Metadata for e-Books

Short discussion on e-Book metadata requirements

Definition

• A book-publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices

– Can have a printed equivalent or not…

• Called “enhanced” or “interactive” when you add rich media on them, increasing interactivity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book

PRINTED BOOK

E-BOOK Scan Enhance Interactive

E-BOOK

Makes Sense?

• One original physical Book

• Scanned it to produce an e-Book

• Enhanced it to create an enhanced e-Book

Paper PDF HTML

PRINTED BOOK

@ Library 1

E-BOOK @

Repository 1 Scan Enhance

Interactive E-BOOK

PRINTED BOOK

@ Library 2

E-BOOK @

Repository 2

Interactive E-BOOK

Same book Same catalogue card, Different physical copy

Same book Different metadata Same digital copy

Different book Different metadata Different digital copy

Status: It’s complicated…?

PRINTED BOOK

@ Library 1

E-BOOK @

Repository 1 Scan Enhance

Interactive E-BOOK

PRINTED BOOK

@ Library 2

E-BOOK @

Repository 2

Interactive E-BOOK

Same book (content) Same catalogue card, Different physical copy

Same book (content) Different metadata Different digital copy

Different book Different metadata Different digital copy E-BOOK

@ Repository 3

Analog – Digital

• Digital copies of the original are not all the same

– Scan quality? Format? Annotation?

• Enhanced or Interactive e-Books from the same e-Book are not the same

– Completely new book based on the added content

– Different metadata

FRBR Approach

FRBR-izing e-Books

Work

Expression

Manifestation

Item

Book Conception

Book Realization

e-Book

e-Book copy

Enriched e-Book

Enriched e-Book copy

Book Conception

Book Realization

e-Book

e-Book as an item

Distinct intellectual or artistic creation. The conception, the idea of creating the specific e-Book (born digital)

The specific intellectual or artistic form that a work takes each time it’s realized. The words and material on a draft of the e-book.

The digital embodiment of an expression of a work. The e-Book in a digital format, as published by the publisher in e.g. 2013.

Different copies of the same e-Book

Alternative Approach

Work

Expression

Manifestation

Item

Book Conception

Book Realization

Printed Book

e-Book Enriched e-Book

Thoughts

• Seem more logical to see digital and analog cases, as separate ones – FRBR approach to printed/physical works

– Different approach to born digital work

• Accommodating both can be interesting but also a daunting task – High-level record for the physical item

– Connected to multiple records for each digital representation

Metadata Elements

IEEE LOM as a guide?

General (1/2)

• e-Book ID

– Unique ID

• e-Book Title

– Title of the book

• Description/Summary of e-Book

– Short text

General (2/2)

• Keywords

– Some representative terms

• Temporal Coverage

– Is it up to date? Maybe covered some past time?

• Aggregation Level

– Seems like “4” is the default value here

Life-Cycle

• Version

– Critical for keeping up with older versions

• Status

– Sometimes a book may be uploaded before revision, or be uploaded private among the team that prepares it

• Contribution

– Needed to trace contributors to the e-Book

– Including author of analog book is not advised here

Meta-Metadata

• Identifier of record

• Contribution

– Identify metadata annotators

• Metadata Schema

– Schema used

• Language of Metadata

– Multiple languages of e-Book annotations

Technical (1/2)

• Format

– Multiple formats for e-Books

• Size

• Location

– URI identifying location of e-Book

• Requirements

– Especially for enriched e-Books

Technical (2/2)

• Installation Remarks

– In cases of apps that need to be downloaded to better view the e-Book

• Other Requirements

– Sometimes, add-ons may required for enriched e-Books to display properly

• Duration

– Maybe useful for Audio Books?

e-Book Formats (1/2)

• Amazon Kindle and Fire tablets

– AZW, AZW3, KF8, non-DRM MOBI, PDF, PRC, TXT

• Barnes & Noble Nook and Nook Tablet

– EPUB, PDF

• Apple iPad

– EPUB, IBA (via iBooks Author), PDF

• Sony Reader

– EPUB, PDF, TXT, RTF, DOC, BBeB

e-Book Formats (2/2)

• Kobo eReader and Kobo Arc

– EPUB, PDF, TXT, RTF, HTML, CBR (comic), CBZ (comic)

• PocketBook Reader and PocketBook Touch

– EPUB DRM, EPUB, PDF DRM, PDF, FB2, FB2.ZIP, TXT, DJVU, HTM, HTML, DOC, DOCX, RTF, CHM, TCR, PRC (MOBI)

Educational (1/2)

• Interactivity Type

– Distinguish between simple e-Books and enhanced ones

• Learning Resource Type

– Could be used to describe the resources within enhanced e-Books?

• Intended End User

• Educational Level

Educational (2/2)

• Age Range

• Educational Duration

– The duration that the book is used within the classroom (semester, year, etc.)

• Educational Description

– Guidelines for the use of the book

• Language

– Especially useful in language-learning books

Rights

• Cost

– Most probably “free” but also useful to distinguish free-paid versions of the same book

• Copyrights & Other Restrictions

– Yes/No

• Description

– Creative Commons and other licensing schemes

Relation

• Relation Kind

– Relation to other e-Books

– Relation to resources within an enhanced book?

• Related Resource

– URI to Learning Objects or other e-Books

– Relate to authors as entities?

Annotation

• Entity

– It can be used to store annotations from users of the e-Books within a community of practitioners

• Date

– Comments’ date, also correlated with specific versions of the e-Book (Life Cycle)

• Description

– Actual comment, rating, etc.

Classification

• Purpose – The purpose of the classification or the

classification type

• Taxon Path – The term that defines the e-Book within each

classification

• Description – Any specific comments on why the e-Book was

classified using the specific Taxon Path

Conclusions

• IEEE LOM can accommodate the needs for describing an e-Book

– One item of the manifestation of an e-Book (!)

– Some of the elements can be omitted

• There’s the need for some limited adaptation in element definition and vocabularies

– Include subjects taught and other relevant ontologies

Metadata for Learning Resources

• Next steps include the investigation of how MLR can accommodate the description of e-Books

• Is there room for adopting an FRBR-like approach for books that are not born digital?

– Or even for the digitally born, to accommodate the description of different manifestations?

Metadata for e-Books

Short discussion on e-Book metadata requirements