STEP Library
STEP is an acronym for Standard Template for Electronic Publishing. STEP was conceived in 1995 by Craig Rairdin of Parsons Technology and Jim VanDuzer of Loizeaux Brothers Publishers as a way for Bible reference books to be distributed electronically in a format that would be compatible with more than just one company's Bible software. Rairdin and VanDuzer formed a consortium of Bible software publishers called the Bible Software Industry Standards Group (BSISG) to oversee the development of the STEP specification and to develop common tools to be used by developers and publishers interested in implementing STEP compatibility in their programs or publishing books in the STEP format.
The STEP logo was originally a trademark of Parsons Technology, Inc., now of Findex, the current publisher of Quickverse Bible Software.
While not open format, the availability for outside licensing and publishing makes it similar to the The Libronix Digital Library and the Pradis systems, especially for users of religious software who want seamless integration of various reference works, using one application to access and cross-reference them all.
Examples
Examples of Study Bible software libraries that can read STEP modules include e-Sword, and late 1990's versions of Zondervan and Parsons Technology Bible software.