Others have answered, but I want to go a bit further into the library cataloging that produced these "anomalies", and suggest some possibly more sensible approaches.
On 3/13/13 2:57 AM, kltrg wrote: > > 1. Are ISBNs integers or do I use the - signs as they are used in the > books themselves? ISBNs from the library data should not contain the hyphens, but may be either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13. It is useful to keep in mind that the first library data was created in machine-readable form in the late 1960's, so often the data itself precedes such things as ISBN-13, and usually does not get upgraded. Since most sources that we would link to can accept either ISBN form (-10 or -13) it should be sufficient to drop the hyphens and enter a single string. > > 2. What exactly am I supposed to write in the pagination field? In general, pagination is the highest page number found in the book. However, library cataloging records each type of pagination, such as the pagination in roman numerals that is used for front-matter like prefaces. Even there, only the highest number is recorded, which is why you see things like "xxi, 350p." This is library practice and is in no way required in OL. > > 3. How do I count pages? Only the pages of the story (for a novel) or > the first and last few also? The "how many pages" field is needed to help merge duplicate records. It contains the highest number as a numeric (since the library pagination is a text string with punctuation, etc.). Ideally, that should be generated automagically from the input in the pagination field as people input. It was derived algorithmically from incoming data. We should also make it possible for people to input just this simple number (e.g. "350") and display it as "350 p." in the bibliographic display. > > 4. Languages of books are given in English if I'm not mistaken. But > how do I enter city or country names? Munich vs. München. Language of the text, in incoming library records, uses ISO 3-character codes. If you look in the JSON output you see "/languages/eng". These could be displayed in other languages. Note that in an early version of OL there was the possibility to change the language of the interface. That capability was dropped as the user interface became more complex, but it was done quite cleverly and it is a shame it was lost. You can see how it worked in early versions in the WayBack Machine: web.archive.org/web/20100208115647/http://openlibrary.org/tour scroll down to i18n If you are referring to the name of the place of publication you should enter the place as it is on the book. For example, here's (ironically) a copy of Das Kapital in Yiddish, published in New York, but with the name of the city in Yiddish because that was how it was written on the book: http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24355498M/Dos_apial > > 5. Why is the city name sometimes in brackets? ex: [Paris] Brackets in library cataloging indicate that the information was not actually on the book itself but was supplied by the cataloger. While this seems silly on the surface, it serves to let anyone using the data downstream to know that this data may or may not be accurate. This becomes important when identifying older books, generally before the 20th century. You should not feel any need to follow this practice. I assume that this type of data will only come in when we ingest library-produced data from library sources. > > Thanks for taking the time to answer this. I once volunteered to write up a short "hover" text for each field, but it was deemed "too restrictive." However, once again I am willing to do a fairly loose definition of each field (where I can). I thought we had done a short "cheat sheet" about the fields. An FAQ about the current data could also be useful. There are advantages and disadvantages to having ingested library data since it has some very detailed aspects. Ideally, it would be good to find a way to allow both that detail and less detailed input from non-library sources and "normal human beings." kc > > kltrg _______________________________________________ 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]
