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The ONIX standard is in transition but ONIX 2.1 remains in use
As of 2015 2016 ONIX 2.1 is formally in its "sunset" period with only very limited support from EDItEUR. As of 2016 it will become an unsupported no longer a supported standard.
Being unsupported does not mean it is not used. ONIX 2.1 may remain in use for however long two companies choose to continue to use the standard. In North America ONIX 2.1 continues to be used for almost all data transfers and retailers are having difficulty finding enough ONIX 3.0 suppliers to begin to program to accept it.
For 2015 BookNet Canada continues to recommends:
- All data suppliers continue to support ONIX 2.1 for North American data transfer
- If you can support ONIX 3.0 in addition to ONIX 2.1 please do so and ensure trading partners are aware of the option. This will facilitate retailers and other aggregators developing ONIX 3.0 support
- No one should switch from ONIX 2.1 to ONIX 3.0 without first notifying their trading partners. We think you'll find that you will still need to support ONIX 2.1
- New implementations of ONIX have a hard decision: ONIX 2.1 will not be supported for much longer but it remains the practical choice in our market.
The sunset of ONIX 2.1 has one obvious change: the ONIX 2.1 XML declaration no longer links to an active URL and that causes problems for any XML software using it. EDItEUR published advice for those organisations continuing to use 2.1 after sunset. Some organisations have sought to work around sunset by changing the DOCTYPE declaration in ONIX 2.1 files, to point to their own local copies of the 2.1 DTD. This is not recommended at all, and is not valid ONIX. The required DOCTYPE declaration in ONIX 2.1 files is:
<!DOCTYPE ONIXMessage SYSTEM "http://www.editeur.org/onix/2.1/reference/onix-international.dtd">
and this remains true even though there is no actual file at that address.
If you need help, contact biblio@booknetcanada.ca. Whatever version of ONIX you use, you should try to support the most current code list.
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Version 2.1 Revision 02 or 03 (04 is largely about changes for Japan)
Code Lists Issue 31Issue 32 (ONIX_BookProduct_Codelists_Issue_3132_Changes.pdf)
BISAC Subject Code list 2014 2015 edition and Regional Themes (2015 Edition is expected by early December)
The overview of ONIX for Books at the Editeur website.
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