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What is ONIX International?
ONIX is an acronym for ONline Information EXchange.
ONIX International refers to a standard format that publishers can use to distribute electronic information about their books to wholesale, e-tail and retail booksellers, other publishers, and anyone else involved in the sale of books.
ONIX enables book information to be communicated between different
organizations even if they have different technical infrastructures and
business needs. It isn't a database, but provides a standard XML template
for organizing data storage.
Why was ONIX
International created?
ONIX was developed as a solution to two modern problems:
1.) the need for
richer book data online; and
2.) the widely
varying format requirements for receiving this data used by the major
book wholesalers and retailers.
With the advent of the Internet and the explosion of online book sales, the book
industry found itself in the following quandary: how to meet the needs of
booksellers to provide information to book buyers about the books they wish to
purchase. In the brick and mortar world, the jacket cover of a book contains
much of the promotional information about that book: cover design, synopsis,
reviews, author biography and more. This information (i.e., the book metadata)
draws the potential reader into a book and helps to sell it.
Online the actual book has been replaced with a web page devoted to the book
that can be designed to carry all the rich information of the jacket cover, plus
audio and video files pertaining to the book. Research has proven that the more
information customers have about a book, the more likely they are to buy it.
ONIX provides a way to transmit this information in a clean and seamless way
across multiple trading partner relationships.
What is the goal of ONIX
International?
ONIX International was specifically created to conquer the
challenge of getting the information-rich promotional material about each
book from publishers to booksellers when each major industry database company
(such as Ingram, Bowker and Amazon) had a different format preference for
receiving the data.
The lack of standard formatting made it difficult and time-consuming for
publishers to format and exchange their book information with multiple trading
partners.
The goal of ONIX International, therefore, is to standardize the transmission of
product information so that wholesalers, retailers and others in the supply
chain will all be able to accept information electronically transferred in ONIX
International format.
What can ONIX tell us?
ONIX can describe many things
about a book, including:
How did ONIX International originate?
Throughout 1999, the American Association of Publishers (AAP) worked together with the major wholesalers, online retailers, and book information services to create a universal, international format in which all publishers, regardless of their size, could exchange information about books. The group unveiled ONIX 1.0 in January 2000.
Much of ONIX is based on the pre-existing EPICS (EDItEUR Product Information Communication Standards), a much broader standard for defining products which was developed internationally by EDItEUR, drawing on the combined experience of Book Industry Study Group (BISG) in the US and Book Industry Communication (BIC) in the UK.
How does ONIX International work?
The standard allows for a publisher to use either of two standards - Level 1 or Level 2. Level 1 contains all the information in Level 2. Standard data elements in Level 1 are targeted to publishers who have not established an in-house database of product information. Level 2 is targeted for those publishers who feel that Level 1 data elements are not adequate.
The ONIX standard defines both a list of data fields about a book and how to send that data in an "ONIX message." ONIX specifies over 200 data elements, each of which has a standard definition, so that everyone can be sure they're referring to the same thing. Some of these data elements, such as ISBN, author name, and title, are required; others, such as book reviews and cover image, remain optional. While most data elements consist of text (e.g., contributor biography), many are multimedia files, such as images and audio files.
It is particularly these optional fields — excerpts, reviews, cover images, author photos, etc. — that lead to more sales online.
An ONIX message is a set of data elements defined by "tags" that is written in the computer language
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and that conforms to a specific template, or set of rules, also known as the ONIX
DTD (Document Type Definition). The DTD defines, among other things, how to order the data elements, and how the elements are interrelated.
Although ONIX specifies over 200
possible data elements, BISAC has identified only 31 as best practice. To
view detailed guidelines for all 31 best practice data elements visit
http://www.bisg.org/documents/metadata.html to download
Product Metadata Best Practices, version 1.1.
Why does ONIX International use XML?
ONIX International uses XML for a number of reasons:
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XML is optimized for creating complex documents and transmitting and exchanging data between computers.
-
XML is text-readable, meaning that humans as well as
computers can recognize and read the data. Most tags, which define each book data element, consist of English words or abbreviations—for instance, an ONIX message would list the Publisher's name as follows: "<PublisherName>Scribner's</PublisherName>".
These factors make it easier for smaller organizations to design and implement ONIX-compliant systems.
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XML software is inexpensive, meaning that even smaller
publishers can use it, which was a major goal of the Metadata committee
How is an ONIX
International message created?
Creating an ONIX International message involves two steps:
-
organizing the book data into ONIX-specified fields and storing it in a database; and
-
using an XML software application and the ONIX DTD (the set of rules) to organize and tag that data. A single ONIX message may contain data about multiple books.
How is an ONIX
International message transmitted / received?
An ONIX message is transmitted across networks and the Internet the same way other data is -- for instance, as an email attachment or by ftp (file transfer protocol). Once an ONIX message is received by, say, an online retailer, the same tools (an XML software application and the ONIX DTD) are used to verify the data's integrity. From that point, the retailer translates that data into what you see on a web page. (The matter of how much of the data is displayed on their web page is strictly up to the retailer.)
What is the future of ONIX
International?
The book publishing world has made ONIX the accepted means for transfering data
between trading partners.
Major online booksellers, such as Amazon, BN.com, and Borders have adopted ONIX. Major wholesalers and catalog publishers, such as Ingram and R.R. Bowker,
have also adopted the ONIX standard. Wider industry acceptance will lead to increased efficiencies in the transfer of book data, which will ultimately benefit book sales. Future issues to be addressed include adding standards for electronic books, video and incorporating concepts of digital rights. In addition, processes for certifying that transmitted data is valid and correct are being developed. ONIX will continue to evolve as needs are identified.
What
organizations are responsible for ONIX International?
ONIX is now published and maintained by EDItEUR in association with the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) in the U.S. and BIC in the U.K. The latest version of ONIX is referred to as ONIX International.
What committees are responsible for ONIX International in the U.S.?
Under the auspices of the Book Industry Study Group, Inc., BISAC's (Book
Industry Standards and Communications) Metadata committee provides technical
input and support for ONIX International. To learn more about the Metadata
committee visit
http://www.bisg.org/bisac/metadata/index.html.
Which companies
use ONIX International in the U.S.?
There are a number of organizations and individual operations that use ONIX International
in the US. The following lists some, but not all.
To involve your organization, please contact the Book Industry Study
Group, Inc. at info@bisg.org.
Amazon.com
American Booksellers Association
(ABA)
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of American University Presses (AAUP)
American Wholesale Booksellers Association
Baker & Taylor
Barnes & Noble
Bowker
Evangelical Christian Publishers
Association (ECPA)
Google
Harcourt Trade Publishing
HarperCollins Publishers
Ingram Book Company
Library of Congress
McGraw-Hill Companies
MUZE, Inc.
Nielsen BookScan
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Group
Simon and Schuster
Hachette Book Group
You may also want to check out
BISG's
ONIX
Users' Directory for more information.
Where can I find the ONIX International Standard?
Currently, ONIX International is maintained by the Book Industry Study Group,
Inc. (BISG) in the U.S. and EDItEUR and BIC in the U.K.. The latest version of ONIX is referred to as ONIX International.
Click here to view and download the latest release of ONIX
International - Version 2.1.
Where can I go for help?
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a technical
genius to implement ONIX in your company. There are services that will do it
for you. A listing of companies who offer these services can be found in the
Technical Service Providers section of the
ONIX
Users' Directory.
For those who would like to go it alone, an e-forum
called the
ONIX Users Listserv has been created to
allow those implementing ONIX International to ask questions of other users
and the ONIX Technical Consultants. The forum is open to all current &
prospective users of the standards.
Finally, feel free to contact the BISG office at 646-336-7141 or
info@bisg.org with general
questions.
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