Why has EDItEUR decided that the time is right for a new release?
The International Steering Committee took the decision that the time had come to move to a new release for two main reasons. The first was the need to improve the handling of digital products; the second was the recognition that the price of maintaining backwards-compatibility was the increasing number of “deprecated” elements which have had to be retained – and supported by ONIX receivers – even though they are no longer recommended for use. ONIX for Books 3.0 deletes all “deprecated” elements, as well as others that are now redundant as a result of other changes in the new release. It also enables digital products to be handled more comprehensively and more consistently than before. At the same time, the opportunity has been taken to introduce important improvements in other areas, although there are many data element groups where little or no change has been considered necessary.
