Publishers around the world struggle with how their metadata morphs as it travels from their domains into the wilds of retailers, distributors, and other partners. Despite the use of industry standards like ONIX, there is still a lot of inconsistency that can happen when a title record is sent out to so many different destinations. In this session, we will look at that flow of data and consider some of the best practices you can use to make your metadata more consistent and more robust across various end points. We will talk about: the flow metadata takes both inside and outside a publishing house; how the flow of metadata is affected by different metadata formats; real-world examples of metadata that is delivered to different retailers, with explanations of the differences and quirks you’ll encounter; and, best practices for creating and maintaining your metadata.