Document Submission Guidelines for Publishers

Introduction
Important Note
The journey from PDF delivery to the ebrary platform
Summary of File Submission Guidelines
File name
PDF ﬁle types
A note on PDF image + hidden text
eBook formats
Multilingual documents
Speciﬁc PDF requirements
Error free files
Single ﬁle
PDF ﬁle compatibility
Security settings
Fonts
Font compatibility
Images
Image resolution
Image colour
OPI images
FPO images
Page size and orientation
Crop marks
Omitted objects
Page display
Navigation enhancements
Bookmarks and Hyperlinks
Pagination
Metadata
Metadata ﬁeld requirements
Covers
PDF ﬁle validation
PitStop proﬁles for validating ebrary PDF ﬁles
Adobe Acrobat Distiller proﬁles
Other software/plug-ins
File Delivery
Regular Files
Replacement Files
Test ﬁles
Contact Information

Introduction

GLC’s Canadian Electronic Library (http://www.canadianelectroniclibrary.ca) is delivered on the ebrary™ technology platform, which supports the secure online distribution of PDF, the format used almost universally in the book printing industry. ebrary technology is not based on the eBook model—that is, the delivery of an eBook ﬁle to an off-line computer–but rather on a database model, in which the user views an actual representation of the printed page (the PDF), which is streamed to the user’s web browser. ebrary retains the original ﬁle on its own secure servers at all times.

These instructions are adapted from the ebrary Document Submission Guidelines, which may be found at ftp://submission.ebrary.com (user: publisher; pass: guidelines) Since all documents submitted to GLC eventually are deposited on the ebrary server, (see The journey from PDF delivery to the ebrary platform) most of the requirements here are mandated by the ebrary system.

Important Note

Publishers approaching this task for the first time should not be intimidated by the requirements set out below concerning PDF file standards. In practice, we aim to accept virtually any variety, type, version, and iteration of PDF content. We will make every effort to accept any PDF—even those which do not meet the requirements set out in this document. In addition, it should be understood that:

· PDFs that meet Adobe eBook requirements also meet our requirements and can be delivered without modiﬁcation.

· Files that have been distributed to other e-book vendors are usually acceptable in the ebrary database without modiﬁcation.

And finally, it is our goal to integrate the submission process into the publisher’s workflow as seamlessly as possible. If there are modifications that we can make to streamline submission for your organization, please advise us of these, and we will attempt to comply.

The journey from PDF delivery to the ebrary platform

This section describes the path a PDF document/file will follow from arrival at GLC to the stage at which it becomes available to customers through our database.

When you sign a contract with GLC, we will assign your organization a password-protected publisher-specific site on our secure FTP server. This will be the location to which you will transfer your titles. You can carry out this transfer using a simple FTP Client. We will be pleased to supply further instructions on the file transfer process upon request.

We monitor the FTP server and sweep for new ﬁles on a daily basis. As soon as a new file is identified, it is moved into our processing area and deleted from the FTP server.

Our first processing step is that of file validation. If the document fails this step, we will need to contact you to ask for a corrected file. But assuming that it passes (as almost all print-ready PDFs will,) our next step is the creation of a MARC record. For titles with ISBNs (the vast majority) MARC record creation is straightforward, taking less than one week. Once the record is created, GLC uses this to create the metadata that is required for submission to the ebrary platform.

When MARC and metadata are ready (normally within 2 weeks of first deposit) GLC sends the PDF file, the MARC record and the metadata to the ebrary platform. Once received, ebrary will typically have the file loaded and ready for customers within 2 weeks. (ebrary carries out a number of additional processes to prepare a file. These include further validation of files, indexing for fulltext search and linking metadata to files.) When the file is ready, ebrary makes it available to customers who have subscribed to the collection (or collections) in which the file is included by placing it on customer-specific “channel” sites along with its associated MARC record.

For more information on delivery and submission of replacement files, see File Delivery.

ebrary will typically add ﬁles to the database within 2 weeks of receipt from GLC.

Summary of File Submission Guidelines

The following table summarizes the information given in the following pages. Again it should be noted that most print-ready PDFs already meet these standards and will therefore not require any modification.

Single ﬁle	All pages and chapters must be compiled into one PDF ﬁle per title.
File name	Name your PDF ﬁles by ISBN (e.g. 0123456789.pdf) or other consistent naming convention. Remove hyphens from ISBN names.
Remove security settings	Acrobat security settings must be removed to allow for the application of ebrary’s proprietary encryption.
Embed fonts	All fonts must be embedded.
Trim and crop	All pages must be trimmed to ﬁnal printed size with no registration or crop marks.
PDF file type	We recommend using PDF normal or PDF image + hidden text. Image-only PDFs are not acceptable, because they do not support Search and other key features of the ebrary database.
Resolution	While ﬁle size does not affect page views in the ebrary system, we recommend the follow image sizes for processing efﬁciency: Color: 72-300 dpi Grayscale: 72-450 dpi Monotone: 72-600 dpi
Covers	Cover thumbnails are displayed in the ebrary search results and should be named to match the PDF ﬁle. Save all images as .gif or .jpg sized to 65 x 90. .jpeg ﬁles should be saved as RGB color, not CMYK.
Metadata	Where a title bears an ISBN, publishers do not need to provide metadata, as GLC can obtain it from a bibliographic database. We ask that publishers provide metadata for any titles that do not bear an ISBN.

File name

All PDF ﬁles should be named based on the ISBN associated with the publication (for example, 0123456789.pdf). For non-ISBN titles, please use a consistent naming convention that is no longer than 27 characters and uses only alphanumeric characters, dashes, and underscores (for example, howto_java.pdf).The file extension .pdf is required.

PDF ﬁle types

There are three common types of PDF ﬁles:

· PDF normal: standard PDF ﬁles with recognizable text that can be edited, searched and copied. PDF ﬁles generated by Adobe Acrobat Distiller or by the authoring application are considered to be PDF normal.

· PDF image + hidden text: PDF ﬁles created from scanned documents and include selectable, searchable text underneath the original page image.

· PDF Image: PDF ﬁles that do not contain searchable text.

We recommend using PDF normal or PDF image + hidden text. Image-only PDFs are not acceptable as these ﬁles do not support search and other key features of the ebrary database.

A note on PDF image + hidden text

The quality of image + hidden text ﬁles can vary. Publishers should pay particular attention to image quality (page images should be square and legible), ﬁle size (PDFs should be well below 50mb) and the alignment of the underlying text (when highlighting the imaged text the selection rectangles for the underlying text should line up very close). Underlying text must be proofread and corrected to ensure a high degree of search accuracy.

eBook formats

PDFs that meet the Adobe eBook requirements also meet ebrary’s requirements and can be delivered without any modiﬁcation. (Please note that titles in the ebrary database are not distributed as eBooks and are not downloadable.)

Please note these guidelines are intended for book-type content. If you publish serials, reports, technical papers or any other non-book content some portions of these guidelines may not apply. Please contact us for additional information.

Multilingual documents

PDF is a fully multilingual electronic format and supports accented and double-byte character sets. ebrary supports most languages that use alphanumeric characters and is constantly striving to support more and more languages. We currently support English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. If you publish books in a language not mentioned please contact us for a current list of supported languages and the latest news regarding multilingual support.

Speciﬁc PDF requirements

Error free files

PDF ﬁles must be submitted to the repository error free. No errors or “ﬁle needs repair” warnings should be displayed when the ﬁle is opened.

Single ﬁle

Each title submitted to the ebrary repository must be compiled into a single PDF ﬁle that includes all chapters and pages (including blank pages). Although not required, it’s perfectly acceptable for content providers to include the front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover in the PDF ﬁle.

PDF ﬁle compatibility

ebrary is compatible with PDF versions 1.2 and up, or Acrobat versions 3.0 and up.

While ﬁles created using earlier versions of Acrobat may also acceptable, please contact your Content Project Manager in advance to insure these ﬁles are compatible with our systems.

Security settings

ebrary applies its Electronic Copyright Protection system to all PDF ﬁles submitted to the repository. Content providers must remove all Adobe Acrobat security settings prior to submitting ﬁles to ebrary.

Fonts

All fonts must be embedded in ebrary-compliant PDF ﬁles in order to create an accurate representation of the original content.

Font compatibility

ebrary is compatible with Type 1, Composite (2-byte) fonts, Multiple Master fonts and True Type fonts. Please contact your Content Project Manager if your ﬁles include other types of fonts.

Images

Image resolution

High-resolution images can result in signiﬁcantly larger ﬁles. While ebrary documents are byte-served so the user doesn’t have to wait for an entire document to load to view a page, high-resolution images can still affect processing times. Resolutions should be kept in the following ranges:

· Color Images (no less than 72 dpi and no greater than 300 dpi)

· Grayscale Images (no less than 72 dpi and no greater than 450 dpi)

· Monotone Images (no less than 72 dpi and no greater than 600 dpi)

Note:These are recommended resolutions and may not be suitable for every document. For example, a very small color image may need to be 600 dpi to be legible where a document with several very large color images could be 72 dpi and still retain clarity. In all cases, the ﬁle size should be no greater 50 MB and preferably less than 10 MB.

Image colour

Color images should be saved as RGB. ebrary strives to be compatible with evolving color models and supports CMYK, ICC proﬁles, calibrated RGB, indexed color, and Lab (CIE) color. If you use a color model other than those mentioned above please contact your Content Project Manager.

OPI images

ebrary’s software will render OPI images as they appear in Acrobat. All low-resolution OPI images should be replaced with their original full resolution image for clarity.

FPO images

For Placement Only (FPO) image placeholders should not be used for PDFs submitted to ebrary. Please use the full image without the FPO designation. In rare circumstances, it is possible to omit the image entirely (please refer to the following section on omitted objects).

Page size and orientation

The page size and orientation should reﬂect the characteristics of the original document. All pages should be the same size, except where speciﬁc pages of the original are different sizes (for example, gatefolds and inserts). Pages that are rotated in the original document (such as maps or ﬁgures) should be rotated for proper viewing in the PDF. The page orientation will be the same online as it appears in the PDF.

Crop marks

All pages within the PDF ﬁle must be cropped to the title’s ﬁnished size. The page should not contain any crop marks, excessive white space in borders, registration marks or application ﬁle notations.

Omitted objects

Tables, photos, images, or text that has been intentionally omitted must have a placeholder or disclaimer that alerts the user that this removal is intentional and not erroneous. We recommend the phrase, “To view this image, please refer to the printed version of this book.”

Page display

The ebrary Reader handles page displays according to the user settings (magniﬁcation, shrink to ﬁt, and facing pages). Page display settings in Acrobat will not be used and will not affect how the ebrary Reader displays the page.

Navigation enhancements

PDF supports a number of online navigation aids that make it easier for users to move logically and efﬁciently through a document and locate information easily. ebrary strongly encourages content providers to include navigational aids in PDF ﬁles. In some cases, during the PDF validation process, ebrary may wish to add basic navigational aids to PDF ﬁles submitted to the repository.

Bookmarks and Hyperlinks

Bookmarks are displayed in a navigational frame and provide an overview of the document structure. Hypertext links enable easy navigation to related information. ebrary supports internal links or bookmarks that point to other parts of the document and to external URLs (web sites). We encourage publishers to use Tables of Contents.

With regard to commercial links within files, such as those to advertising or bookseller sites, we do not encourage these, since they are not generally welcome in library settings. There is one exception to this, which is a link to the publisher’s commerce site. We encourage publishers to include their hyperlinked website addresses on the copyright page of every title submitted.

Pagination

For PDF Normal ﬁles that use roman numerals and/or numeric paging, ebrary’s software automatically generates logical page numbering. This will replace any logical page numbers in the original PDF.

Metadata

Content within the ebrary repository is indexed, managed, and accessed using a variety of metadata. This information is crucial to providing the highest level of functionality to users of the Canadian Electronic Library database. As noted above, where a title bears an ISBN, the publisher is not required to submit metadata. Where metadata is supplied, the following table shows the field requirements, The most common (and preferred) format for submission of metadata is a spreadsheet.

Metadata ﬁeld requirements

Here are the content and formatting requirements for any metadata submitted:

Field	Explanation
File Name	Because this ﬁeld is used to properly match the metadata to the PDF, it must be the exact PDF name.
Print Publication Date	YYYYMM (e.g. 200410)
ePublication Date (if any)	YYYYMM (e.g. 200410)
Print ISBN	The ISBN for the print version of the title
eISBN (if any)	Providing the eISBN in this ﬁeld indicates that a publisher wishes ebrary to reference and report by eISBN (see eISBN section below)
Title	Full title, including any subtitle
Contributor	Contributor names must be formatted as last name, ﬁrst name. Enter one contributor per ﬁeld (maximum 3 contributor ﬁelds per title).
Contributor Role	Contributor roles include author, editor, contributor
Publisher List Price	Current list price. Format 999.99
PLP Currency Type	List price currency type (US, Euro, etc.)
Publisher Name	Full, unabbreviated publisher name
Publisher Location	City, Country. This data is used for citations
Language	Primary language of title. E=English, F=French

eISBNs

Although not required for ebrary content, some publishers prefer use eISBNs for their PDF ﬁles. GLC can provide revenue and activity reporting by eISBN if the number is provided on the metadata sheet.

Covers

Titles in the Canadian Electronic Library are displayed in search results with thumbnail cover images.

Covers should be in either .jpeg or .gif format and sized to approximately to 65 pixels x 90 pixels. .jpeg ﬁles should be saved as RGB color, not CMYK. Covers should be named to match the correlating PDF ﬁle using the appropriate extension. (e.g. 0201709694.pdf would have a cover named 0201709694.gif or 0201709694.jpg).

Covers may also be attached as an annotation in accordance with the Adobe eBook standards. Titles submitted without covers will display a generic cover in the search results.

PDF ﬁle validation

We may validate the basic appearance and navigation features of each submitted PDF ﬁle using Adobe Acrobat. To ensure that the document meets the speciﬁc ﬁle and security requirements, ebrary veriﬁes the ﬁle using Enfocus PitStop, an Adobe Acrobat plug-in.

We may also add bookmarks and links to facilitate easy navigation. To ensure that ebrary can process submitted ﬁles efﬁciently and make them available to end-users as quickly as possible, publishers should perform this same (or similar) validation process before submitting PDF ﬁles.

PitStop proﬁles for validating ebrary PDF ﬁles

ebrary’s customized PitStop proﬁle is available at ftp://submission.ebrary.com (user: publisher, password: guidelines).

Adobe Acrobat Distiller proﬁles

You may download a customized job proﬁle at ftp:// submission.ebrary.com (user: publisher, password: guidelines).

Other software/plug-ins

If you use other preﬂight software, ebrary will work with you to ensure that it validates the criteria outlined above. Contact us for further information about plug-ins, preﬂight software, and other PDF software.

File Delivery

Regular Files

GLC will establish a publisher FTP account for your ﬁle delivery. We highly recommend delivery via FTP, but we can also accept ﬁles sent on hard media, such as CDs, DVDs or zip disks. For security reasons, we do not accept emailed ﬁles.

Replacement Files

From time to time, publishers will need to replace or remove files from our system. For replacements, please use the following file naming conventions:

Replacement ﬁle – please append an “-r” to the end of the ﬁle name. (For example 0201709694.pdf would become 0201709694-r.pdf.) This ensures we treat it as a replacement and not a new ﬁle.

Edition replacement – please append an “-e” to the end of the ﬁle name. (For example 1111111111.pdf might be 2222222222-e.pdf. The ISBN will be different in this scenario).

When we see this we will treat the file as a new edition and remove the older edition from our collection.

Otherwise, please treat replacement files as regular deliveries and transfer any metadata and thumbnail covers at the same time as the replacement files.

For file removals, please send filenames to GLC by email with the words “File Removal” in the subject line. We will proceed according to your instructions.

Test ﬁles

We recommend that publishers submit one or more test ﬁles before regular delivery begins. We will evaluate the test ﬁles to verify that they are compliant with the above standards. Please append “test” to the end of the ﬁle name (e.g. 0201709694test.pdf) to ensure that we treat it as a test.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Bob Gibson
Gibson Library Connections
2974 Forest Road

Saint-Lazare, QC J7T 2B1

450-458-0677

bob@gibsonlibraryconnections.ca