The list of intra-work relationships contains a relationship type named variant and one named format, but I can’t find any real explanations as to what the difference is between these two.
For example, if a book is printed in both hardback and paperback versions, will those be different formats of the book, or different variants of the book? A second edition would be neither, I take it, but rather a new version of the book… right?
We primarily publish printed books, and sometimes these books are later on additionally published digitally (sometimes Open Access, sometimes not). What would be the appropriate way to indicate this? Is the digital version a variant or a format of the printed book? And does its status as being or not being Open Access change this?
I’ve heard back from our head of metadata programs.
So, a hardback vs. paperback vs. html vs. pdf are considered different formats, whereas a different edition of a book could be a version. Further, an updated copy of a digital text that isn’t big enough to be considered a new ‘edition’ would be a variant. Specifically, the difference is a ‘variant’ has a difference between the text, but often it’s not enough to consider it to be a full ‘version’.
I hope this helps. Do let us know if you have more questions.