Two newly published bibliographic standards Best Practices documentations for the publishing industry outline how to highlight Indigenous content and contributors in book metadata.

Published by EDItEUR, the international trade standards body for book, e-book, audiobook and serials supply chains, the standards were produced in association with Canada’s BookNet Canada (BNC) and la Société de gestion de la BTLF (BTLF), and the Australian Publishers Association, and outline how Indigenous content and creators can be highlighted in ONIX and Thema, two international standards for exchanging book metadata.

A four-page introduction explains the context around the development of the best-practice standards, and points out that the documents should be seen as a foundation – “a starting point to drive conversation, support change and strengthen Indigenous publishing in markets around the world.”

Representatives from BookNet and BTLF began working with EDItEUR in 2023 to examine Indigenous representation in ONIX and Thema. Representatives from the Australian Publishers Association joined in 2024, and representatives from the four organizations worked with Indigenous publishers and contributors to analyze the opportunities for Indigenous representation within the two standards, BookNet said in announcing the new standards.

The introduction states that the organizations involved “sought to work within a framework that supports Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples” and to expand standards to better reflect terms, concepts and naming preferred by Indigenous groups. BookNet bibliographic manager Tom Richardson called the best practice standards “a workable starting place for meaningful markers representing Indigenous participation and values in our book metadata and emphasize the need to support Indigenous Peoples’ right to data sovereignty.”