The authoritative Open Library schema -- a specification of the database fields used to represent items like books and authors -- is a python expression in the source repository, here.

An more readable version may be generated by executing that file; here it is as of 2007-08-30. (Asterixes indicate multi-valued fields. The types "string", "text", "url" and "date" are all currently represented in ThingDB as strings, but could be displayed or edited in different ways.)

edition

Field	Type	MARC Fields	Example (Description)
source_record_loc	string*		"marc_records_scriblio_net/part01.dat:29834:543" (a locator for the source record data)
source_record_id	string*		"LC:DLC:00000006" (a record identifier that is globally unique and that also can be constructed consistently from the contents of a record and an identifier for its source catalog)
author_identifier	string*	100:abcd, 110:ab, 710:ab, 111:acdn, 711:acdn	"Twain, Mark, 1835-1910" (unique author id in some catalog)
contributions	string*	700:abcde	"Illustrated by: Steve Bjorkman"
title	string	245:ab clean_name	"The adventures of Tom Sawyer"
by_statement	string*	245:c	"Herman Melville ; [illustrated by Barry Moser]"
sort_title	string		"adventures of Tom Sawyer"
other_titles	string*	246:a, 730:a-z, 740:apn	"Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
work_title	string	240:amnpr, 130:a-z	(The 240 "work title" is used in the OCLC FRBR algorithm. The 130 is also used, and there should be either a 130 or a 240 in a record, but not both. It would be ideal if we could pick up either for the work title.)
edition	string	250:ab	"2nd. editon" (information about this edition)
publisher	string	260:b clean_name	"W. W. Norton & Co."
publish_place	string*	260:a clean	"New York"
publish_date	date	008:7-10	"2006"
pagination	string	300:a	"viii, 383 p. :" (full pagination information)
number_of_pages	int	300:a biggest_decimal	383 (largest decimal found)
subjects	string*	600:abcd--x--v--y--z, 610:ab--x--v--y--z, 650:a--x--v--y--z, 651:a--x--v--y--z	"Runaway children -- Fiction"
subject_place	string*	651:a*, 650:z*	"Venice (Italy)"
subject_time	string*	600:y*, 650:y*	"20th century"
genre	string*	600:v*, 650:v*, 651:v*	"Biography"
series	string*	440:av, 490:av, 830:av	"Oxford world's classics"
language	string	008:35-37 "ISO" tag	"ISO: tel" (coded or human-readable description of the text's language)
physical_format	string*	245:h
notes	string*	5XX!505!520:a-z
description	text	520:a
exerpts	text*
table_of_contents	text*	505:art
cover_image	url
scan_contributor	string
scan_sponsor	string
dewey_number	string*	082:a	"914.3"
LC_classification	string	050:ab	"BJ1533.C4 L49"
ISBN	string*	020:a normalize_isbn, 024:a normalize_isbn	"9780393926033" (13-digit ISBN)
UCC_13	string
UPC	string
ISMN	string
DOI	string
LCCN	string	010:a normalize_lccn	"2006285320"
GTIN_14	string
oca_identifier	string		"albertgallatinja00stevrich"

author

Field	Type	MARC Fields	Example (Description)
identifier	string*		"Twain, Mark, 1835-1910" (unique id in some catalog)
name	string		"Mark Twain" (human-readable name)
birth_date	date		"1835"
death_date	date		"1910"
bio	text

Please see Karen Coyle's earlier [notes](http://www.kcoyle.net/temp/PharosSchema+kc.html) on the schema, and also the tables and notes below, all of which inspired the working schema. Possible new schema -------------------------

EDITION

name	type	example/description
source_name	STRING
source_record_pos	INT
work	ID-REF
authors	ID-REFs	Tolkien, J. R. R.
contributors	STRINGs	"Illustrated by: Steve Bjorkman"
agencies/organizations	STRINGs	American Civil Liberties Union. Berkeley Chapter
title	STRING	The adventures of Tom Sawyer
"by" statement	STRINGs	Herman Melville ; [illustrated by Barry Moser]
sort title	INT	adventures of Tom Sawyer
other titles	STRINGs	Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
edition	STRING	2nd. editon
publisher	STRING	W. W. Norton & Co.,
publish_place	STRING	New York :
publish_date	DATE	c2007.
number_of_pages	STRING	viii, 383 p. :
subjects	STRINGs	Runaway children -- Fiction
series	STRINGs	Oxford world's classics
notes	STRINGs
BISAC_subject_categories	STRINGs	see definitions here
language_code	STRING	code from ISO 639-2/B; e.g., "tel"
language	STRING	human-readable description of the text's language, e.g, "Telugu"
physical_format	STRING
description	HTML
table of contents	STRINGs
Dewey number	STRINGs	914.3
LC Classification	STRING	BJ1533.C4 L49
cover_image	URL
scan_contributor	STRING
scan_sponsor	STRING
ISBN_10	STRING	0393926036
ISBN_13	STRING	9780393926033
UCC_13	STRING
UPC	STRING
ISMN	STRING
DOI	STRING
LCCN	STRING
GTIN_14	STRING
oca_identifier	STRING	"albertgallatinja00stevrich"

New EDITION with MARC and ONIX fields

name

type

field

subfield/code

example/description

source_name

STRING

source_record_pos

INT

work

ID-REF

authors

ID-REFs

Tolkien, J. R. R.

authors (MARC)

100

abcd

$a Tolkien, J. R. R.

authors (ONIX)

Contributor

"A01"

contributors

STRINGs

Morcock, Michael, 1939- , ed.

contributors (MARC)

700 w/o $t

abcde

$a Tolkien, J. R. R.

contributors (ONIX)

Contributor

not "A01"

agencies/organizations

STRINGs

American Civil Liberties Union. Berkeley Chapter

agencies/Organizations (MARC)

110, 710

ab

$a American Civil Liberties Union. $b Berkeley chapter

111, 711

acdn

a IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Multimedia n (5th : d 2004 : c Tokyo, Japan)

agencies/Organizations (ONIX)

CorporateName

title

STRING

The adventures of Tom Sawyer

title (MARC)

245

ab

$a Moby Dick : $b or, The whale

"by" statement

STRINGs

Herman Melville ; [illustrated by Barry Moser]

"by" statement (MARC)

245

c

$c Herman Melville ; [illustrated by Barry Moser]

"by" statement (ONIX)

contributor
ContributorRole

sort title

INT

adventures of Tom Sawyer

other titles

STRINGs

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

other titles (MARC)

246

a

$a Beowolf

other titles (MARC)

730

a-z*

$a Bible $p N.T. $p Luke. $l Greek. $s Codex Sinaiticus

other titles (MARC)

740

apn

work title

STRING

The Pickwick papers.

work title (MARC) [1]

240

amnpr

$aThe Pickwick papers.

work title (MARC)

130

a-z*

$a Bible $p N.T. $p Luke. $l Greek. $s Codex Sinaiticus

edition

STRING

2nd. edition

edition (MARC)

250

ab

$a 4th ed. /$brevised and corrected

publisher

STRING

W. W. Norton & Co.,

publisher (MARC)

260

b

$b Macmillan

publisher (ONIX)

PublisherName

publish_place

STRING

New York :

publish_place (MARC)

260

a

$a New York :

publish_date [7]

DATE

2006

publish_date (MARC) [2]

008

pos 7-10

2006

publish_date (ONIX) [2]

PublicationDate

2006

number_of_pages

STRING

viii, 383 p. :

number_of_pages (MARC)

300

a

$a 149 p. ;

number_of_pages (ONIX)

NumberOfPages

subjects

STRINGs

Runaway children -- Fiction

subjects (MARC)

600

abcdxvyz

$a Thomas, Olive, $d 1898-1920 $x Death and burial

subjects (MARC)

610

abxvyz

$a Partito democratico

subjects (MARC)

650

axvyz

$a Heads of state $z Italy $z Venice $v Biography

subjects (MARC)

651

axvyz

$a Venice (Italy) $x History $y 1508-1797

series

STRINGs

Oxford world's classics

series (MARC)

440

av

$a Lecture notes in computer science $v 4407

series (MARC)

490

av

$a Österreichische Film ; $v 22

series (MARC)

830

av

$a Studi musicologici $v 6

series (ONIX)

ImprintName

notes

STRINGs

notes (MARC) [3]

5XX

a-z

$a Includes bibliographical references

BISAC_subject_categories

STRINGs

see definitions here

language_code [7]

STRING

code from ISO 639-2/B; e.g., "tel"

language_code (MARC)

008

pos. 35-37

eng

language_code (ONIX)

LanguageOfText

language [7]

STRING

human-readable description of the text's language, e.g, "Telugu"

physical_format

STRING

physical_format (ONIX)

ProductForm
Description

description

HTML

description (MARC)

520

a

$a Carew Raleigh was the only surviving son of Sir Walter Raleigh. This work ...

description (ONIX)

MainDescription

table of contents

STRINGs

table of contents

505

art

$t River of names / $r Dorothy Allison --

dewey number

STRINGs

914.3

dewey number

082

a

$a 914.3

LC Classification

STRING

BJ1533.C4 L49

LC Classification (MARC)

050

ab

$a BJ1533.C4 $b L49

cover_image

URL

scan_contributor

STRING

scan_sponsor

STRING

ISBN_10

STRING

0393926036

ISBN_10 (MARC) [4]

020

a

$a 0195144953 (alk. paper)

ISBN_13

STRING

9780393926033

ISBN_13 (MARC) [5]

020

a

ISBN_13 (MARC) [5]

024

a

9780399153501

UCC_13

STRING

UPC

STRING

ISMN

STRING

DOI

STRING

LCCN

STRING

LCCN (MARC) [6]

010

a

$a 2006285320

GTIN_14

STRING

oca_identifier

STRING

"albertgallatinja00stevrich"

place_facet[7]

STRINGs

Venice (Italy)

place_facet (MARC)

651

a

place_facet (MARC)

650

Z

Genre[7]

STRINGs

Biography

Genre (MARC)

600, 650, 651

v

Genre (ONIX)

Time_facet[7]

STRINGs

20th century

time_facet (MARC)

600, 650

Y

20th century

[1] The 240 "work title" is used in the OCLC FRBR algorithm. The 130 is also used, and there should be either a 130 or a 240 in a record, but not both. It would be ideal if we could pick up either for the work title.

[2] There are two sources in the MARC record for date of publication. The 260 $c may contain characters beyond the year ("c1997" or "1946 [reprinted 1965]"). Positions 07-10 of the 008 field have a normalized date ("1997" or "1946"). The dates as represented in the 260 will not be found outside of library records, so the 008 date can be substituted for it. For ONIX, the publication date often has month and day as well as year. For uses in terms of merging and for faceting, only the year should be used.

[3] MARC has a wide range of notes that appear in fields that begin with "5". All notes EXCEPT the 505 (table of contents) and 520 (summary) can be placed in a notes field. Notes fields can be repeatable.

[4] The ISBN field is not necessarily "clean" – there can be trailing data (0195144953 (alk. paper)). Take only the 10 or 13-character token, which should appear first. The token is all numeric EXCEPT that the final character can be "X".

[5] There are two possible locations for the ISBN_13 in MARC records. Records from some sources, including LC, will have the ISBN-13 in an 020 field. Many records will have two 020 fields, one with the ISBN-10 and one with the ISBN-13. Records from sources other than LC may have the ISBN-13 in the 024 field. There can be other 13-digit EANs in the 024 field, so the ISBN is identified by a "3" in the first indicator position.

[6]The LCCN field is not necessarily "clean" – there can be trailing data ($a 3400058678 /rev). If you wish to use the LCCN for matching, take only the numeric token from the subfield.

[7] this field is a potential facet for display and selection