Libraries run into this problem frequently, and have developed something they call a "uniform title". That is, they select one of the titles, or create one if needed be, to represent all of the variations of the work. That uniform title brings them together even though the actual titles don't. It's an artificially created link between the items.
For reasons that I can neither explain nor defend, the Library of Congress has chosen to give these works the uniform title "Munchhausen." You may find a better solution through German libraries. If you look at: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL9179990W/M%C3%BCnchhausen You can see three editions, each of which has a different title. So you need to get the uniform (work) title into any editions that have not yet merged. I looked at the edit page and I admit that it is a bit confusing. The top box that says "title" should get the work title, "Munchhausen". (Look at the edit page for editions on the page I linked to, above.) The specific edition of the title is called for further down on the page. If you have (logically, IMO) placed the specific edition title in the upper "title" field the items will not merge with that work. It seems that the edit page may need some clarification... kc Quoting Ralf Stephan <[email protected]>: > Now that Lee has clarified what I meant (am I that > cryptic geek?) let me point out that old works frequently > have editions the titles of which can differ widely, and > indeed I'm looking for a way to manually help that algorithm. > > However, let the example be Bürger's Münchhausen. Let's > not dive into if this is really the original, simply assume it is: > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24988779M > > This was not in OL so I created it as edition of the abstract > "Münchhausen" work. Now, there are more editions I like to > add to the work: > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL22319113M > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL22050216M > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL12668689M > > and of course I want to delete the superfluous works and > editions afterwards. So how would I do it? > > Regards, > ralf > > On Sep 12, 2011, at 7:50 PM, Karen Coyle wrote: > >> If that's the question, then linking happens through an algorithm. I >> don't remember all of the elements, but I believe that if the author >> and title of your edition match the author and title of the work then >> they will get linked to the work. It's a bit trickier for >> translations, where the titles don't match -- in that case it may >> depend on whether a linking "work title" has been included. >> >> It would still be good the see the particular example. >> >> kc >> >> Quoting Lee Passey <[email protected]>: >> >>> On Mon, September 12, 2011 10:48 am, Karen Coyle wrote: >>> >>>> When I click on "add edition" it leads me to a page where I can add a >>>> new edition for that book. Is a new edition what you mean when you say >>>> "existing" book? >>> >>> I think it much more likely that he is not talking about books at all, but >>> about records in the OL database. The question then would be: How to >>> I link an >>> existing edition record to its corresponding work record? >>> >>> I don't believe for a minute that the OL database has accurately >>> linked all of >>> the edition records with their correct work records. When an end user >>> discovers this kind of disconnect, how does she correct it? >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Ol-discuss mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss >>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to >>> [email protected] >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Karen Coyle >> [email protected] http://kcoyle.net >> ph: 1-510-540-7596 >> m: 1-510-435-8234 >> skype: kcoylenet >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Ol-discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss >> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to >> [email protected] > > Ralf Stephan > http://www.ark.in-berlin.de > ...."C'est les microbes qui auront le dernier mot." -Louis Pasteur > > _______________________________________________ > Ol-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > [email protected] > -- Karen Coyle [email protected] http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet _______________________________________________ Ol-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to [email protected]
