Key outcomes Meet-up Frankfurt Book Fair: distribution

Key findings and struggles

Metadata

• Libri explained Börsenverein has been setting up a best practices for metadata in Germany: Leitfaden barrierefreie EPUB3-E-Books - Börsenverein. Libri is putting metadata in ONIX. All metadata, not a selection. 

• Libraries for print impaired people mainly use MARK 21 and it is not the same as ONIX. They need to improve MARK 21 system. Best practices and mapping are necessary for these libraries as well.  

• We have to bring the work done in the trade (EPUB) into the work from specialized libraries. End users should be able to realize easily if a book is accessible. Process of displaying is important. We are missing information on displaying. We need to work on simple rules.  

• Research in the Netherlands has shown that end users are not really interested in all the metadata; they are not aware of what is available and they just want an accessible e-book.  

• It would help end users to be able to filter in a catalogue on certain accessibility features. The user experience will probably be better. 

• In Germany pdf is most used with scientific publications, not EPUB. because ‘they need page number’; it needs to be quotable. They use the pdf for navigating/skimming the text. They do not realize that people with a print impairment cannot do that. InDesign can put in page numbers. But we also need a clickable table of content. 

• Brasilian inclusion law is not as strong as the EAA, but Brasil is looking at Europe and how we deal with the EAA.  
  The government is the biggest buyer of books; schools receive accessible ebooks (but in html, not epub) and audiobooks. The government believes epub will be a passing format and html will be more lasting. This makes us wonder if there is enough understanding about epub (which is based on html) 

• In France schoolbooks are more designed for the teachers than for the pupils. 

• In the Netherlands we want legislation to make it mandatory for government funded schools to buy accessible schoolbooks. 

• In higher education they use a lot of html and pdf’s, not epubs. 

Awareness within the rest of the e-book service chain is still not enough

• Distributors and producers have to talk to one another to provide consistent information. Always check in the end if certain metadata is really used/necessary. 

• Publishers are already doing a lot of good work on accessibility metadata, but the rest of the e-book chain is not well educated yet. There should be more awareness with them. 

• If there is more awareness with publishers and the e-book chain that the accessibility features are not just for persons with a print impairment, but for all readers, there might be more willingness to create accessible e-books and use of the metadata. 

• The sellers of e-books should be aware that they have to display the accessibility metadata. 

• Bookwire offers a platform where publishers can fill out the metadata information; they put it in ONIX. 

• Big distributors are probably strong enough to push the webshops. Make it possible that accessible metadata is going to be displayed (mandatory). And help these sellers to display it; help them to make it easier. 

How to display ONIX information into understandable information for end users?

How to transfer from ONIX? How does it show up for the end-user? This is a problem from the shop side. They have to decide how to do it. A best practice is published on site of Börsenverein. Shops can download it.