11/11/2025

New metadata best practices have been developed to support the discoverability of First Nations books and publishing across the industry supply chain.

The new best practice documents on bibliographic standards have been published by international standards organization EDItEUR outlining ways to highlight Indigenous content and contributors using ONIX and Thema. These have been produced in collaboration with the Australian Publishers Association, BookNet Canada, and the BTLF, building on efforts started in 2023. 

An introductory non technical overview along with worked examples from around the world, including titles from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, accompany two standards documents for ONIX and Thema which aim to help users explore how they might improve their metadata:

• Best practices: highlighting content and contributors relating to Indigeneity and Indigenous Nations and peoples with ONIX outlines ways to highlight Indigenous content and contributors through ONIX. 
• Highlighting content relating to Indigeneity and Indigenous Nations and peoples with Thema outlines ways to highlight Indigenous content using international subject standard Thema. 

Representing Australian First Nations content

A number of Australian publishers and their staff supported the APA in drafting the documents. One contributor was Dr Arlie Alizzi, editor at Magabala Books and winner of the 2025 Rising Star award, who says of the resulting best practices:

“These documents provide some usable and straightforward ways to flag Indigenous content and creators in Australian metadata using ONIX and Thema systems. They outline some important further considerations for the industry and will be a great conversation starter.”

One of the most significant ONIX changes emerging from this work is a new contributor-place relationship which enables a respectful, structured way for Indigenous contributors to be identified in metadata, when and how they choose to be. The inclusion of Austlang as a recognised subject classification scheme similarly allows information about Indigenous Australian languages to be clearly attributed through ONIX.

Leading the APA’s engagement in this international development was Cat Colwell, head of product and supply chain, who notes:

“These documents are a starting point for better representing First Nations participation and values in our book metadata. We believe in evolving standards over time, so that they remain relevant and reflect the diversity of peoples and cultures, as well as the richness and variety of content in the books that are published. I would like to thank the Indigenous publishers and consultants from Australia and around the world who supported us throughout these efforts to decolonise Thema and ONIX, and support Indigenous data sovereignty.”

Colwell acknowledges however that this is just the beginning of the journey, saying:

“It’s really positive that Austlang is now recognised within ONIX as a new classification scheme, creating the capacity for books in First Nations languages to be properly classified and found. This ties into priority areas of the National Cultural Policy Revive, and supports wider initiatives across the arts such as Voices of Country. But it also presents a challenge – how do we ensure it improves practical discoverability in the supply chain? More work is needed here, and will be an ongoing focus for the industry so these identifiers become meaningful tools for cultural recognition, respect, and discovery.”

Implementing this best practice

As a first step the industry, particularly publishers, data suppliers and recipients such as bookstores, should use these documents to consider respectful implementation in their workflows and systems. These resources are intended to support discussion and encourage reflection on how metadata is currently used. Publishers and contributors may choose to use the metadata differently from that described. Additional approaches may emerge through conversations with Elders, contributors, readers, and other stakeholders, which are expected to unfold in subsequent rounds of consultation and engagement with metadata suppliers and consumers. 

The new documents are available to download from our metadata resources pages. Feedback is encouraged and will be integrated into subsequent editions of the documents – share your thoughts and experiences using these with others through the Australian metadata discussion group, or directly with Cat Colwell.