EPUB Linked Metadata Guide
Overview
Although
EPUB 3
defines only a small set of core bibliographic
metadata in the
Package
Document
to assist
Reading Systems
in the ingestion and presentation of publications, there are many other needs for
richer metadata: ingestion of publications into library systems, moving content through production
workflows, rendering in content-specialized Reading Systems, among others.
To provide the greatest amount of flexibility, the EPUB 3 specification allows
linking to any kind of metadata
record
. Linked records can be hosted both inside and outside the EPUB Container, and an Author can
include links to as many record formats as they need to support.
This informative guide highlights some of the more common metadata record formats linked to from the EPUB
Package Document, including how to reference them from a
link
element. Examples of
typical records are also provided for reference.
This guide is not intended to be a tutorial on how to create metadata records. For more information about the
listed formats, refer to the documentation provided by the respective maintenance organization.
Metadata Record Formats
Note:
Any type of record format can be linked to from the EPUB Package Document, whether
listed in the following table or not.
Format
Description
Serialization
Package Document Link
Record Examples
MARCXML
XML serialization of MARC records used primarily in library applications.
XML
href="marc.xml"
media-type="application/marcxml+xml"/>
View MARCXML record
MODS
Record format for bibliographic metadata used primarily in library applications.
XML
href="mods.xml"
media-type="application/mods+xml"/>
See the MODS Guidance
page
ONIX
International standard for representing and communicating book industry product information in
electronic form.
XML
href="onix.xml"
media-type="application/xml"
properties="onix"/>
View ONIX record
Schema.org
Schemas for structured data on the web.
XHTML / RDFa Lite 1.1
href="metadata.xhtml"
media-type="application/xhtml+xml"/>
See the following schema.org classes:
CreativeWork
Book
Article
Schema.org
JSON-LD
href="metadata.jsonld"
media-type="application/ld+json"/>