Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I just rescued this book

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89...

using this source

http://www.archive.org/details/lovele...

Did I do this correctly? Do I need to go back and edit the entry and delete the ISBN? Is this correctly listed as an e-book? I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve, so if someone can tell me how to make this right, I'll know for the next one. Thanks! :)

The page you linked doesn't have an ISBN. Each record needing rescuing is tied to an ISBN. If the ISBN on the webpage doesn't match the record you're trying to save, or if the webpage doesn't give an ISBN, you shouldn't use it to rescue the record.

In this particular case, I would have created a new book record, with no ISBN. Extra editions can be merged later if needed.

I'll do that then, create the new book record. And, I'll see if I can find the book with the ISBN, too. The small publisher didn't list the book anymore.

I found HardPress, the company that published the book, but their site links me to amazon.com.

I found this link:

http://www.hollyridgepress.com/shop.p...

So it appears to be a legitimate edition. :)

Can I use that one?

I just can't find a non-commercial site for it. I sent an email to HardPress. I found their edition on a British bookseller site, too.

(i've only been a librarian for 2 days. I suppose rescuing the book is what counts, and I'll be more careful next time.) :)

I thought it was the link to the publisher, but on closer inspection I'm not as sure...

Still I wouldn't worry too much about this one edition.

Just make sure you have the right ISBN going forward. :)

Yes, ma'am! lol I added a new edition of a book today, because the one I own has a different ISBN. (so, I at least rescued mine!)

Also, for anyone who has the other edition, theirs will be merged into yours (worst case scenario). Then they will at least still have the title and author on their shelf. So you've helped them too! :)


ETA: Wait, you did combine them right? Otherwise they will lose their edition. New editions don't combine automatically. I can help with that if you want.

I hope so. I have the Chinese title, and the "orphan" is the Japanese title. We'll see how it shakes out.

It looks like this is the book you added:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...

I combined it with the Japanese version (so the reviews would merge if needed). I was able to find the Japanese version on www.worldcat.org so it is rescued now. Many Japanese manga are available on worldcat, which is an acceptable rescue source. :)

Wow, thanks! I never thought to look on worldcat. I have another manga that was orphaned when Tokyopop went out of business, but maybe I can find a Japanese placeholder. Many of us live in hope that some of these titles will be translated and released in the US.

So, when I do a merge, both editions show up under the title? Is that how a merge works?

(I missed your edit on msg 9 earlier.)

The word you want is "combine"; "merge" means deleting one edition after a combine when they are true duplicates.

I'm not sure what you mean by "both editions show up under the title?" -- both will show up in the editions page for the work.

What I meant was, when I look at my Chinese volume, I see the Japanese volume on the right under "other editions". :)

Okay, just so I don't screw up:

I am trying to locate a few books, like this one:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

I found this record on WorldCat, with no ISBN:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/missing...

So, do I create a new entry, with no ISBN? Do I then combine the editions? And will this rescue the book? I may have done this incorrectly a few times, and simply rescued a book without verifying the ISBN matched (Author websites don't typically display an ISBN, just the title, and the rescue screen just asks for title, author and URL.)

Jeannette wrote: "What I meant was, when I look at my Chinese volume, I see the Japanese volume on the right under "other editions". :)"

That's exactly the result we're going for.

Jeannette wrote: "So, do I create a new entry, with no ISBN? Do I then combine the editions?"

Yes and Yes.

Jeannette wrote: "And will this rescue the book?"

The specific edition might still get deleted. However, if it is combined with your manual entry, the reviews will move to your entry, even if the one with an ISBN gets deleted.

So, if I went to the rescue me "screen" and added a title, author, url to the author's page, to an existing "at risk" edition, under an "at risk" ISBN, is the book still rescued?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

http://www.lynn-shepherd.com/books/

I couldn't verify the ISBN this way, but did verify the book and title. Will this get bumped on Jan 30, because the ISBN is still from amazon?

Jeannette wrote: "I couldn't verify the ISBN this way"

If you cannot verify/match the ISBN, you don't have a match, and the source should not be used to rescue a book.

So, what happens to the book I listed in my message, and how do I go about "re-rescuing" this book?

The book in Msg 18?

You can check what fields still have amazon data via the librarian change log.

I have reviewed via the publishers websites and sorted out Lynn Shepherd books

I have 4 others I rescued this way, from book authors' sites. I'll see if I can sort them out.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/edit/23...

When I look at this data, how can I tell if any of it came from amazon? This is one of the books I rescued using data from the author's blog, but the author did not show an ISBN. I have 4 books in this state.

thanks!

From that page you need to select the link - Librarian change log - at the top of the page it will take you this page (there is a filter for all editions / or this edition) filter by this edition.

At the bottom of the page is a table of data with source info

http://www.goodreads.com/book/edits/2...

I see! So, for now the book is "technically" rescued, but since I did not verify the ISBN, I should take my name off as the source, and put amazon back, unless I can get the author or another online source to verify it. Then, I can "legally" add in the ISBN.

I think I can do that for 4 books.

I think I need some help, too. I rescued this book:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

but the ISBN, the title and the cover did not match. The isbn, title and author was for this book: http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/the-es...

Also, the source said the ISBN was for a hardback and not a paperback.


I also checked WorldCat and saw that both titles were listed for the same ISBN. O_O


I changed the title and the format as based on the source but I would love for someone to check it.

bump

Were you trying to rescue Buffet's book, Mrs.Joseph? I think, from looking around, that ISBN belongs to Buffet's essays. BUT, it's an error in the WorldCat database. When I follow the link to university library, it shows the same way.

Jeannette wrote: "Were you trying to rescue Buffet's book, Mrs.Joseph? I think, from looking around, that ISBN belongs to Buffet's essays. BUT, it's an error in the WorldCat database. When I follow the link to un..."

What's more likely is that the ISBN got reused. While it's not supposed to happen, it does crop up from time to time. I would leave it for now Mrs. Joesph. If someone has the Warren Buffet book, they can always create an Alternate Cover Edition (or in this case Alternate Everything Edition!).

Yeah, I was trying to rescue Buffet's book. At least I thought it was Buffet's book.

I dug some more:

Stearns wrote "The practice of absorption spectrophotometry" in 1969
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21061061...

(Notice the ISBN 0470820780)

Cunningham wrote the Buffett book

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf...

(But I can't verify the ISBN, except on WorldCat, which is screwed up!)

So, what do we do here? I'm too new at this to make this call!

I would just make a Alternate Cover Edition (my msg #29). That's really the only option with a duplicate ISBN.

The section of the manual you linked to shows what to do. I vote for changing the record with the ISBN to be the Buffett book, and then creating an alternate edition for the science title, but with no ISBN. like the example in the manual shows. Is that what you mean. vicki_girl?

vicki_girl wrote: "I would just make a Alternate Cover Edition (my msg #29). That's really the only option with a duplicate ISBN."

Ok, so I was trying to create an alternative edition - which lead me here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14...

Now what do I do? It seems there is an edition of the book already in GR... so what about the spectrophotometry book?

I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions - I'm a little clueless.

Now I would add the spectro... book, with the correct author and no ISBN. You could add a librarian note about the ISBN being re-used. There's an example in the Librarians manual, just under the description of how to create an alternate cover.

I was thinking of creating an Alternate for the Warren Buffet book actually, and leaving the spectrophotometry book as is.

Mrs. Joseph, the book you linked has a similar title, but is actually a different book; it is Lessons for Corporate America. This is the Essays of Warren Buffet Lessons for Investor and Managers:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...

I think the spectrophotometry book doesn't "exist" anymore, and the Buffett book is now attached to that ISBN. But, it's all jumbled in World Cat. My university library shows it that mixed up way, but I can't find the spectro.. book by a title search. Weird

Jeannette wrote: "I think the spectrophotometry book doesn't "exist" anymore, and the Buffett book is now attached to that ISBN."

Just because it's out of print doesn't mean it no longer exists. The re-use of ISBNs by publishers is unfortunate (although fortunately uncommon).

I think we are all torn though on whether the ISBN should go with the Buffet book, or the spectrophotometry book. The one review is for the Buffet book, so should it get to keep the ISBN or should the spectrophotometry book get it?

I stand corrected, I think: Here is my library entry for Stearn's book

Title: The practice of absorption spectrophotometry [by] E. I. Stearns.
Author: E. I. Stearns 1911-
Subjects: Spectrophotometry
Publisher: New York, Wiley-Interscience
Creation Date: 1969
Format: x, 353 p. illus. 24 cm..
Language: English
Identifier: ISBN0470820780
Record id: alephbib000605447
Source: PRIMO-ALEPHLOC

And, I think vicki_girl got the Buffett book straightened out, because it, too, matches what my library shows. It seems the WorldCat entry is screwed up.

Well, I saw that the ISBN originally belonged to the Buffet book (on GR) but an import from Open Library on 01/12/12.

So would that mean I'm fixing the Buffet book or that the Buffet book was broken to begin with?

As Vicki said, very torn.

vicki_girl wrote: "I think we are all torn though on whether the ISBN should go with the Buffet book, or the spectrophotometry book. The one review is for the Buffet book, so should it get to keep the ISBN or should..."

Yes, when I look at the entry for The practice of absorption spectrophotometry, there is a review for Buffett's book under it. SO, how do we fix this?

vicki_girl wrote: "I think we are all torn though on whether the ISBN should go with the Buffet book, or the spectrophotometry book. The one review is for the Buffet book, so should it get to keep the ISBN or should..."

I vote for whichever is simpler, really.

I would like to keep the review with the book they meant to review. But I also think that the ISBN really belongs to the spectrophotometry book.

I propose this: Merge the current entry with the other editions of the Warren Buffet book. Then, re-add the spectrophotometry book with the ISBN. Would this be acceptable in this one case?

Yes. I think the spectrophotometry should keep the ISBN, and the review can move over to a different ISBN, but of the same title.

vicki_girl wrote: "I would like to keep the review with the book they meant to review. But I also think that the ISBN really belongs to the spectrophotometry book.

I propose this: Merge the current entry with the ..."

That sounds like a great idea!

So I would change the info back from spectrophotometry to Warren Buffet and then create a new entry for spectrophotometry?

At least, those were my plans...

That's sort-of what i meant. If Rivka thinks this is an acceptable solution, I'll will have to do it because it would take super-librarian privileges to do the merge.

vicki_girl wrote: "That's sort-of what i meant. If Rivka thinks this is an acceptable solution, I'll will have to do it because it would take super-librarian privileges to do the merge."

Do you want me to create the new spectrophotometry entry and update the Buffet book? Then you would only need to merge?

vicki_girl wrote: "I would like to keep the review with the book they meant to review. But I also think that the ISBN really belongs to the spectrophotometry book.

I propose this: Merge the current entry with the ..."

That sounds reasonable.

Okay, the book record in question has been merged so all the reviews have moved here:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...


The spectrophotometry book can be found here now (with the ISBN in question):

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...