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Bibliographic Data Distribution

Bibliographic Data Distribution

Find bibliographic data/metadata for books available in Canada:

 

  • Bibliographic Data Services

  • Image Web Services

    • Cover - Returns either a thumbnail version of the cover or the full-size image, as provided.

    • Back  -  Returns either a thumbnail version of the back cover or the full-size image, as provided.

    • Interior - Returns either a thumbnail version of interior images or the full-size image.

    • Author - Returns either a thumbnail version of the author photo(s) or the full-size image.

    • Info - Returns information about a specific cover image in the repository.

    • List - Returns information about all images (covers, author and interiors) for a particular EAN.]

  • BISH Assets: Returns a list of all assets held in BiblioShare regarding an isbn including:

    • ONIX 3.0

    • ONIX 2.1

    • Images

    • Position

    • Samples

  • ISBNs for Assets: Returns a list of all ISBNs held in BiblioShare regarding an Asset including:

    • Sample

    • Excerpt

    • TOC

    • Guide

    • Teacher's guide

    • Back cover

    • Author photo

  • Sample

    • Sample - returns a pdf or epub for download

    • Excerpt - returns a pdf or epub for download

    • TOC - returns a pdf or epub for download 

    • Guide - returns a pdf or epub for download

    • Teacher's guide - returns a pdf or epub for download

  • MARC Record Web Service - Returns a full or brief MARC record for specified EANs

  • Flat Files - Various publicly accessible exports from BiblioShare

    • CAN_EAN file - returns isbns where Country Code = “CA“

    • Daily New eans - returns list of isbns new to BiblioShare

    • Forthcoming eans - returns list of isbns where PublishingStatus = "02" (forthcoming)
      or
      SupplyDetail / AvailabilityCode = NP or NY ("Not yet published" or "Newly catalogued, not yet in stock")
      or
      SupplyDetail / ProductAvailability = 10 ("Not yet available")

 

We continually update the information supplied by the publisher/distributor to give you the most up-to-date bibliographic record or image. All you need to retrieve data is the ISBN-13/EAN of the item and some other basic request information.

Please find below instructions on how to receive a user token to get started and the terms of use.

We want your feedback. So let us know what works and what doesn't work. Reach us at biblioshare@booknetcanada.ca.

ONIX Web Service

The ONIX Web Service allows a user to pull a full ONIX record for titles in the Canadian market. This web service is for you if you're looking for extremely detailed information about books. It's big and complex, but it gives you access to all the data we have on an individual title.

How do you use it?

  1. Get a token from us (see below).

  2. Specify an ISBN-13/EAN as part of a URL. The query should look like this:

  3. This will deliver a full ONIX record from BiblioShare.

Please Note:

  • The record is in XML/ONIX format, so in order to use it in your application you will need to retrieve the record and manipulate it, or do something fancy with XSLT.

  • The data in the record is very much as the publisher/distributor supplied it to us. We do some standardization of the content, and we may do some merging of information from multiple sources, but we do not manipulate records.

  • If we don't have a record in BiblioShare, you will get a message indicating this.

BiblioSimple Web Service

The BiblioSimple Web Service returns a 'thinner' version of the ONIX record, for sites that don't need the full record. It is designed for display purposes, so things like multiple contributor names will be grouped into one tag. It includes the basics: title, contributor names, format, publication date, price, etc.

How do you use it?

  1. Get a token from us (see below).

  2. Specify an ISBN-13/EAN as part of a URL. The query should look like this:

  3. This will deliver a 'thin' or simplified bibliographic data based on the full ONIX record.