ONIXFor people who don’t really work with metadata

ONIX is a wonderful tool.

It enables publishers to send consistent, streamlined data to a variety of retailers in an efficient manner. !If you don’t really work with metadata, though, and you’re new to XML mark-up, it can look like scary computer talk. !This primer is intended for people who don’t work regularly with ONIX, and just want to get an idea of what’s in there. !So if someone asks you to check whether a feed contains US rights, or a GBP price, you’ll know where to look.

Each data element in an ONIX feed has a tag that tells the parser what type of information it contains. !There are two ways to present the tags: you can use reference tags (the long version)or short tags. Which type of tag you decide to use is entirely up to you. !You can find the definitions of the reference tags and their corresponding short tags on the EDiTEUR website. For this tutorial, we’ll be looking at ONIX 2.1 codes. !The two examples on the left are the reference and short versions of the same composite. <m174> is the short tag equivalent of the reference tag <FromCompany>. That tag tells you which organization is delivering the ONIX feed.

Anatomy of an ONIX Feed: Data Elements

Reference Tags

Short Tags

Anatomy of an ONIX Feed: Code Lists

Some of the data elements in an ONIX feed have a fixed set of values that the user must choose from. !In order to find out what the options are, you need to first go to the data element in the ONIX Books Overview, which you can download from the ONIX Release 2.1 page on the EDiTEUR site. You find the element, and then look up the corresponding code list number. !In this case, the data element is <b221>, which is the short tag for <ProductIDType>. The <b221> composite tells you what type of ID (13 digit ISBN, 10 digit ISBN, etc.) is going to follow in the <b244> element, Identifier Value.

From the EDiTEUR website: ONIX for Books Overview v. 2.1. !This is where you go to find out what the data element (<b221> in this example) represents, and what code list corresponds to it. !The code lists are hyperlinked, so you can open them up in your web browser. We’ll see what that looks like on the next slide.

ANATOMY OF AN ONIX FEED: CODE LISTSAnatomy of an ONIX Feed: Code Lists

Anatomy of an ONIX Feed: Code Lists

And here is the list of available codes for use in the <b221> (Product ID Type) element. In our example, the code used was 15, which means that the ID is an ISBN-13.

Now, we’ll decipher some common ONIX elements:

• Product Identifier

• Title and Subtitle

• Contributors

• Description

• Price Composites

• Rights Composites

• Publication and On-Sale Dates

Is it ONIX 2.1 or 3.0?

• You’ll find this information right at the top of the feed. In every ONIX feed, there’s a Document Type Definition (DTD) statement that defines what standard the document will follow.

• For ONIX feeds, the DTD is always an EDiTEUR document, because EDiTEUR governs the ONIX standard.

• The DTD statement will either read 2.1 or 3.0, depending on what version of ONIX the publisher is using.

What’s the ISBN?

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<RecordReference> <a001>Unique identifier for the product -

does not have to be the ISBN, could be a proprietary ID

Variable length, alphanumeric

<ProductIDType> <b221>Tells you what scheme the identifier in

the Product ID Value composite, <b244>, is taken from

From ONIX Code List 5: Product identifier type code !Common Codes: 03 = 13 digit Global Trade Item Number 15 = ISBN-13 02 = ISBN-10 01 = Proprietary

<IDValue> <b244> Contains the 13 digit ISBN specified in <b221>

<NotificationType> <a002>Indicates whether the product is

upcoming, being published, or being taken down

From ONIX Code List 1: Notification or update type code !Common Codes: 03 = advance notice or already released

What to look for in the ONIX feed:

Who wrote this book?

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<SequenceNumber> <b034> Tells you whose name should appear first in the contributor field 1 = First (and so on)

<ContributorRole> <b035> Tells you what role this person played in the creation of the work

From ONIX Code List 17: Contributor role code !Some common codes: A01 = Author A12 = Illustrated by B01 = Editor B06 = Translator

<PersonName> <b036> The name of the contributor Always written as First Name Last Name

<PersonNameInverted> <b037> Contributor’s name, written as Last Name, First Name Using <b037> tells the system to invert the names on the product page

<BiographicalNote> <b044> A little information about the author Suggested maximum length of 500 characters

<CountryCode> <b251> Where the contributor is from Two digit ISO country code

<RegionCode> <b398> Where exactly the contributor is from From ONIX Code List 49: Region Code

What is this book about?

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<TextTypeCode> <d102> Tells you what type of description is going to follow in the <Text> composite

From ONIX Code List 33: Other text type code !Some common codes: 01 = Main description 02 = Short description 03 = Long description

<TextFormat> <d103> Tells you the format of the text sent in the <Text> element

From ONIX Code List 34: Text format code !Some common codes: 02 = HTML 03 = XML 05 = XHTML 06 = Default text format !

<Text> <d104> The text specified in the <TextTypeCode> Variable length

When will this book be available?

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<PublishingStatus> <b394> Identifies the status of the published product

From ONIX Code List 64: Publishing Status !Some common codes: 00 = Unspecified 01 = Cancelled 02 = Forthcoming 03 = Postponed Indefinitely 04 = Active !

<PublicationDate> <b003> Date of publication, Formatted as either YYYY, YYYYMM, or YYYYMMDD

<AnnouncementDate> <b086> Date when information about the book can be issued to the general public (embargo date) Formated as YYYYMMDD

<CopyrightYear> <b087> Year in which the book was copyrighted Formatted as YYYY only

Where is this book available?

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<SalesRightsType> <b089> Tells you what type of sales rights the publisher has for a given territory

From ONIX Code List 46: Sales rights type code !Some common codes: 01 = For sale with exclusive rights in the specified territories 02 = For sale with non-exclusive rights in the specified territories 03 = Not for sale in the specified territories (reason unspecified) 06 = Not for sale in the specified territories (publisher doesn’t have rights)

<RightsCountry> <b090> Tells you the countries in which the book is or is not available Requires at least one two digit ISO country code

<RightsTerritory> <b388> Tells you the territories or regions in which the book is or is not available

From ONIX Code List 49: Region Code !Some common codes: CA-ON = Ontario, Canada (or any other province with the two digit codes concurrently) ROW = Rest of World WORLD = Worldwide rights

The publisher has worldwide rights for this

book

The publisher has exclusive rights in Canada for this

book, no US rights, and non-exclusive

rights for the Rest of the World

THE

Reference Tag Short Tag Purpose Value Notes

<PriceTypeCode> <j148> Tells you what type of price (wholesale, agency, library) will follow in the <j151> composite

From ONIX Code List 58: Price type code !Some common codes: 01 = Registered Retail Price excluding tax (used for CAD, USD) 02 = RRP including tax (used for GBP, AUD, EUR, NZD) 41 = Agency price excluding tax (used for CAD, USD) 42 = Agency price including tax (used for GBP, AUD, EUR, NZD) !

<DiscountCodeTypeCode> <j363> Tells you what type of discount code will follow in line <j378>

From ONIX Code List 100: Discount Code Type !Some common codes: 01 = BIC discount code (used by UK publishers) 02 = Proprietary discount code

<DiscountCodeTypeName> <j378> Name of the type of discount code stipulated in <j363>

Free text, maximum 50 characters In this case, the <j378> composite is indicating that the discount code is a proprietary CoreSource PLUS code.

<DiscountCode> <j364> Discount code from ONIX Code List 100

<PriceAmount> <j151> Price in integers, with explicit decimal point where required

<CurrencyCode> <j152> 3 digit fixed currency code Codes enumerated in ONIX Code List 96: Currency Code - ISO 4217

<CountryCode> <b251> Code indicating which country/countries the price applies to

Codes enumerated in ONIX Code List 91: Currency Code - ISO 3166-1

How much does this book cost?

Wholesale CAD price Agency GBP price

There is LOTS of other information included in an ONIX feed, but those are some of the most common, and necessary, elements.

!If you have questions about how to create or read an ONIX feed,

you can send an email to shannon_culver@eboundcanada.org.