Session on book metadata for academic publishers held at annual AAUP meeting in Chicago 2012.

1. Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Information Media Partners
Making Metadata Better
AAUP Annual Meeting 2012

2. Introduction
Michael Cairns is a publishing and media executive with over 25 years experience in
business strategy, operations and technology implementation. As a business
executive, Mr. Cairns has successfully managed several troubled and under-
performing businesses, creating new business opportunities, developing new funding
sources and enhancing shareholder value for investors. His years spent as an
operating executive have largely been with brand-name publishing companies such
as Macmillan, Inc., Berlitz International, Wolters Kluwer Health, Reed Elsevier and
R.R. Bowker. As a consultant, Mr. Cairns has worked with clients as diverse as
AARP, Hewlett Packard, InterPublic Companies and Reed Elsevier with an emphasis
on business strategy, market development and corporate development.
His skills and experience include:
 Business and corporate strategy development and implementation
 Operations management and business transformation
 Traditional and digital publishing and operations
 Print-to-digital transformation and adoption of new business models
 Software development and software services
Mr. Cairns holds an MBA (Finance) from Georgetown University and a BA from
Boston University. He has served on several boards and advisory groups including
the Association of American Publishers, Book Industry Study Group and the
International ISBN organization. Additionally, he has public and private company
board experience.
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Michael Cairns
Information Media Partners
Strategy Consulting
New York, London, Melbourne
Tel: 908 938 4889
Michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com
Find me:
LinkedIn Twitter Blog Flickr InstaGram

3. Information Media Partners
Michael Cairns established Information Media Partners in 2006 as a boutique strategy
consulting firm focused on the information and education publishing segment. The work
conducted by the firm includes product development, corporate development, sales
management and corporate reorganizations. We work with established businesses, private
equity owners and potential acquirers.
Examples of our work include:
 Reorganized and re-focused a $25 million software publishing company by aligning
business operations with client priorities; implementing internal collaboration tools and
project management standards; re-building executive team to focus on effective and
efficient management
 Defined a new business strategy for a large non-profit association and advocacy group,
expanding their business model into global markets to exploit their core knowledge and
expertise across a broader market
 Led an information technology capabilities review at a large international advertising
holding company. Completed over 200 interviews in 15 international offices and multiple
group focus sessions to define the operational ‘gaps’ between existing agency capabilities
and those necessary and important for client delivery by region
 Completed a sales management effectiveness review for a global software company and
defined six key project initiatives to improve sales effectiveness, market development and
account management
We approach our client engagements in a standardized, logical manner which creates the best
environment to identify key business drivers, administrative and logistical road blocks and/or
product or market definition issues. Our investigative approach leads to better insights into
your businesses and supports the development of workable solutions and recommendations
for success.
Visit the Information Media Partners website for more information.
Sample Client List

4. Historical Perspective
 ISBN
 Bowker
 ONIX
 Google book project
 BISG – eBook study
 BISG Uses of metadata study
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5. M is the new P
 “Place” is no longer physical
 Web page
 Mobile device
 Email/Pushed
 “Product” increasingly
 Unique
 Individual
 Virtuan/Linked
 Only ‘physical’ when delivered
 Promotion
 Depends on finding ‘real-time’ information: “I’ll look it up online”
 Price
 Presumption of change rather than static
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6. Findings from eBook Metadata Study (2010)
 “Bad Practice” structurally embedded
 Enablers at all levels
 Definitions and nomenclature inconsistently applied
 Messaging and communication unclear
 Business case unclear
 Definition of product unclear
 ISBN relevance challenged
 Library market is problematic
 Bibliographic metadata substandard
 Solution(s) not obvious
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7. Bad Practice is Embedded
 No ISBN at all
 Print ISBNs assigned to eBook versions
 One ISBN assigned for all eBook file formats
 Unique ISBNs assigned to individual (production) file
formats
 Unique ISBNs assigned to platform specific versions
 Proprietary (non-publisher) ISBNs assigned to
eBooks
 Proprietary (non-ISBNs) identifier assigned to
eBooks
 EANs assigned to e-Book content
 “Made-up” numbers
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8. Bibliographic Metadata substandard
 Larger ‘trade houses’ print metadata OK
 eBook metadata consistently poor: Complete,
Consistent, Current – fails on all counts
 Separate e-and p-metadata processes
 Synchronization
 “Data rot”
 Outsourced e-Book metadata
 ONIX 3.0 partial answer, but roll-out is slow
 Mechanics of ‘managing data’ substandard
 Update process
 Add/changes/deletes
 “Four days to process a file”
 Work ID
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9. Use of Metadata: High-Level findings (2012)
 Publisher concerns with modified, added data:
risk of bad data
 Recipients report continued weakness in
supplied metadata
 Separate feeds for physical and digital products
 As a standard, ONIX is significantly forked
 Metadata is added to improve discovery and
purchase
 In the U.S., ONIX 3.0 is off to a slow start
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10. Use of Metadata: Process opportunities (2012)
 Compare metadata to the actual product
 Create stronger feedback loops
 Confirm shared metadata definitions
 Articulate what happens with updates
 Improve transparency on alterations and
modifications
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11. Use of Metadata: “Future-proof” metadata (2012)
 Automate data workflows
 Prepare for more frequent updates (especially
price)
 Harmonize metadata workflows for print and
digital products
 Discontinue use of style tags
 Engage new supply chain entrants
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12. Market Observations
 Disaggregating content: Articles, chapters,
cases, etc.
 Limited xml content
 Combination of pdf formats
 Metadata generally high level
 Very few publishers with chapter level metadata
 Abstracts, Key words, bios, synopsis, etc.
 Best seller information
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13. Anticipating the challenge of changes in education
 Managing the cost of education & materials
 Faculty and educators demand more choice
 Seeking intuitive and flexible content creation
processes
 Expect to share content and collaborate across
‘networks’
 Migration to electronic delivery of content
 Growth of open access and ‘free’ content
 Growing expectation for highly customizable
solutions for publishers and institutions.
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14. Please review my blog post associated
with this presentation:
http://personanondata.blogspot.com/2012
/06/making-your-metadata-better-aaup-
panel.html
Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Michael.Cairns@InfoMediaPartners.com
908 938 4889
LinkedIn Twitter Blog Flickr InstaGram
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