Who pays for metadata isn't written in stone. Metadata creation isn't any one company's problem and that's especially true if it's not product-based.
The Unseen Hand of Metadata
BNC metadata guru Tom Richardson looks back on how his book-buying habits have changed in the past year, and how the unseen hand of metadata may be at work…
This is the first year I can really see changes in my personal book-buying habits. Like many others, I’ve found that I’m buying books more often again. This has a lot to do with the convenience and direct nature of buying ebooks. (Feeling down at midnight no longer requires scavenging closets for books.) But I’m also buying print more and often based on its object-value; I like a well-made book, with diagrams and illustrations, and not too many photos. But why the change?
BNC 101: ISTCs
An ISTC is a new way of linking different formats of the same book. Unlike an ISBN, it is tied to the book and only the book, not the publisher. A simple example is using an ISTC to link the hardcover, trade paper, mass market, and epub versions of a title. Even though each format would have a different ISBN, they would share a single ISTC.
But why is it important? We’ll tell you.
ISTC: A Duffer’s Perspective
I had the good fortune to attend BISG’s meeting on Tuesday “Focus on ISTC” which was a supplement to Michael Holdsworth’s recent paper:
The International Standard Text Code (ISTC): A Work in Progress / A Supply Chain Perspective
The short message for Canadian publishers and data suppliers is that the US and UK supply chain is taking the ISTC seriously and that Canadian publishers should be familiarizing themselves with it too. You might need to be using it soon.
Get Ready for the ISTC
The ISTC (International Standard Textual Code) is starting to get some serious interest from different areas in the book supply-chain.
