ONIX for Serials - New versions of SRN and SPS message formats

[Katharina Klemperer <kathy.klemperer@verizon.net>]

London, UK June, 2008.  EDItEUR, the international group 
coordinating development of the standards infrastructure for 
electronic commerce in the book and serials industries, is 
pleased to announce the availability of new versions of both the 
ONIX for Serials SRN (Serials Release Notification) message 
format and the SPS (Serials Products and Subscription) message 
formats.  Information about these formats can be found at 
http://www.editeur.org/onixserials/ONIX_SRN09.html and 
http://www.editeur.org/onixserials/ONIX_SPS092.html. Both formats 
are currently being piloted.  Please send comments and 
suggestions to brian@bic.org.uk.

ONIX for Serials is a family of XML formats for communicating 
information about serial products and subscription information, 
using the design principles and many of the elements defined in 
ONIX for Books.

The SRN message is used for communicating information about the 
physical publication or electronic availability of one or more 
serial releases.  Content suppliers, content consumers and 
intermediaries will all find it advantageous to send and/or 
receive Serial Release Notifications to advertise the 
availability of new content, helping to minimize unnecessary 
claims, and allowing the automatic maintenance of precise 
holdings in online catalogs and link resolvers.

SRN version 0.92 contains two new messages. The ONIX SRN Content 
Item Description contains metadata describing individual articles 
within a release and can be used to distribute tables of contents 
for serial releases.  The ONIX SRN Content Item Extended 
Description described individual articles in more detail, 
including the same information as the 
ONIXSRNContentItemDescription message, plus enough additional 
information (such as subjects, abstracts and related resources) 
to generate entries in abstracting and indexing databases..

SPS version 0.92 contains a revised and improved structure for 
transmitting prices.  In addition, the <JournalIssue> and 
<Embargo> composites have been replaced by a <Coverage> 
composite, providing for more precise expression of the 
enumeration and chronology of issues included in a subscription 
product.

The EDItEUR website (http://www.editeur.org/onixserials.html) 
includes links to the XML schemas for these formats as well as an 
overview document and detailed user guides for implementation.

The development of ONIX for Serials has been a joint project of 
EDItEUR and NISO, the US National Information Standards 
Organization.

About EDItEUR: EDItEUR is the international group coordinating 
development of the standards infrastructure for electronic 
commerce in the book and serials industries. EDItEUR is a truly 
international organization with 90 members from 17 countries, 
including Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, United States 
and most of the European countries.

About NISO: NISO, the National Information Standards 
Organization, a non-profit association accredited by the American 
National Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops, 
maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage 
information in our changing and ever-more digital environment.