Is there still a non-deprecated cover-image-specific API? For cover images specifically, it would clearly be optimal if an ISBN lookup returned a cover image from ANY OL record having that ISBN listed, if multiple then pick the most recent or the oldest or whatever.
I would imagine there already is an OL general purpose API that returns multiple hits for an ISBN lookup, when there are multiple hits? If so, when writing a client app, the best bet would be to use that one, and have your client code look through all the hits until a cover is found, instead of stopping at the first one. ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of [email protected] [[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 6:40 PM To: Open Library -- technical discussion Subject: Re: [ol-tech] book cover images that disappear Thanks Anand and George, the second ISBN is the newer record, and as you said, that's what is getting picked up. I think the right answer is for the API to return the older record. My reasoning is that an entry of a duplicate ISBN represents a shoddier entry because whatever process was used to enter it (manual or automatic) should have checked for duplicates, and since it did not, it is less trustworthy. Perhaps a thin argument, but it's just a suggestion. Not sure what else you would do. Maybe the condition is rare enough not to worry about. I will leave in your good hands. I got around this by using the OLxxxx ID instead, which is unique. John 2010/9/26 John Miedema <[email protected]>: > > Great. Re: the revision, > > > > For OB version 3, all OL IDs will get passed in as "OLID:12345" so that > > would look like "OLID:12345@9". Right? Yes. I think I can even support OLID:12345@2010-09-23, but I'll try keep that a feature for later. > > Will that work for other IDs that can be used in version 3: e.g., > > ISBN:23456@9, LCCN:34567@9, and OCLC:456789@9? No. It won't work for ISBNs because the OLID returned by the ISBN query might change over time. Anand On , Anand Chitipothu <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi John, > > > Open Library is showing 2 books with ISBN 9780307387172. > > > http://openlibrary.org/search?q=9780307387172 > > > The covers.openlibrary.org picks the first one with cover. Which seems to be > working fine. > > > http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780307387172-M.jpg > > > The OL Books API picks any one book with the matching ID. It looks like the > Books API is picking the book without the cover and that is creating you the > trouble. > > > http://openlibrary.org/api/books?bibkeys=ISBN:9780307387172 > > > I searched for "9780307387172" in OL dump created on 2010-11-30 and found > just one entry with 6 revisions and last modified on 2010-08-12. > > > /type/edition /books/OL9434361M 6 2010-08-12T06:30:18.650706 > {"number_of_pages": 224, "weight": "8 ounces", "covers": [1165319], > "latest_revision": 6, "edition_name": "Reissue edition", "title": "Into the > Wild (MTI)", "languages": [{"key": "/languages/eng"}], "subjects": > ["Discovery And Exploration (General)", "Outdoor Life", "Travel", "Biography > / Autobiography", "Travel - General", "Regional Subjects - West", > "Travelers", "Travel / Adventure", "Special Interest - Adventure", "Adventure > and adventurers", "Alaska", "Biography", "United States", "Wayfaring life", > "West (U.S.)"], "type": {"key": "/type/edition"}, "physical_dimensions": "8 x > 5.1 x 0.7 inches", "revision": 6, "publishers": ["Anchor"], > "physical_format": "Paperback", "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", > "value": "2010-08-12T06:30:18.650706"}, "key": "/books/OL9434361M", > "authors": [{"key": "/authors/OL237257A"}], "created": {"type": > "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-30T09:38:13.731961 "}, "identifiers": {"goodreads": ["441013"], "librarything": ["1199218"]}, "isbn_13": ["9780307387172"], "isbn_10": ["0307387178"], "publish_date": "August 21, 2007", "works": [{"key": "/works/OL1974535W"}], "first_sentence": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Jim Gallien had driven four miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaska dawn."}} > > > > The dates seem to be matching with the history view. > > > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL9434361M/Into_the_Wild_(MTI)?m=history > > > This indicates that there is no data loss. > > > Anand > > > > On 25-May-2011, at 6:08 PM, John Miedema wrote: > > Hi George. I had an OpenBook pointer to ISBN 9780307387172 on November 11, > 2010. The record originally had no cover image for OpenBook, so I added one > and could confirm the image was there in my WordPress post using OpenBook. > I'm also certain I add an author to the record and it is also gone. It has > happened before, over a few years, and always for cover images that I > manually added. I don't often have to add new covers so I don't have many > examples, but it is always for these records. The wipe usually happens some > weeks or even months after I modified the record. Hope that helps, John > > > > > On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 1:23 PM, George Oates [email protected]> wrote: > > Hi John, > > > > Odd - There's no note of you in the edit history there... Are you sure it was > > that particular edition? > > > > g > > > > On 5/23/11 8:13 PM, John Miedema wrote: > > > Hi folks, I have noticed on several occasions that book covers I manually > > add > > > will disappear later on. > > > > > > Here's one that disappeared. Can't say exactly when. > > > > > > http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24645176M/Into_The_Wild > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Ol-tech mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech > > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > > Ol-tech mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > [email protected] > > > > > -- > John Miedema - [email protected] - http://johnmiedema.ca - 613-366-7960 > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Ol-tech mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > [email protected] > > > > _______________________________________________ Ol-tech mailing list [email protected] http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to [email protected]
