"The OEB Specification provides a single common format for authors, editors, publishers, and content owners who want their titles to be readable by a variety of electronic publishing systems and reading devices," said Bob Bruce, the OeBF's executive director. "It has been widely adopted by many of the major e-book publishers and software manufacturers as the underlying interchange format supporting a variety of e-book reading devices."

Version 1.0.1 of OEBPS, which is based on more than a year of industry experience with 1.0, doesn't add additional features to the specification but removes ambiguities and corrects errors. Version 2.0 of OEBPS, which will introduce new features and substantial enhancements—particularly in the areas of presentation, linking and navigation, internationalization, and metadata—is currently under development.

"Comprehensive specifications that achieve the goal of simultaneously supporting both interoperability and innovative functionality are absolutely critical if electronic publishing is going to deliver on its promises," said Allen Renear, chair of the OeBF Publication Structure Working Group and associate professor of library and information science at the University of Illinois­Urbana-Champaign. "The OEB Publication Structure has solidly established itself in e-book publishing as precisely what is needed to build a thriving industry."

The OeBF Publication Structure Working Group encourages all participants and interested parties to download copies of the OEBPS 1.0.1 specification from the Open eBook Forum Web site (http://www.openebook.org). Multiple formats are available. For a list of frequently asked questions, visit http://www.openebook.org/oebps/oebps1.0.1/oebps1.0.1_faq.htm. For electronic copies and/or print-ready formats, visit http://www.openebook.org/oebps/oebps1.0.1/download/index.htm.

Source: Open eBook Forum, Boulder, CO, 303/543-1060; http://www.openebook.org.