blog on the topic.
And last but not least, let's talk about the International Standard Name Identifier also known
as ISNI. As you may know, we are long -time advocates of the use of ISNI. In fact, back in
August, we shared on the blog an overview of our current understanding of where the
Canadian industry is on this important topic. We also highlighted a document where ISNI,
the organisation, shares a list of benefits for publishers that come from using this identifier.
Some of them include global identification of contributors across multiple systems, a single
identifier for all entities from the public names of contributors to fictional characters, and
publishers' imprints to data aggregators, cross-media marketing, and data enrichment as well
as interoperability.
However, it remains that obtaining an ISNI was challenging for English market participants
in Canada, formerly served by the British Library who were not able to access ISNI
registration services as the library recovered from a cyber attack. Recent developments in the
register space will open up opportunities for English- speaking Canadians to obtain ISNIs in
2025.
With this, we've reached the end of this section of the presentation. Stay here as what's to
follow is an insightful conversation between Lauren Stewart and BookNet's standard expert
bibliographic manager Tom Richardson where they ponder on the bigger questions and try to
predict what will be next in 2025. And remember, the best way to stay up to date about all
things standards is to subscribe to eNews, our weekly newsletter. Over to you, Tom and
Lauren.
Lauren Stewart: Hello, Tom. I get the luxury of being able to talk with you virtually every
weekday I'd like to about standards issues whenever they come up. And I know that many
people in our audience don't actually have that same privilege and would love to. So, that's
why we thought we would do this a little bit differently this year. And for those who are
watching today, we thought we'd grab a little bit of your time to talk about the last year and
standards and capture some of your thoughts.
It has been a wild year. We've seen a few new ONIX releases, some major codelist releases,
a new edition of BISAC, as well as a large new release of Thema. And all of this has been
occurring in a changing trade environment that has been causing a lot of concern. In the past
Social Science/LGBTQ+ Studies, Young Adult Fiction/LGBTQ+, Young Adult
Nonfiction/LGBTQ+, Juvenile Fiction/LGBTQ+, Juvenile Nonfiction/LGBTQ+. The last
three are branches newly created. I also would like to mention that this work is thanks to an
initial request by Jamie Ferrin at Penguin Random House Canada and was endorsed by the
Canadian National Bibliographic Committee.
Another major set of additions is largely thanks to Blake Sproule and the team at Playwrights
Canada Press who dropped their proposal list to the BISG Subject Codes Committee for the
subject additions under the DRAMA subject tree. There are over 20 changes to the DRAMA
section, including new codes for adaptations, monologues and scenes, and a robust branch
for subjects and themes. Additional notable changes for the 2024 edition is a major
reorganisation of art subjects and a renaming of the Foreign Language Study tree to the more
neutral and respectful Language Study. To understand the breadth of the changes, please
refer to the BookNet's blog on the topic.
And last but not least, let's talk about the International Standard Name Identifier also known
as ISNI. As you may know, we are long -time advocates of the use of ISNI. In fact, back in
August, we shared on the blog an overview of our current understanding of where the
Canadian industry is on this important topic. We also highlighted a document where ISNI,
the organisation, shares a list of benefits for publishers that come from using this identifier.
Some of them include global identification of contributors across multiple systems, a single
identifier for all entities from the public names of contributors to fictional characters, and
publishers' imprints to data aggregators, cross-media marketing, and data enrichment as well
as interoperability.
However, it remains that obtaining an ISNI was challenging for English market participants
in Canada, formerly served by the British Library who were not able to access ISNI
registration services as the library recovered from a cyber attack. Recent developments in the
register space will open up opportunities for English- speaking Canadians to obtain ISNIs in
2025.
With this, we've reached the end of this section of the presentation. Stay here as what's to
follow is an insightful conversation between Lauren Stewart and BookNet's standard expert
bibliographic manager Tom Richardson where they ponder on the bigger questions and try to
predict what will be next in 2025. And remember, the best way to stay up to date about all
things standards is to subscribe to eNews, our weekly newsletter. Over to you, Tom and
Lauren.
Lauren Stewart: Hello, Tom. I get the luxury of being able to talk with you virtually every
weekday I'd like to about standards issues whenever they come up. And I know that many
people in our audience don't actually have that same privilege and would love to. So, that's
why we thought we would do this a little bit differently this year. And for those who are
watching today, we thought we'd grab a little bit of your time to talk about the last year and
standards and capture some of your thoughts.
It has been a wild year. We've seen a few new ONIX releases, some major codelist releases,
a new edition of BISAC, as well as a large new release of Thema. And all of this has been
occurring in a changing trade environment that has been causing a lot of concern. In the past
9
year, many people at BookNet, including yourself, have found themselves burgeoning
experts in a number of the newly introduced pieces of European legislation, which we'll get
into today. And also looking at tariffs in a new way amid these emerging concerns about
trade between the U.S. and Canada. With all of that whirling around us in the present as well
as in the past year, I do have a number of questions for you today, and I think we should just
get started. And are you ready to get into some standards talk?
Tom Richardson: Well, I do think we're officially in interesting times.
Lauren: Yes, that might be the theme of today. And I think to kick us off, I think the
simplest way is to have you walk us through the release of ONIX 3.1.2 in November of last
year. And so the reason I started with this is I'm wondering if you could explain to our
audience why it's important to stay on top of regular ONIX releases, and particularly why
this one, this 3.1.2 release matters, because I imagine that for many ONIX implementers in
Canada, it may seem like the transition to 3.0 is still quite fresh in their minds.
Tom: That's terrifying in its way, just in the sense of it being around for so long. But I think
it's important to go back to the introduction of 3.1 in 2003. And I just want to take the
opportunity to say that I'm pleased to say that most of BiblioShare's Canadian source files in
version 3 meet that revised standard. And that's a big kudos to us all and well done on that.
So, there were some real changes to ONIX at that point.
Now, since then, ONIX has actually released two more version updates. So, it's hard not to
go through the basics, but just to be clear, ONIX is always changing. Four or five times a
year, EDItEUR updates the ONIX codelists, adding new codes to existing lists and what's
called issue updates. The important thing here is your software vendor should be providing
you access to these new codes and retailers should be accepting them. Continuous minor
change. You got to plan for it, you got to accept it. It's just there.
Now, version changes are when the structure of ONIX is changed to support new
functionality through new tags, new codelists and new composites. And there's been 11 of
them since 2010. While we should expect major changes every couple of years, EDItEUR
will make mini version updates to add immediately needed functionality. And that's what
these two represented, being added in the spring and fall of 2024. And they added support to
things needed by new European regulations. So, 3.1.1 added an AI-related opt-out for
marketing material in ONIX. And 3.1.2 added the ability to add a mailing address and
needed to meet contact requirements in the EU for accessibility and safety metadata.
It's not that difficult. There's nothing that much going on there, but people seem to be
confused by version changes, particularly when they think they need to implement them.
And they may then discover that this new thing is embedded in the larger section that they
may not have implemented. So, 3.1.2's addition was to product content, which appears in
Block-4 publishing. So, you probably do have that support for it there. And in two places in
Block-6, product supply to support either a publisher market contact or supplier contact. And
you may or may not support that product contact information there. So, who knows?
So, the EU request is to have an EU-based contact available. So, I would expect it to be
delivered in the EU market specific section and not part of the publishing detail. It doesn't
year, many people at BookNet, including yourself, have found themselves burgeoning
experts in a number of the newly introduced pieces of European legislation, which we'll get
into today. And also looking at tariffs in a new way amid these emerging concerns about
trade between the U.S. and Canada. With all of that whirling around us in the present as well
as in the past year, I do have a number of questions for you today, and I think we should just
get started. And are you ready to get into some standards talk?
Tom Richardson: Well, I do think we're officially in interesting times.
Lauren: Yes, that might be the theme of today. And I think to kick us off, I think the
simplest way is to have you walk us through the release of ONIX 3.1.2 in November of last
year. And so the reason I started with this is I'm wondering if you could explain to our
audience why it's important to stay on top of regular ONIX releases, and particularly why
this one, this 3.1.2 release matters, because I imagine that for many ONIX implementers in
Canada, it may seem like the transition to 3.0 is still quite fresh in their minds.
Tom: That's terrifying in its way, just in the sense of it being around for so long. But I think
it's important to go back to the introduction of 3.1 in 2003. And I just want to take the
opportunity to say that I'm pleased to say that most of BiblioShare's Canadian source files in
version 3 meet that revised standard. And that's a big kudos to us all and well done on that.
So, there were some real changes to ONIX at that point.
Now, since then, ONIX has actually released two more version updates. So, it's hard not to
go through the basics, but just to be clear, ONIX is always changing. Four or five times a
year, EDItEUR updates the ONIX codelists, adding new codes to existing lists and what's
called issue updates. The important thing here is your software vendor should be providing
you access to these new codes and retailers should be accepting them. Continuous minor
change. You got to plan for it, you got to accept it. It's just there.
Now, version changes are when the structure of ONIX is changed to support new
functionality through new tags, new codelists and new composites. And there's been 11 of
them since 2010. While we should expect major changes every couple of years, EDItEUR
will make mini version updates to add immediately needed functionality. And that's what
these two represented, being added in the spring and fall of 2024. And they added support to
things needed by new European regulations. So, 3.1.1 added an AI-related opt-out for
marketing material in ONIX. And 3.1.2 added the ability to add a mailing address and
needed to meet contact requirements in the EU for accessibility and safety metadata.
It's not that difficult. There's nothing that much going on there, but people seem to be
confused by version changes, particularly when they think they need to implement them.
And they may then discover that this new thing is embedded in the larger section that they
may not have implemented. So, 3.1.2's addition was to product content, which appears in
Block-4 publishing. So, you probably do have that support for it there. And in two places in
Block-6, product supply to support either a publisher market contact or supplier contact. And
you may or may not support that product contact information there. So, who knows?
So, the EU request is to have an EU-based contact available. So, I would expect it to be
delivered in the EU market specific section and not part of the publishing detail. It doesn't
10
really make sense to stick it in the middle of your publishing detail to suddenly have an EU
contact there where you have to have somebody named in the EU... I mean, I don't know. Put
it in the market section for the EU, and it makes perfect sense. So, I really do think that the
market publishing detail product contact is most likely the right place to be. But if your
distributor is handling it for you, then maybe it should belong in the supplier section, supply
detail. I don't know.
So, really the first question is, are you creating this section in the ONIX or are they? So, you
may need to do nothing. That's usually what I have found that most Canadian publishers can
rely on the European contact to add this piece of information, but they don't actually have to
add anything. My point is you're not responsible for implementing everything in ONIX and
the EU-based contact is best provided by an EU trading partner.
However, regulators are likely to hold your business responsible for supporting their
regulations. And that might be in ONIX or not, and that's something we can touch on later.
That's, kind of, the most important thing. It's not what you need to do in ONIX. It's a simple
question. What you need to support regulations is a complex question.
So, accessibility is settling in as a well- documented standard. We have the training in place
courtesy of Benetech and eBound. There are guidelines available through W3C, and a
number of other agencies as well. And the main issue is to simply make sure that the work
done in creating accessible books has been made available both in the e-books metadata and
the ONIX metadata so that retailers can display it in advance of purchase. I think you should
expect regulators will want to find congruence between what's in the product, what the
product can do, and what's in both types of metadata showing it. So, regulation is like an
outside compliance thing, looking at all of that.
So, there's a couple of things that people should not forget that are worth mentioning on this.
In addition to Europe's EAA deadline in June, the U.S. deadline for Title II, their
Accessibility Act, their deadline for compliance is upcoming a year from now, April 2026.
Most authorities feel EU guidelines will work for Title II compliance. That's a question, but
we think you're okay. But the U.S. is just one of many jurisdictions that will have these sorts
of requirements. EDItEUR has stressed the importance of codelist 81 product content codes,
in addition to supporting the accessibility codes of list 196 used in product form feature.
Now the idea is simple but seems to confuse people. Different components of books, what
list 81 provides, can have implications for what accessibility support will be needed in the
book. So, this is like the master list for librarians and users alike to avoid surprises. If you're
supporting alt text, then you should have list 81 components that need alt text. And
contrariwise, listing such components without coding for alt text is like a gigantic red flag.
Regulators are expected to look for the red flags. So, you should be using list 81 and it
should help you organise your materials, and it should help make sure that you're providing
accessibility properly, and it should also help regulators regulate.
So, a final good note just kind of about the whole transition thing. Amazon has added ONIX
3 support for digital products and are expected to announce an actual cutoff of support for
ONIX 2.1 sometime soonish. Maybe the end of the year. It's not clear that they will set a
deadline, but it has been their practice up to now. Also note for accessible books that
really make sense to stick it in the middle of your publishing detail to suddenly have an EU
contact there where you have to have somebody named in the EU... I mean, I don't know. Put
it in the market section for the EU, and it makes perfect sense. So, I really do think that the
market publishing detail product contact is most likely the right place to be. But if your
distributor is handling it for you, then maybe it should belong in the supplier section, supply
detail. I don't know.
So, really the first question is, are you creating this section in the ONIX or are they? So, you
may need to do nothing. That's usually what I have found that most Canadian publishers can
rely on the European contact to add this piece of information, but they don't actually have to
add anything. My point is you're not responsible for implementing everything in ONIX and
the EU-based contact is best provided by an EU trading partner.
However, regulators are likely to hold your business responsible for supporting their
regulations. And that might be in ONIX or not, and that's something we can touch on later.
That's, kind of, the most important thing. It's not what you need to do in ONIX. It's a simple
question. What you need to support regulations is a complex question.
So, accessibility is settling in as a well- documented standard. We have the training in place
courtesy of Benetech and eBound. There are guidelines available through W3C, and a
number of other agencies as well. And the main issue is to simply make sure that the work
done in creating accessible books has been made available both in the e-books metadata and
the ONIX metadata so that retailers can display it in advance of purchase. I think you should
expect regulators will want to find congruence between what's in the product, what the
product can do, and what's in both types of metadata showing it. So, regulation is like an
outside compliance thing, looking at all of that.
So, there's a couple of things that people should not forget that are worth mentioning on this.
In addition to Europe's EAA deadline in June, the U.S. deadline for Title II, their
Accessibility Act, their deadline for compliance is upcoming a year from now, April 2026.
Most authorities feel EU guidelines will work for Title II compliance. That's a question, but
we think you're okay. But the U.S. is just one of many jurisdictions that will have these sorts
of requirements. EDItEUR has stressed the importance of codelist 81 product content codes,
in addition to supporting the accessibility codes of list 196 used in product form feature.
Now the idea is simple but seems to confuse people. Different components of books, what
list 81 provides, can have implications for what accessibility support will be needed in the
book. So, this is like the master list for librarians and users alike to avoid surprises. If you're
supporting alt text, then you should have list 81 components that need alt text. And
contrariwise, listing such components without coding for alt text is like a gigantic red flag.
Regulators are expected to look for the red flags. So, you should be using list 81 and it
should help you organise your materials, and it should help make sure that you're providing
accessibility properly, and it should also help regulators regulate.
So, a final good note just kind of about the whole transition thing. Amazon has added ONIX
3 support for digital products and are expected to announce an actual cutoff of support for
ONIX 2.1 sometime soonish. Maybe the end of the year. It's not clear that they will set a
deadline, but it has been their practice up to now. Also note for accessible books that
11
Amazon has announced full support of accessibility metadata as well as a plan to implement
its display of it following the W3C guidelines. That's very much the best part. They are
planning to support accessibility as we understand it should be supported.
Lauren: Thanks, Tom. I'm definitely going to come back to that. And one thing that struck
me as you were talking, I'm going to misquote you, but there was a line where you said that
providing this information in ONIX is easier but actually following the legislations and being
compliant is harder. And that beautifully matched a line from the "Hamilton" musical where
George Washington speaks to Alexander Hamilton and says, "Winning is easy, governing is
harder." And I think that you kind of nailed it on the head there, that we feel quite confident
that ONIX is ready to take on a lot of these challenges thanks to the strong stewardship at
EDItEUR. But actually as a company being prepared to robustly support the compliance and
understanding why we're providing this metadata is a whole separate thing. And I think
you've really laid that out quite clearly here and I appreciate that. I think it's going to help a
lot of people make its way through.
But before we move on, I do want to loop back to that little piece you mentioned at the end
there about Amazon, that they will start to accept ONIX 3.0 and 3.1 files for digital content
as of March 21st of 2025. That was announced earlier in March and welcomed by many as
this could likely be the next major driver to get any holdout still reporting or sorry, still
sending data I should say using 2.1 moving over to 3. As much as I know you don't want to
talk about this, but I think we have to. Let's talk a bit about the transition from 2.1 to 3. And
now this new 3.1. I know you've observed that that transition to ONIX 3.0 has been stalled in
Canada. Are you able to kind of talk us through that and what you envisage for the next 12
months?
Tom: Well, I think the most important thing that may have come up is that you may have
just put the seeds for ONIX the Musical out there. But, okay, BISG, like under the very, very
great tutelage of Clarivate's Pat Payton, and with the support of BookNet Canada, should be
releasing its best practices for North American metadata this year. This is a mammoth task. It
has literally taken years to complete. It is a document firmly based on meeting ONIX
standards as well as identifying industry needs. And its use will help solidify the transition to
ONIX 3.0. So, that is probably the best news possible for overall things.
And to be honest, I don't think the transition is stalled. I think that almost every Canadian
publisher can supply version 3. And in terms of accepting it, Indigo, Bookmanager, as well
as major U.S. retailers and wholesalers, and now Amazon are accepting it fully. So, maybe
it's worth talking about who the holdouts are. And they are the betwixt and between.
Canadian distributors, mid- size U.S. companies who are not serviced by a major data
aggregator, and of course BookNet Canada's own BiblioShare is embarrassingly a holdout,
these large ER companies that are accepting data from and delivering data to others.
So, you get caught by your success of what you've been doing, making it hard to change as
everybody is already reliant on the old process on both sides. So, it's really hard for these
groups to make the transition. In the case of BiblioShare, we have made some issues in our...
We have had some issues in our ability to load and process 3.0 in volume. And I can just say
our decision to maintain ONIX as ONIX is a brilliant choice for our standards and a brutal
one for ability to smoothly make this transition. Twice the data processing is hard. That said,
Amazon has announced full support of accessibility metadata as well as a plan to implement
its display of it following the W3C guidelines. That's very much the best part. They are
planning to support accessibility as we understand it should be supported.
Lauren: Thanks, Tom. I'm definitely going to come back to that. And one thing that struck
me as you were talking, I'm going to misquote you, but there was a line where you said that
providing this information in ONIX is easier but actually following the legislations and being
compliant is harder. And that beautifully matched a line from the "Hamilton" musical where
George Washington speaks to Alexander Hamilton and says, "Winning is easy, governing is
harder." And I think that you kind of nailed it on the head there, that we feel quite confident
that ONIX is ready to take on a lot of these challenges thanks to the strong stewardship at
EDItEUR. But actually as a company being prepared to robustly support the compliance and
understanding why we're providing this metadata is a whole separate thing. And I think
you've really laid that out quite clearly here and I appreciate that. I think it's going to help a
lot of people make its way through.
But before we move on, I do want to loop back to that little piece you mentioned at the end
there about Amazon, that they will start to accept ONIX 3.0 and 3.1 files for digital content
as of March 21st of 2025. That was announced earlier in March and welcomed by many as
this could likely be the next major driver to get any holdout still reporting or sorry, still
sending data I should say using 2.1 moving over to 3. As much as I know you don't want to
talk about this, but I think we have to. Let's talk a bit about the transition from 2.1 to 3. And
now this new 3.1. I know you've observed that that transition to ONIX 3.0 has been stalled in
Canada. Are you able to kind of talk us through that and what you envisage for the next 12
months?
Tom: Well, I think the most important thing that may have come up is that you may have
just put the seeds for ONIX the Musical out there. But, okay, BISG, like under the very, very
great tutelage of Clarivate's Pat Payton, and with the support of BookNet Canada, should be
releasing its best practices for North American metadata this year. This is a mammoth task. It
has literally taken years to complete. It is a document firmly based on meeting ONIX
standards as well as identifying industry needs. And its use will help solidify the transition to
ONIX 3.0. So, that is probably the best news possible for overall things.
And to be honest, I don't think the transition is stalled. I think that almost every Canadian
publisher can supply version 3. And in terms of accepting it, Indigo, Bookmanager, as well
as major U.S. retailers and wholesalers, and now Amazon are accepting it fully. So, maybe
it's worth talking about who the holdouts are. And they are the betwixt and between.
Canadian distributors, mid- size U.S. companies who are not serviced by a major data
aggregator, and of course BookNet Canada's own BiblioShare is embarrassingly a holdout,
these large ER companies that are accepting data from and delivering data to others.
So, you get caught by your success of what you've been doing, making it hard to change as
everybody is already reliant on the old process on both sides. So, it's really hard for these
groups to make the transition. In the case of BiblioShare, we have made some issues in our...
We have had some issues in our ability to load and process 3.0 in volume. And I can just say
our decision to maintain ONIX as ONIX is a brilliant choice for our standards and a brutal
one for ability to smoothly make this transition. Twice the data processing is hard. That said,
12
CataList has begun work with some accounts in 3.0 and BiblioShare has started serious work
on unupdated system. Stay tuned for more on that as the year progresses.
So, where are we? Amazon going fully free will be well served by the publishers who have
largely made the transition. But I don't think it will solve the remaining transition problems,
but we can see the time has come. Try to have sympathy for those who remain meeting the
older standard or spreadsheets. There are still some of those. But sympathy is time-sensitive
and companies will make the business choices that they need to make. And that's going to
drive the transition and it's coming.
Lauren: And that's a great validation for those of us, including us at BookNet that have had
to kind of manage these legacy 2.1 systems at the same time as supporting kind of a robust
increase in volume as people move to 3.0. So, necessitating this need to really transition
sooner rather than later, I think that that empathy piece that you're talking about is really fair.
Yeah, thank you for that. Thank you for that.
And another thread I wanted to pick up on from before, and I'm sorry for not mentioning it
earlier, is that European Accessibility Act, the EAA and then this other acronym that we've
talked about quite a bit the past year, which is the EUDR, which is also known as the
European Union Deforestation Regulation. Both of these have become almost buzzwords
over the last several months, and I think it's a good idea to go over these major pieces of
legislation and how they may impact Canadian data centers and recipients in a bit more
detail. You did kind of talk about that earlier. So, tell me in the words of Tom, what are the
EAA and EUDR and how does ONIX and bibliographic metadata play a part in compliance
since that's been part of the theme of your remarks so far?
Tom: Well, I'm still thinking about the ONIX the Musical and how this might be integrated
into that. Okay, there are actually three pieces of European legislation, and there are some
really excellent webinars available as far from EDItEUR that should be consulted for a full
explanation. The layers of this run deep. The three that have to concern publishers are the
new safety regulations, GPSR, EAA, the European Accessibility Act, and EUDR, European
Deforestation Regulations. The thing that ties these together is that they represent protection
for European consumers. So, if you want to sell products in Europe, they need to be safe.
That's easy to understand. Consumers who need the support of accessible products should
have it knowable and available. That's also easy to understand. And maybe a little more
controversially, consumers should know that their products have not added to deforestation
worldwide. And these regulations affect any product using wood, including books.
Now, what's also shared here is there is a burden of proof involved and an expectation that
book metadata is part of the solution. But there are two separate things. Generally, books are
safe, assuming responsible manufacturing, and we have a good understanding the metadata
needs of accessible products. So, it's mostly a matter of delivering that information. The
regulation ensuring that products are sourced from sustainably harvested wood is harder to
meet, and there is a registration of documents. The trick with this proof, and this is shared by
any of the regulations, is that every stage of the supply chain is responsible for the
information they use. Due diligence is the byword and it is expected and should be provable.
CataList has begun work with some accounts in 3.0 and BiblioShare has started serious work
on unupdated system. Stay tuned for more on that as the year progresses.
So, where are we? Amazon going fully free will be well served by the publishers who have
largely made the transition. But I don't think it will solve the remaining transition problems,
but we can see the time has come. Try to have sympathy for those who remain meeting the
older standard or spreadsheets. There are still some of those. But sympathy is time-sensitive
and companies will make the business choices that they need to make. And that's going to
drive the transition and it's coming.
Lauren: And that's a great validation for those of us, including us at BookNet that have had
to kind of manage these legacy 2.1 systems at the same time as supporting kind of a robust
increase in volume as people move to 3.0. So, necessitating this need to really transition
sooner rather than later, I think that that empathy piece that you're talking about is really fair.
Yeah, thank you for that. Thank you for that.
And another thread I wanted to pick up on from before, and I'm sorry for not mentioning it
earlier, is that European Accessibility Act, the EAA and then this other acronym that we've
talked about quite a bit the past year, which is the EUDR, which is also known as the
European Union Deforestation Regulation. Both of these have become almost buzzwords
over the last several months, and I think it's a good idea to go over these major pieces of
legislation and how they may impact Canadian data centers and recipients in a bit more
detail. You did kind of talk about that earlier. So, tell me in the words of Tom, what are the
EAA and EUDR and how does ONIX and bibliographic metadata play a part in compliance
since that's been part of the theme of your remarks so far?
Tom: Well, I'm still thinking about the ONIX the Musical and how this might be integrated
into that. Okay, there are actually three pieces of European legislation, and there are some
really excellent webinars available as far from EDItEUR that should be consulted for a full
explanation. The layers of this run deep. The three that have to concern publishers are the
new safety regulations, GPSR, EAA, the European Accessibility Act, and EUDR, European
Deforestation Regulations. The thing that ties these together is that they represent protection
for European consumers. So, if you want to sell products in Europe, they need to be safe.
That's easy to understand. Consumers who need the support of accessible products should
have it knowable and available. That's also easy to understand. And maybe a little more
controversially, consumers should know that their products have not added to deforestation
worldwide. And these regulations affect any product using wood, including books.
Now, what's also shared here is there is a burden of proof involved and an expectation that
book metadata is part of the solution. But there are two separate things. Generally, books are
safe, assuming responsible manufacturing, and we have a good understanding the metadata
needs of accessible products. So, it's mostly a matter of delivering that information. The
regulation ensuring that products are sourced from sustainably harvested wood is harder to
meet, and there is a registration of documents. The trick with this proof, and this is shared by
any of the regulations, is that every stage of the supply chain is responsible for the
information they use. Due diligence is the byword and it is expected and should be provable.
13
Ultimately, the paper provider is responsible for the material that they manufacture paper
from, but the publisher is responsible for their due diligence on all the paper in the book, the
cover, the jacket and paper stock, and they may all be uniquely sourced. Records must be
kept. We can trace a piece of beef back to the animal on the farm. Similarly, we can track the
wood back to the forest.
Now, due diligence means that you need more than your word if a question comes up. The
flashing light source or the improbable allergic reaction to a book may require specific
information from its manufacturer, and the more detailed the better. What if a consumer
complains that the accessible book does not support the accessible features it's purported to
have? You know, there's a responsible contact, and resolution should be possible. What that
looks like and how it's regulated is kind of an open question.
For the deforestation to work, it means an audit has to be done. And if the chain has holes in
it that can't be verified, then it may be that the product may not be sold in Europe. There are
consequences to failing the audit. Now, the publisher is responsibility and can't just take the
paper mill's word, nor can the paper mill take the forestry companies. And the retailer selling
the book needs to be able to use the same diligence as the publisher is showing. Each is
responsible. Each is accountable.
So, does ONIX need the full level of support, including supporting geocoding of source
trees? I'm not 100% sure it's clear yet that all of that needs to be in the ONIX or not. But
European forestry and manufacturers can be argued to have an inside route supply chain
diligence in Europe. The documents at all parts of the chain are internal and are all registered
within that European system. When you become a foreign publisher and a foreign
manufacturer, you have to create and supply them on their own.
Now, they're going to need that information for the first declaration of compliance that needs
to be registered in the EU. And retailers need to be able to see that the geocoding is part of
their due diligence. So, maybe you'd need to include that. But if your European partners think
not, then maybe the Canadian publisher should still expect to have it on file and have shown
good due diligence in confirming it to the best of their ability. It would be a shame to
discover that the coding leads to a suspect source that you never bothered to check.
Can I just say that there is no reason to assume bad faith on anyone's part or that we even
know what the audits will look like? The EU's goal is laudable. They do protect their
consumers and help the planet. I think we should expect this sort of due diligence model to
be supported by more jurisdictions and this type of record keeping, a business requirement as
we go forward.
Lauren: My tendency is to agree with you on that there, Tom. I do think this is going to be
the new way forward with a lot of different jurisdictions. And I think you're absolutely right
that rather than pushing back against some of these legislations, that we should see them as
an indicator of what's to come and also to appreciate that they are wholly reasonable asks of
suppliers that are present in a market. And a market has the right to protect its consumers. I
think that everything you've said here is absolutely accurate. And I promise to not ask you
any more today about the EU, about EU legislation, and we'll move away from that to one of
Ultimately, the paper provider is responsible for the material that they manufacture paper
from, but the publisher is responsible for their due diligence on all the paper in the book, the
cover, the jacket and paper stock, and they may all be uniquely sourced. Records must be
kept. We can trace a piece of beef back to the animal on the farm. Similarly, we can track the
wood back to the forest.
Now, due diligence means that you need more than your word if a question comes up. The
flashing light source or the improbable allergic reaction to a book may require specific
information from its manufacturer, and the more detailed the better. What if a consumer
complains that the accessible book does not support the accessible features it's purported to
have? You know, there's a responsible contact, and resolution should be possible. What that
looks like and how it's regulated is kind of an open question.
For the deforestation to work, it means an audit has to be done. And if the chain has holes in
it that can't be verified, then it may be that the product may not be sold in Europe. There are
consequences to failing the audit. Now, the publisher is responsibility and can't just take the
paper mill's word, nor can the paper mill take the forestry companies. And the retailer selling
the book needs to be able to use the same diligence as the publisher is showing. Each is
responsible. Each is accountable.
So, does ONIX need the full level of support, including supporting geocoding of source
trees? I'm not 100% sure it's clear yet that all of that needs to be in the ONIX or not. But
European forestry and manufacturers can be argued to have an inside route supply chain
diligence in Europe. The documents at all parts of the chain are internal and are all registered
within that European system. When you become a foreign publisher and a foreign
manufacturer, you have to create and supply them on their own.
Now, they're going to need that information for the first declaration of compliance that needs
to be registered in the EU. And retailers need to be able to see that the geocoding is part of
their due diligence. So, maybe you'd need to include that. But if your European partners think
not, then maybe the Canadian publisher should still expect to have it on file and have shown
good due diligence in confirming it to the best of their ability. It would be a shame to
discover that the coding leads to a suspect source that you never bothered to check.
Can I just say that there is no reason to assume bad faith on anyone's part or that we even
know what the audits will look like? The EU's goal is laudable. They do protect their
consumers and help the planet. I think we should expect this sort of due diligence model to
be supported by more jurisdictions and this type of record keeping, a business requirement as
we go forward.
Lauren: My tendency is to agree with you on that there, Tom. I do think this is going to be
the new way forward with a lot of different jurisdictions. And I think you're absolutely right
that rather than pushing back against some of these legislations, that we should see them as
an indicator of what's to come and also to appreciate that they are wholly reasonable asks of
suppliers that are present in a market. And a market has the right to protect its consumers. I
think that everything you've said here is absolutely accurate. And I promise to not ask you
any more today about the EU, about EU legislation, and we'll move away from that to one of
14
my favourite areas of the last year and about the work that we do here at BookNet is to talk
about subjects.
Big deal last year was that there was a new version release for Thema in 2024, which is great
because Thema just experienced its 10-year anniversary back in 2023. So, a release in 2024
validates that we're still going strong. And in Canada, we have this unique situation because
we have these duelling French and English markets that necessitate support of both Thema
and BISAC. One of the things that you spoke to me about years ago was how... You
mentioned that you feel that Thema and BISAC actually work quite well together. And that
is something that has stuck with me and I think is excellent guidance for anyone who is
working with metadata or is working with subject coding. And I'm wondering if you could
flesh that idea out a bit more about how you feel that BISAC and Thema work well together.
Can you speak to any of these recent releases for either that can kind of give us some
examples of this and and walk us through these two standards?
Tom: Well, publishers don't want to spend money, and they've always had the desire to have
one subject standard. And it's natural to think that it should be Thema. It certainly makes
sense to us in Canada. But I think it's a simple fact that BISAC is not going to go anywhere.
It is and will remain the dominant subject standard for the U.S. market. And, well, BISAC is
very supportive really of Canadian needs. The reason Canadian publishers need to support
both is Thema is better for our market, and it's better for selling outside of our market. One of
the reasons Thema is better for our market is that it's the standard that's actually shared
between the French market and the English Canadian market. I don't know how best to
describe those two.
But the reason I stress that they work well together is they have different strengths. And I
think the reason that the U.S. seems to be planning to support Thema as well, and they
certainly are talking about that even if I don't know there's been a lot of real activity going
forward on it, that if you're investing heavily in say something like keywords, which people
love and somehow have a real belief in, and you can't see the strength of a system like
Thema, which is like basically providing you with a whole spectrum of concepts that link
books together and qualifiers that link books together and do provide it in a structured,
predictable way that you could actually make a displayed subject system work well with, I
mean, well, I don't know what you're looking at. I m ean, it is just self-evidently possible.
But we do have a webinar done in 2023 with a UK bookseller who uses Thema and basically
sort of says it works really well and increases his sales. Go watch it. If we had him back
again, he would only come back with even more information supporting it.
The weakness in BISAC is that it provides a series of descriptive terms that make sense in
the U.S. market and to a degree in the Canadian market, if BISAC stuck to its strength,
which would be segmenting the U.S. market into saleable groupings of books and changing it
all the time so that each year the coding changes, but there's linkage of what's selling well at
any given time and you're organising some of your sales based information on BISAC, you're
seeing it at this point. You're doing really well.
Thema, not so good here. Thema, good for websites, good for searching. Very organised
means you're doing something. It does something that keywords can't provide. Keywords are
my favourite areas of the last year and about the work that we do here at BookNet is to talk
about subjects.
Big deal last year was that there was a new version release for Thema in 2024, which is great
because Thema just experienced its 10-year anniversary back in 2023. So, a release in 2024
validates that we're still going strong. And in Canada, we have this unique situation because
we have these duelling French and English markets that necessitate support of both Thema
and BISAC. One of the things that you spoke to me about years ago was how... You
mentioned that you feel that Thema and BISAC actually work quite well together. And that
is something that has stuck with me and I think is excellent guidance for anyone who is
working with metadata or is working with subject coding. And I'm wondering if you could
flesh that idea out a bit more about how you feel that BISAC and Thema work well together.
Can you speak to any of these recent releases for either that can kind of give us some
examples of this and and walk us through these two standards?
Tom: Well, publishers don't want to spend money, and they've always had the desire to have
one subject standard. And it's natural to think that it should be Thema. It certainly makes
sense to us in Canada. But I think it's a simple fact that BISAC is not going to go anywhere.
It is and will remain the dominant subject standard for the U.S. market. And, well, BISAC is
very supportive really of Canadian needs. The reason Canadian publishers need to support
both is Thema is better for our market, and it's better for selling outside of our market. One of
the reasons Thema is better for our market is that it's the standard that's actually shared
between the French market and the English Canadian market. I don't know how best to
describe those two.
But the reason I stress that they work well together is they have different strengths. And I
think the reason that the U.S. seems to be planning to support Thema as well, and they
certainly are talking about that even if I don't know there's been a lot of real activity going
forward on it, that if you're investing heavily in say something like keywords, which people
love and somehow have a real belief in, and you can't see the strength of a system like
Thema, which is like basically providing you with a whole spectrum of concepts that link
books together and qualifiers that link books together and do provide it in a structured,
predictable way that you could actually make a displayed subject system work well with, I
mean, well, I don't know what you're looking at. I m ean, it is just self-evidently possible.
But we do have a webinar done in 2023 with a UK bookseller who uses Thema and basically
sort of says it works really well and increases his sales. Go watch it. If we had him back
again, he would only come back with even more information supporting it.
The weakness in BISAC is that it provides a series of descriptive terms that make sense in
the U.S. market and to a degree in the Canadian market, if BISAC stuck to its strength,
which would be segmenting the U.S. market into saleable groupings of books and changing it
all the time so that each year the coding changes, but there's linkage of what's selling well at
any given time and you're organising some of your sales based information on BISAC, you're
seeing it at this point. You're doing really well.
Thema, not so good here. Thema, good for websites, good for searching. Very organised
means you're doing something. It does something that keywords can't provide. Keywords are
15
a pile of words that you can't link together. Maybe they give you search terms and
particularly for university press that allows you to have a unique term that's only available
for this one book. But, you know, Thema gives you the organised concepts, BISAC segments
the market. They're just all doing different things, and they should be working to their
strengths in each case.
Lauren: Well, I think we just heard your next TED Talk topic about what is a subject
standard, what is a market segmentation tool. That is fascinating. And I appreciate what
you're commenting there is and what your comments there kind of speak to. But the one
thing that I keep coming back to, excuse me, is how in Canada, our publishers, our
distributors, anyone who is a data supplier, they have to be... They're in a unique spot where
they have to be at least familiar, if not skilled, in both of these systems in order to get their
books to market. And that is because of these two operating French language and English
language supply chains.
And this kind of like speaks to this like larger thing in Canada about these two markets that
exist, these two supply chains that exist. And traditionally, it's been hard. It's been quite a
challenge for publishers and distributors, retailers, all of these operating in, say, one market,
like the English market, to be able to break through and make inroads into the other language
market, where, of course, there would be demand. There may be predominantly French
language books sold in French Canada, but of course, there will be demand for English
content that's produced elsewhere in the country.
And so when we work with these two subject standards makes that really clear, like how
challenging this divide and these two supply chains operating actually are for ONIX
implementers, for metadata experts, for anyone operating in these supply chains. So, with
this example of the subject systems that French Canada exclusively supports Thema and
English Canada therefore must support Thema as well as BISAC to have unhindered access
to both the North American market of the U.S., as well as gaining access to French markets
and to French retailers and things like that. And so what is your take on this, this kind of dual
state of multiple supply chains operating in Canada? Do you see any opportunities for any
English market participants like retailers and libraries to access French Canadian books at
this time?
Tom: Okay, using the tariff thing where basically, Canada has recognized that it is easier to
trip for our individual provinces to trade to the U.S. than it is to trade interprovincially, and
that there is a real need to break things down. I mean, you can see this in the book industry
where the dominant English language market exists and then there's what amounted to a
protected enclave in Quebec.
Now, I think that we've seen the breaking down of that protective enclave already started. I
mean, it starts in part because BookNet Canada has worked with BTLF more closely, and
now the BTLF is using the catalyst sales tool internally in its market, which basically then
means that the Quebec market is getting better access to English-speaking marketing. Guess
what's happening. They're showing interest in getting their books out further.
So, you know, French distributors, which have serviced a protected market, are now
basically going, "Maybe we can help there." And they seem to be showing interest in doing
a pile of words that you can't link together. Maybe they give you search terms and
particularly for university press that allows you to have a unique term that's only available
for this one book. But, you know, Thema gives you the organised concepts, BISAC segments
the market. They're just all doing different things, and they should be working to their
strengths in each case.
Lauren: Well, I think we just heard your next TED Talk topic about what is a subject
standard, what is a market segmentation tool. That is fascinating. And I appreciate what
you're commenting there is and what your comments there kind of speak to. But the one
thing that I keep coming back to, excuse me, is how in Canada, our publishers, our
distributors, anyone who is a data supplier, they have to be... They're in a unique spot where
they have to be at least familiar, if not skilled, in both of these systems in order to get their
books to market. And that is because of these two operating French language and English
language supply chains.
And this kind of like speaks to this like larger thing in Canada about these two markets that
exist, these two supply chains that exist. And traditionally, it's been hard. It's been quite a
challenge for publishers and distributors, retailers, all of these operating in, say, one market,
like the English market, to be able to break through and make inroads into the other language
market, where, of course, there would be demand. There may be predominantly French
language books sold in French Canada, but of course, there will be demand for English
content that's produced elsewhere in the country.
And so when we work with these two subject standards makes that really clear, like how
challenging this divide and these two supply chains operating actually are for ONIX
implementers, for metadata experts, for anyone operating in these supply chains. So, with
this example of the subject systems that French Canada exclusively supports Thema and
English Canada therefore must support Thema as well as BISAC to have unhindered access
to both the North American market of the U.S., as well as gaining access to French markets
and to French retailers and things like that. And so what is your take on this, this kind of dual
state of multiple supply chains operating in Canada? Do you see any opportunities for any
English market participants like retailers and libraries to access French Canadian books at
this time?
Tom: Okay, using the tariff thing where basically, Canada has recognized that it is easier to
trip for our individual provinces to trade to the U.S. than it is to trade interprovincially, and
that there is a real need to break things down. I mean, you can see this in the book industry
where the dominant English language market exists and then there's what amounted to a
protected enclave in Quebec.
Now, I think that we've seen the breaking down of that protective enclave already started. I
mean, it starts in part because BookNet Canada has worked with BTLF more closely, and
now the BTLF is using the catalyst sales tool internally in its market, which basically then
means that the Quebec market is getting better access to English-speaking marketing. Guess
what's happening. They're showing interest in getting their books out further.
So, you know, French distributors, which have serviced a protected market, are now
basically going, "Maybe we can help there." And they seem to be showing interest in doing
16
so. So, you can already see the beginnings of like a breakdown of that. I mean, Indigo has
long expressed an interest in selling French language books and language books in other
markets, and that requires, going back to metadata, good use of ONIX metadata. It
potentially requires us using multi-language metadata, all of which is wonderfully supported
in the ONIX standard if you just want to go looking into the deeper ends of it. And so lots of
stuff is possible if you want to start growing things.
Thema is fabulous in part because it's translated into multiple languages, 20, approaching 30
I think. And that's proper translation in most cases. And by proper translation means that
they're translating concepts, not terms. So, Thema makes sense in different markets. So,
we're increasingly getting tools that allow us to properly internationalize the industry.
So, all of this is basically setting up a scenario that could only do us good. I mean, there's no
particular... I don't think the Quebec market wants to be protected in the sense that they don't
want anything more than the survival of their culture. That's what they want. Their activity is
not trying to prevent their book publishers from selling outside of it or to prevent books
being sold in Quebec, so long as the French language ones are the ones which have the best
access.
So, there's genuine interest in selling French language books in the English market. There's
lots of educational opportunities, reasons to want better access to these books, lots of reasons
to want better access to all sorts of foreign language books, and we have people trying to
work in them now. We have a metadata system that can work in them. We don't need to
spend a lot of our time worrying about this anymore. That's my thinking, that all the parts are
just there. We just need to support them.
Lauren: And you know what? I think that that actually takes me kind of to my last question,
which is how to contextualise the last year in standards and really the last year in the book
trade and looking through not only the Canadian experience, the English-Canadian as well as
the French-Canadian experience. And I've been thinking about this quite a bit, especially as
we're navigating this kind of uncertain trade environment and how it feels like we're almost
seeing through a glass darkly and navigating two different realities. In kind of what you have
mentioned already, I see international standards like ONIX, Thema, the W3C, ISNI, etc. as
working towards supporting this idea of a more global marketplace for books where trade,
international trade, as well as trade between English and French Canada, is robustly
supported and marketplaces around the world can kind of come together, build these trading
solutions that work for all and ideally remove friction and improve efficiency.
And then the juxtaposition to that is this kind of emerging geopolitical landscape in many
parts of the world that almost suggests an opposite, where some nations are effectively
retreating into themselves or where market and trade initiatives would suggest as such, like
this kind of North American trade tariff situation, being a prime example. And when I think
of ONIX, when I think of Thema, so these standards run by EDItEUR and supported by
BookNet, I feel very confident that our industry has the ability to navigate these storms and I
see this output of organisations like EDItEUR as proof that a transnational initiative can
succeed despite this kind of gloomy geopolitical landscape. And that's kind of my feeling of
optimism despite everything that I've listed and everything I've shared. But what are your
so. So, you can already see the beginnings of like a breakdown of that. I mean, Indigo has
long expressed an interest in selling French language books and language books in other
markets, and that requires, going back to metadata, good use of ONIX metadata. It
potentially requires us using multi-language metadata, all of which is wonderfully supported
in the ONIX standard if you just want to go looking into the deeper ends of it. And so lots of
stuff is possible if you want to start growing things.
Thema is fabulous in part because it's translated into multiple languages, 20, approaching 30
I think. And that's proper translation in most cases. And by proper translation means that
they're translating concepts, not terms. So, Thema makes sense in different markets. So,
we're increasingly getting tools that allow us to properly internationalize the industry.
So, all of this is basically setting up a scenario that could only do us good. I mean, there's no
particular... I don't think the Quebec market wants to be protected in the sense that they don't
want anything more than the survival of their culture. That's what they want. Their activity is
not trying to prevent their book publishers from selling outside of it or to prevent books
being sold in Quebec, so long as the French language ones are the ones which have the best
access.
So, there's genuine interest in selling French language books in the English market. There's
lots of educational opportunities, reasons to want better access to these books, lots of reasons
to want better access to all sorts of foreign language books, and we have people trying to
work in them now. We have a metadata system that can work in them. We don't need to
spend a lot of our time worrying about this anymore. That's my thinking, that all the parts are
just there. We just need to support them.
Lauren: And you know what? I think that that actually takes me kind of to my last question,
which is how to contextualise the last year in standards and really the last year in the book
trade and looking through not only the Canadian experience, the English-Canadian as well as
the French-Canadian experience. And I've been thinking about this quite a bit, especially as
we're navigating this kind of uncertain trade environment and how it feels like we're almost
seeing through a glass darkly and navigating two different realities. In kind of what you have
mentioned already, I see international standards like ONIX, Thema, the W3C, ISNI, etc. as
working towards supporting this idea of a more global marketplace for books where trade,
international trade, as well as trade between English and French Canada, is robustly
supported and marketplaces around the world can kind of come together, build these trading
solutions that work for all and ideally remove friction and improve efficiency.
And then the juxtaposition to that is this kind of emerging geopolitical landscape in many
parts of the world that almost suggests an opposite, where some nations are effectively
retreating into themselves or where market and trade initiatives would suggest as such, like
this kind of North American trade tariff situation, being a prime example. And when I think
of ONIX, when I think of Thema, so these standards run by EDItEUR and supported by
BookNet, I feel very confident that our industry has the ability to navigate these storms and I
see this output of organisations like EDItEUR as proof that a transnational initiative can
succeed despite this kind of gloomy geopolitical landscape. And that's kind of my feeling of
optimism despite everything that I've listed and everything I've shared. But what are your
17
thoughts when you think about the year that has just passed? Where are you when you think
about standards in 2025?
Tom: I've been very impressed by the way our industry has collectively stood up to support
the free exchange of ideas, as well as maintaining books as a protected cultural product. And
I think both concepts are important to be maintained. I mean, free access, but we understand
that culture has needs and value outside of commerce. I mean, we try to avoid othering, I
don't know, enclaves. I don't know, I'm just trying to find a completely neutral word. So, we
don't want to other enclaves, prevent them from existing. We want to value small ventures,
and we want to foster unique voices, all of which, like, books are really good at. You know,
the small market is the big market for books.
We at least try in the industry, even if we don't always succeed and not be dicks. The U.S.
Publishing Association is also trying not to be. They have done huge work in protecting the
banning of books and doing all sorts of things. And we have all the same problems occurring
in Canada. So, I just hope that we continue to work with and sell foreign publishers, because
Canada would be less without them. That's my just overall look on all these things. And I
think that's what EDItEUR represents. That's what the exchange of metadata represents. I
mean, the description of products allows the books to have a freedom that they... Allows you
to find the small stuff, if you want to look at it that way.
Lauren: Well, I think that this kind of comes back to market-based metadata. And I know
you've thought about this a lot in your career, and this has been something that you've
robustly supported, the idea that unique markets exist. And maybe this is an opportunity to
kind of speak to that. And maybe we can loop back to that.
Tom: I always have to take every opportunity to emphasise the importance of using any
metadata standard communicated as fully as possible. And that, unfortunately, because...
Well, I mean, what a market is, is a market is basically a place where the... is an identified
place where a business has to work in a shared way, right? That's what it is. Tax laws are the
same. Your sales force will be shared. Some sort of aspect is being shared. That's what a
market represents.
So, to communicate fully means you need to communicate to markets. I mean, not
everything needs to be said, because we talked about that. But whatever you do say in
metadata needs to be said fully. If you're relying, say, on retailers to assume aspects of what
you're trying to say about a market or something like that, which is a common place to make
assumptions, what you're actually doing is creating... Like, say, sending them a feed that
represents the market, you're actually creating an ambiguity that's a drag on the book supply
chain. You're not claiming the market. You're letting the retailer assume that you have it.
And that allows other companies to do the same, because retailers will get confused, because
you're not giving them metadata that claims the market. You're giving them a feed and feeds
go wrong. They go wrong a lot. That's something that we know in BiblioShare.
So, it's not an exaggeration to say your company's losing revenue and making retailers spend
more than they have to. So, it's so much... using, again, all the other lessons we're trying to
put together again, it is so much simpler to follow ONIX guidelines, treat its sales rights
composite as territorial expressions of the contracts the publisher has signed for this ISBN.
thoughts when you think about the year that has just passed? Where are you when you think
about standards in 2025?
Tom: I've been very impressed by the way our industry has collectively stood up to support
the free exchange of ideas, as well as maintaining books as a protected cultural product. And
I think both concepts are important to be maintained. I mean, free access, but we understand
that culture has needs and value outside of commerce. I mean, we try to avoid othering, I
don't know, enclaves. I don't know, I'm just trying to find a completely neutral word. So, we
don't want to other enclaves, prevent them from existing. We want to value small ventures,
and we want to foster unique voices, all of which, like, books are really good at. You know,
the small market is the big market for books.
We at least try in the industry, even if we don't always succeed and not be dicks. The U.S.
Publishing Association is also trying not to be. They have done huge work in protecting the
banning of books and doing all sorts of things. And we have all the same problems occurring
in Canada. So, I just hope that we continue to work with and sell foreign publishers, because
Canada would be less without them. That's my just overall look on all these things. And I
think that's what EDItEUR represents. That's what the exchange of metadata represents. I
mean, the description of products allows the books to have a freedom that they... Allows you
to find the small stuff, if you want to look at it that way.
Lauren: Well, I think that this kind of comes back to market-based metadata. And I know
you've thought about this a lot in your career, and this has been something that you've
robustly supported, the idea that unique markets exist. And maybe this is an opportunity to
kind of speak to that. And maybe we can loop back to that.
Tom: I always have to take every opportunity to emphasise the importance of using any
metadata standard communicated as fully as possible. And that, unfortunately, because...
Well, I mean, what a market is, is a market is basically a place where the... is an identified
place where a business has to work in a shared way, right? That's what it is. Tax laws are the
same. Your sales force will be shared. Some sort of aspect is being shared. That's what a
market represents.
So, to communicate fully means you need to communicate to markets. I mean, not
everything needs to be said, because we talked about that. But whatever you do say in
metadata needs to be said fully. If you're relying, say, on retailers to assume aspects of what
you're trying to say about a market or something like that, which is a common place to make
assumptions, what you're actually doing is creating... Like, say, sending them a feed that
represents the market, you're actually creating an ambiguity that's a drag on the book supply
chain. You're not claiming the market. You're letting the retailer assume that you have it.
And that allows other companies to do the same, because retailers will get confused, because
you're not giving them metadata that claims the market. You're giving them a feed and feeds
go wrong. They go wrong a lot. That's something that we know in BiblioShare.
So, it's not an exaggeration to say your company's losing revenue and making retailers spend
more than they have to. So, it's so much... using, again, all the other lessons we're trying to
put together again, it is so much simpler to follow ONIX guidelines, treat its sales rights
composite as territorial expressions of the contracts the publisher has signed for this ISBN.
18
And then to assign a subset of those contracts that represents the distribution of
representation within a market, which is something a publisher does. They assign rights to
markets to a fully realised Block-6 product supply that comes complete with a territory, the
business terms, the dates, the status, anything that's relevant to supplying that market. You
can include the publisher's reps. You can include the distribution. You can include the
wholesalers if you want to. You can include the dropshippers if you want to. You can
describe a market in a single business-friendly unit. It's called Block- 6.
Anyway, creating and processing full ONIX records requires full support of Block- 6. And
that is the first step to exporting block updates, which is the first step in realising that you
don't have to send full ONIX records all the time, which is expensive and time-consuming
and an effort. It's a waste of effort in processing and everything else. Anybody who looks at
it can see that. So, block updates can save you time and effort, particularly for supporting
foreign-based products. We're circling around yet again. Particularly for foreign-based
products, as well as for your selling books outside of Canada. In either case, you just replace
the Block-6 that you are now set up to support with the information you expect that market
sales force to sell with. It isn't harder than that. And why we are making it harder than that is
completely beyond me. And maybe you do that by letting your sales force in that market add
its information to your feed. There's actually not much difference between a sales rep
spreadsheet and what should be in that market's Block- 6.
Do nothing, and support accuracy might become an option by simply adopting market-based
metadata. Nothing's that simple. I mean, okay, there's some other things you have to do. I
mean, block files, related products. The comp titles aren't going to be right unless you make
them right for that market. Block-2, is the copy correct? Probably not. Not for every market.
You just can't do it. Anyway, specific subject entries, sorry, if you're going to sell in the U.S.,
you better have a BISAC in there, and it may not be available, because BISAC is special to
the U.S. Things happen. So, Block-1 may be bits and pieces, but most of the ONIX records
should be unchanged outside of Block-6. And Advanced ONIX offers some solutions to
some of these tweaks. And there's literally no point in considering them unless you can
handle market-specific metadata.
So, many Canadian publishers are already there now, but distributors, aggregators, and
foreign metadata sources just are not. Wait a minute. Isn't that the list of betwixt and
between? It is actually. Anyway, save time, save money. Make “W herever fine books are
sold” mean something for your business.
Lauren: Thank you, Tom. I think that wraps everything up perfectly and we can send people
away with that. Make “Wherever fine books are sold” mean something for your business.
And I think that's a reasonable ask and a reasonable expectation for our industry.
Tom: And it's a reasonable part of ONIX the Musical, too.
Lauren: Thank you. Full circle. You've been so good at coming back to everything
throughout. So, let's just wrap up today that if you are interested in following things about
standards, about things going on at BookNet, and the other things that we do, you can sign up
at booknetcanada.ca/newsletter-sign-up. You can also catch up on other Tech Forum sessions
at bnctechforum.ca, and you can also reach the standards team at BookNet directly at
And then to assign a subset of those contracts that represents the distribution of
representation within a market, which is something a publisher does. They assign rights to
markets to a fully realised Block-6 product supply that comes complete with a territory, the
business terms, the dates, the status, anything that's relevant to supplying that market. You
can include the publisher's reps. You can include the distribution. You can include the
wholesalers if you want to. You can include the dropshippers if you want to. You can
describe a market in a single business-friendly unit. It's called Block- 6.
Anyway, creating and processing full ONIX records requires full support of Block- 6. And
that is the first step to exporting block updates, which is the first step in realising that you
don't have to send full ONIX records all the time, which is expensive and time-consuming
and an effort. It's a waste of effort in processing and everything else. Anybody who looks at
it can see that. So, block updates can save you time and effort, particularly for supporting
foreign-based products. We're circling around yet again. Particularly for foreign-based
products, as well as for your selling books outside of Canada. In either case, you just replace
the Block-6 that you are now set up to support with the information you expect that market
sales force to sell with. It isn't harder than that. And why we are making it harder than that is
completely beyond me. And maybe you do that by letting your sales force in that market add
its information to your feed. There's actually not much difference between a sales rep
spreadsheet and what should be in that market's Block- 6.
Do nothing, and support accuracy might become an option by simply adopting market-based
metadata. Nothing's that simple. I mean, okay, there's some other things you have to do. I
mean, block files, related products. The comp titles aren't going to be right unless you make
them right for that market. Block-2, is the copy correct? Probably not. Not for every market.
You just can't do it. Anyway, specific subject entries, sorry, if you're going to sell in the U.S.,
you better have a BISAC in there, and it may not be available, because BISAC is special to
the U.S. Things happen. So, Block-1 may be bits and pieces, but most of the ONIX records
should be unchanged outside of Block-6. And Advanced ONIX offers some solutions to
some of these tweaks. And there's literally no point in considering them unless you can
handle market-specific metadata.
So, many Canadian publishers are already there now, but distributors, aggregators, and
foreign metadata sources just are not. Wait a minute. Isn't that the list of betwixt and
between? It is actually. Anyway, save time, save money. Make “W herever fine books are
sold” mean something for your business.
Lauren: Thank you, Tom. I think that wraps everything up perfectly and we can send people
away with that. Make “Wherever fine books are sold” mean something for your business.
And I think that's a reasonable ask and a reasonable expectation for our industry.
Tom: And it's a reasonable part of ONIX the Musical, too.
Lauren: Thank you. Full circle. You've been so good at coming back to everything
throughout. So, let's just wrap up today that if you are interested in following things about
standards, about things going on at BookNet, and the other things that we do, you can sign up
at booknetcanada.ca/newsletter-sign-up. You can also catch up on other Tech Forum sessions
at bnctechforum.ca, and you can also reach the standards team at BookNet directly at
19
[email protected]. Please reach out there. We love hearing from you. And thank
you for your time today. Thanks, Tom.
Tom: Thank you.
[email protected]. Please reach out there. We love hearing from you. And thank
you for your time today. Thanks, Tom.
Tom: Thank you.
Categories
EducationDownload
Download Slideshow Get the original presentation fileQuick Actions
Statistics
- Views 167
- Slides 19
- Age 213 days
Related Slideshows
11
TLE-9-Prepare-Salad-and-Dressing.pptxkkk
MaAngelicaCanceran
32 views
12
LESSON 1 ABOUT MEDIA AND INFORMATION.pptx
JojitGueta
27 views
60
GRADE-8-AQUACULTURE-WEEKQ1.pdfdfawgwyrsewru
MaAngelicaCanceran
43 views
26
Feelings PP Game FOR CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.pptx
KaistaGlow
42 views
![Jeopardy_Figures_of_Speech_Template.pptx [Autosaved].pptx](https://slidepub.com/thumb/5828/284015828.jpg)
54
Jeopardy_Figures_of_Speech_Template.pptx [Autosaved].pptx
acecamero20
25 views
7
Jeopardy_Figures_of_Speech.pptxvdsvdsvsdvsd
acecamero20
26 views