Metadata - Scribe

Manage metadata when producing e-books in the Digital Hub.

References/Prerequisites

BISAC Codes

BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) codes are the US standard of topical categorization, used to guide how books are shelved and for searches in databases.

Scribe updates the BISAC codes used in the Digital Hub as updates become available using the list from the Book Industry Study Group.

ISBNs

There is no single standard for how to present ISBNs.

Scribe recommends presenting ISBNs without hyphens and including the complete ISBN for each version of the book.

If there is no e-ISBN, add the print ISBN in the Project Information tab in the Digital Hub.

Note: The key aspect of choosing the print ISBN for inclusion is the pagination. The print ISBN is used to make a connection between pagination in the e-book and print versions, so the print ISBN should match the pagination of the version from which the ScML/e-book is derived.

If there are multiple print versions that use the same pagination, enter the ISBN for the hardcover into the Digital Hub rather than the paperback or other editions.

Accessibility Options

In the Accessibility tab of the Digital Hub, select the appropriate options.

For Access Modes and Sufficient Access Modes, options include Textual, Visual, and Auditory.

“Textual” implies that there is text and that understanding the text is critical for full comprehension of the book. All Hub-produced books have this.
“Visual” implies that there are images and that seeing the images is critical for full comprehension of the book. All Hub-produced books with a cover have at least this one image.
“Auditory” implies that there is embedded audio. No Hub-produced book has this, but it is possible to embed audio locally, so this option is included to help populate the OPF. (OPF stands for Open Package Format and uses the file extension .opf. It lists all of the contents of the ePub and tells the reading system in what order to display the files.)

Accessibility Features

Listing the accessibility features is a requirement for creating discoverable ePub publications.

The features to select are determined by the contents of the book.

For a typical academic monograph, these are Scribe’s recommendations:

Alternative Text: The Digital Hub automatically adds alt text to the cover image, even if there are no other images in the publication.
Index: Select this if the book includes an index.
Structural Navigation: A book that has been scribed correctly using the Well-Formed Document Workflow will meet this standard. Use Ace by DAISY to confirm there are no heading hierarchy issues, such as the use of eh instead of ah for heads in Notes sections.
Display Transformability: Select this if the ePub uses Scribe’s default CSS. (Do not select this option if the e-book has extensive text content captured as images or if font sizes have been hard-coded using pixels or points. Note: Both of these practices go against industry accessibility standards.)

Access Modes

Access modes are the human sensory perceptual systems used to process or perceive the content. Listing the access modes in a publication is a requirement for discoverable, fully accessible ePub publications.

For all e-books, select

Textual
Visual

Sufficient Access Modes

Sufficient access modes are the minimum human sensory-perceptual systems used to process or perceive the content. Listing the sufficient access modes in a publication is a requirement for discoverable, fully accessible ePub publications.

If the e-book includes alt text, select

Textual

If the e-book does not include alt text, select

Textual
Visual

The indication of “Visual” in an e-book without alt text means that vision is required, as alt text has not been included to assist in comprehension for low-vision users.

Note: It is never appropriate for “Visual” to be the only selection.

Accessibility Summary

The accessibility summary is a brief human-readable description of the accessibility or lack of accessibility in a publication. An accessibility summary is a requirement for discoverable, fully accessible ePub publications.

Users may add any desired descriptive summary.

Scribe recommends

If a publication includes full alt text for every image: This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG Level A.

Note: All publications should include full alt text in order to meet current and future accessibility standards.

This applies to decorative images as well as covers and figures/illustrations. See the Short Description Text (Alt Text) for information about how to apply alt text to each type of image.

Conformance

In the Accessibility tab of the Digital Hub, select the appropriate option to indicate through the “Conforms To” property that an ePub conforms to a published accessibility specification.

Projects can have multiple statements that either describe or link to established accessibility specifications.

Users can

enter a URL in the description field or
enter a text description and certifying organization.

Certifying organizations are not included in an ePub when a conformance line references a URL. See examples under conformance reporting in the EPUB Accessibility 1.1 Specification.

Scribe does not certify e-books against accessibility requirements. It is the publisher’s responsibility to gain the certification of the listed organization or individual before making the ePub available for users. Publishers can list their own organization name if they are self-certifying the conformance level.

Files that meet all of the criteria here can generally be listed as meeting this specification: https://www.w3.org/submissions/epub-a11y/.

Page-related metadata indications are added to the ePub automatically if page numbers are present.

<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageBreakMarkers</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageNavigation</meta>

Example of Metadata

Use the Ace by DAISY app to review e-books. The app will indicate if any accessibility metadata is missing.

Note: As long as any accessibility selection is made in the Digital Hub, these fields are included automatically:

    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">tableOfContents</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">readingOrder</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">ARIA</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageBreakMarkers</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageNavigation</meta>

Full accessibility metadata with alternate text in the OPF file in an ePub:

    <meta property="schema:accessMode">textual</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessMode">visual</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessModeSufficient">textual,visual</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessModeSufficient">textual</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">tableOfContents</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">readingOrder</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">ARIA</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageBreakMarkers</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">pageNavigation</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">alternativeText</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">structuralNavigation</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">displayTransformability</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilityHazard">none</meta>
    <meta property="schema:accessibilitySummary">This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG Level A.</meta>
    <link rel="dcterms:conformsTo" href="https://www.w3.org/submissions/epub-a11y/" />