Having a problem with a file set? Contact us! Call 1-877-526-4622 or email us at nimac@aph.org.

The NIMAC and the National AIM Center at CAST need your assistance in helping publishers and their conversion houses prepare quality NIMAS file sets.

The NIMAC wants to ensure that the files provided by the repository are high quality. While all NIMAS file sets must pass validation before they are uploaded to the system, this checking is not able to detect all possible coding or content problems. As such, the NIMAC needs to be notified when significant content or coding problems are found by users. In these cases, we will notify the publisher and require that a corrected file set be submitted to the NIMAC.

The NIMAC currently receives very few reports of these kinds of problems—less than one half of one percent of files downloaded.

In addition, in the interest of the continued development and improvement of the NIMAS specification itself, and of providing appropriate training resources for publishers and vendors, the National AIM Center/NIMAS Standard Board at CAST would like to know what types of XML tagging or other “best practices” issues are arising with file sets. So we really do need your input not only to ensure that existing NIMAS files are of high quality, but in order to make future improvements in the NIMAS specification itself.

Here is how we would ask that you report issues:

Please email nimac@aph.org with the following information:

• Your NIMAC user ID
• NIMAS Identifier for the file set
• Title of the book
• Specific information regarding the problem, including page numbers where problems were found
• What type of conversion (if any) you have done on the file set

Examples of issues might include:

• missing portions of text (not included in either the XML OR in image files)
• pervasive typographical errors in the XML file
• significant portions of text that do not match the print book with the identical ISBN
• Page numbers not tagged
• Text embedded in images not included in XML
• Charts incorrectly tagged as lists, etc.

The NIMAC will investigate the issue and contact the publisher to resolve the problem, as needed. If it is a technical problem that requires further expertise to identify, we will refer it to the technical support staff at the National AIM Center. Please note that there are also cases in which problems in NIMAS conversion are due to compatibility issues with a particular device or software program. In these cases, the staff at the National AIM Center may be able to help you with a work-around for your device, or you may have to get assistance from the software developer or device manufacturer.

We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and assistance in getting feedback to us regarding the file sets.