Obligatory soundtrack:
In March 2020, BookNet Canada’s Bibliographic Committee reviewed and endorsed a countdown calendar to help guide Canadian data providers as they transitioned to ONIX 3.0. The impetus for this was Amazon’s mandate for ONIX 3.0 feeds for print books by the end of calendar year 2020. The committee endorsed August 28, 2020, as the date by which Canadian data providers should have been able to generate ONIX 3.0 records and feeds, as well as sending those to data recipients who chose to accept them.
We updated you on the status of the Canadian market’s transition to 3.0 in our September blog post, as well as in a December post, and now we’re back to give you one last update!
ONIX 3.0 is here
April 2021 is the final deadline for senders to upgrade their ONIX 2.1 feeds to 3.0 when they send data to Amazon.
The following data senders transitioned to 3.0 and established feeds to BiblioShare in the months since December: Anthem Press, BTPS Baker & Taylor Publishing, Crabtree Publishing, ECW, Hopkins Publishing, LitDistCo, and Login Canada. The following data senders are mere days away: Firefly Books, Publishers Group Canada, and Raincoast Books.
They join others who made the switch in time for the new deadline: Annick Press, Anvil Press, Arbeiter Ring Publishing, Athabasca University Press AU Press, Banff Centre Press, Between the Lines, Book*hug Press, Books We Love, Boulder Books, Breakwater Books, Ltd, Brick Books, Broadview Press, Brush Enterprises Inc, Caitlin Press, CAMH The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health - Publication Services, Cape Breton University Press, Cengage, Child's Play, Chouette Publishing, Coach House Press, Compass Maps (PopOut Maps), Cook By Colours Inc, Cormorant Books, Coteau Books, Crow Cottage Publishing, Demeter Press, Dundurn, Elsevier Science & Technology Books, Engage Books, Flanker Press, Freehand Books, Goose Lane Editions, House of Anansi, Iguana Books, Inanna Publications, Infinite Ideas, Ingram Content Group, Inhabit Media Inc, Invisible Publishing, Irwin Law Inc., ISER Books, Joseph Norman Editions PD Meany Publishers, Legend Press, Linda Leith Publishing, Mansfield Press, McGill-Queens University Press, Memoirs Publishing, New Society, NeWest Press, Oolichan Books, Optimum Publishing, Owl Kids, Pajama Press, Panoma Press, Pembroke Publishing Ltd., Penn State University, Portage & Main Press, Ronsdale Press, Scholastic Ebooks, Second Story Press, Signature Editions, Star Crossed Press, Talonbooks, The MIT Press, Thistledown Press, Thomas Allen, Three O'Clock Press, Turnstone Press, Tyche Books, UBC Press, United Church Publishing House UCPH, University of Alberta Press, University of Calgary Press, University of Manitoba Press, University of Ottawa Press, University of South Carolina, Vehicule Press, Whitecap Books Ltd., Wordcatcher Publishing Group, and Wordsworth Editions.
Crushed it!
Transition is not without friction
Some of the best metadata minds in publishing have spent the past year making the transition to ONIX 3.0, building new and improved workflows, and examining learning 3.0 inside out. With this renewed attention on ONIX 3.0, the collective has noted some common concerns and friction spots. Here’s what we’re hearing:
Handling collections in ONIX 3.0 is tricky, though the payoff is huge. Read about some common uses on our blog: how to group products using the collections composite, how to use the title detail and title element composites, and why you should.
Expressing pricing information is complex and presents a major opportunity. We’ve heard about experiments supporting pricing for specific markets and product lines (such as library pricing) and how to support multiple currencies for distinct markets. This is the beauty of Block 6, which introduces the concept of a ‘market’ and the particular supplier operating in it. For an excellent summary, read up here.
Interest in expressing equity, diversity & inclusion attributes about books and contributors is at an all-time high. Refer to this blog post for a comprehensive summary of what’s possible, and note that efforts to improve and expand coverage continue (such as the addition of “Own Voices” BISAC codes for adult and young adult fiction in December 2020).
If dates are bringing you down, refer to our list of date recommendations for Canadian data senders.
Don’t let these friction points get you down. While it’s true that a grain of sand can shut down the entire system, trust in ONIX 3.0’s years of considered development and the data senders and recipients who have come before you. Join the ONIX for Books Implementation LISTSERV, where implementation questions are routinely discussed and notices of ONIX developments are distributed. Anyone developing or interested in using ONIX can join:
Subscribe: onix+subscribe@groups.io
Group email: onix@groups.io
Unsubscribe: onix+unsubscribe@groups.io
The message archive goes back beyond 2000 and covers a wide range of topics. Correct ONIX usage may be a matter of correctly matching code list definitions but it often depends on a consensus between suppliers and end users. This can vary between markets (each country has its own flavour of ONIX) and this forum is where the consensus begins.
And follow the BNC blog for regular ONIX coverage!
We’re here to help
If you’re still in the midst of transitioning to ONIX 3.0, or learning as you go, you’re not alone. Transitioning is no small undertaking. If you’re struggling, have questions, or just need a friendly ear, don’t hesitate to contact us. BookNet is Canadian publishing’s standards organization, your standards organization. We’re here to help. How can we help you best?
If you’d prefer to chat with us and your peers, join us once a month starting at the end of April for ONIX Office Hours. Register here.
Reminders
Transitioning to 3.0 doesn’t mean your company will immediately sunset your 2.1 feed. We at BookNet expect data suppliers will need to support dual ONIX 3.0 and 2.1 feeds through 2021. Just because some of your trading partners are asking for and can support 3.0 doesn’t mean you can ignore those partners who haven't yet made the transition.
And not sure how to send ONIX 3.0 files to BiblioShare? Problem solved.
Featuring River in an Ocean: Essays on Translation edited by Nuzhat Abbas.