Bringing Publisher Metadata Directly to the Library

Abstract

The library community is discussing ways to use metadata created at the beginning of the bibliographic supply chain to reduce costs associated with cataloging and remove redundant work between publishers and libraries. The ONIX standard holds promise because many of the data elements found within ONIX can be mapped to the MARC standard. The Library of Congress (LC) has developed an ONIX-to-MARC Converter that is being used to create MARC bibliographic descriptions directly from publisher-supplied ONIX metadata for new publications received through its Electronic Cataloging in Publication Program. This paper presents background information on ONIX, provides detailed information on how the ONIX-to-MARC Converter functions, presents findings of a test of the ONIX-to-MARC Converter, and discusses the pros and cons of using ONIX in the daily work of a large cataloging operation. Use of the ONIX-to-MARC Converter has reduced the time needed to create bibliographic descriptions, facilitated the inclusion of enriched metadata to bibliographic records, and provided the LC cataloging staff with records that are comparable to high-quality copy cataloging records.