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Publishing professionals, particularly librarians and companies working = with them, are the most likely users of Audience, Audience Ranges and Subje= ct information and these values should work together to provide them a clea= r picture of the book. Unfortunately the data supplied by publishers for th= ese values is notorious for being contradicting or unsuitable for their use= .
It follows that these values are the most likely to be modified by retai= lers and other data aggregators but this page should give you an idea how t= o make sure your data is used and left alone. Many publishers do a great jo= b and are proficient in their assessments. Some may not be great at m= etadata, and may inadvertently add errors and contradictions to their data.= Still others may try to be all inclusive in a mistaken belief that s= aying "0 to 99" or portraying their audience as limitless will include them= in more selects by professionals. It will not and may result in thei= r data being excluded from a select.
Professional users expect to be able to create book lists or "selects" f= rom databases based on the primary Audience code values. Children and Adult= are a common responsibility breakout for duties =E2=80=93 and increasingly= Young Adult is handled on its own. Publishers should associate their= book with it=E2=80=99s best broad audience category in order to direct it = to the librarian or retail book buyer best able to assess it.
ONIX Code List List 28 for Audience Codes
01 - General/trade (intended for a non-specialist = adult audience)
02 - Children/juvenile (intended for a juvenile au= dience, not specifically for any educational purpose.)
03 - Young adult (intended for a teenage audience,= not specifically for any educational purpose.)
04 - Primary and secondary/elementary and high school&n= bsp;(intended for kindergarten, pre-school, primary/elementary or secondary= /high school education.)
05 - College/higher education (intended for = universities and colleges of further and higher education.)
06 - Professional and scholarly (intended for an e= xpert adult audience, including academic research.)
07 - ELT/ESL (intended for use in teaching English= as a second language.)
08 - Adult education (intended for centres providi= ng academic, vocational or recreational courses for adults.)
09 - Second language teaching (intended for teaching na= tive English speakers a second language.)
Codes 01 to 03 are trade book categories =E2=80=93 books intended for sa= les to consumers. The balance are for books designed to fulfill the needs o= f these specialized markets.
In North America retailers expect a book to carry single =E2=80=9Ctrade= =E2=80=9D audience code. Audience codes can be repeated but it=E2=80=99s ra= re and normally only done for a specialized audience book that fits more th= an one special audience category, but sometimes includes books with potenti= al for trade sales.
An example can help: A novel like Huckleberry Finn may be sold in stores= and used in schools, but the =E2=80=9C01=E2=80=9D trade book and the =E2= =80=9C04=E2=80=9D school book would be different and designed for their aud= ience group. An =E2=80=9C04=E2=80=9D book would include additional supporti= ng materials designed for a limited grade range and may include reinforced = binding. The trade book may still contain an introduction that provides con= text for reading a problematic text, and it=E2=80=99s even possible it may = be bought by schools who may want a less expensive book without extensive s= upporting resources. It=E2=80=99s even possible that a book club might pref= er to use a school edition for it=E2=80=99s rich supporting resources and a= retailer may choose to stock it. The point is simply that a single audienc= e category still supports those choices better than an ambiguous layering o= f multiple codes. You can help professionals and consumers find your book b= y being specific and accurate. An example where a dual Audience Code might = make sense is a beautifully illustrated scholarly book on the ecology of se= a shores that is designed to fulfill the needs of beachcombers and as well = as academics. In such an exceptional cases, especially for publishers assoc= iated with a specialized market, adding a trade code makes sense when it=E2= =80=99s appropriate for the book to be sold outside of the publisher=E2=80= =99s typical market.
When in doubt, use =E2=80=9CTrade=E2=80=9D identifiers as th= ey are the most common and generic.
Trade subject schemes like BISAC or Thema are used with a =E2=80=9Cmain =
subject=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93 a single primary subject code. If Audience Codes=
are used to create broad categories of books their creators would expect t=
o see subjects appropriate to their selected category.
Books identified for Children/juvenile or Young= adult MUST be supported by appropriate BISAC Subjects lists= for Juveniles or Young Adults
Books intended for Adults (Trade books) MUST be support= ed by appropriate BISAC subjects and NOT include any Juvenile or Young Adul= t codes.
No one says this is a perfect way to do things, but professionals actual= ly know what they are doing and allowances are made =E2=80=94 particularly = for YA novels as cross-over products for adults. Also be aware that BISAC S= ubjects are created so that all subjects are isolated to a single Audience = category within the scheme =E2=80=93 mixing should NOT happen.
For Thema Subjects:
BISAC has guidelines in it's PDF or Word version and Thema has an excell= ent guide as well as worked examples. Please refer to documentation f= or each subject scheme for more information using it properly.
Juvenile books (both Children's and Young Adult titles) must be supporte= d by Audience Range information. If there are any points to be emphasized h= ere it is that:
Useful range information is specific: Any range wider then three o= r at most four years is considered by professionals to be unusable for most= purposes.
YA books can be identified using an open ended statement that implies ex= tending into adults (an example might be 14 and up) but a specific end valu= e is preferred.
Adult books are not typically supported by range information and it=E2= =80=99s only appropriate for very specialized books
A range of 0 - 99 or similar extreme range has no value in a= statement. Only a limited range has meaning and it diminishe= s without focus. Hyperbole may make sense in your= marketing or promotional copy but it has no place in coded metadata.
= li>Publishers of Juvenile books spend a lot of time and energy developing e= xpertise in their products and one of the ways they demonstrate it is accur= acy in Audience Range information. They mean what they say and are genuinel= y upset when their data is modified by other industry players. If you're ne= w to publishing talk to children librarians about their needs and look to d= evelop an understanding of how they use this data (BookNet=E2=80=99s blogs = and podcast are a great source for information about libraries). Cons= idering getting help in making assessments from an experienced freelancer. = The time spent developing an understanding of professional need will be rep= aid.
Interest Age information is the least specific an= d generally means the content is appropriate to the interests of this age a= nd is supplied as a general guideline to support trade sales. What ag= e does the editor and author say the book is for? They should know. &= nbsp;This information is recommended to be available all Juvenile books eve= n if another range type is supplied
Grade Ranges (US or Canada are considered equivale= nt) can highlight that book has potential for classroom use. A grade range = doesn't correspond to any specific curriculum assessment so they are still = generic and best supported by other types of documentation that provide cur= riculum support
Reading Age is a much more technical assessment of= a book's content. For instance a book may have an older Interest Age= and a younger Reading Age if the book is 10 year old reluctant reader. &nb= sp;Doing this right requires real knowledge and should only be supplied if = the publisher has developed the skills or had professional assistance in pr= oviding it. Note that ONIX provides support for =E2=80=9CComplexity S= chemes=E2=80=9D ONIX Code List 50 as part of a different section.
If a librarian or book buyer assesses your range information as wildly i= naccurate it will taint the rest of your good work.
If in doubt, don't supply = it.
Want to know more? The US based Book Industry Stu= dy Group (BISG) has two publications:
Revised Best Practices for Keywords in Metadata contains information= about audience and subjects with a focus on good keyword use
Recommendations for Citing Educational Standards = and Objectives in Metadata contains information about audience and subj= ect with a focus on complexity and curriculum values.