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== Consideration of xISBN ==
== Consideration of xISBN ==


Has it ever been considered to use [http://oclc.org/developer/webservices xISBN] integration into special:booksources? xISBN is an OCLC service API which given a single ISBN returns a list of associated ISBNs, like all the editions of a specific title. How would one go about proposing such an integration?
Has it ever been considered to use [http://oclc.org/developer/services/xisbn xISBN] integration into special:booksources? xISBN is an OCLC service API which given a single ISBN returns a list of associated ISBNs, like all the editions of a specific title. How would one go about proposing such an integration?
As a disclaimer I do work for OCLC. [[User:Maximiliankleinoclc|Maximiliankleinoclc]] ([[User talk:Maximiliankleinoclc|talk]]) 00:45, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
As a disclaimer I do work for OCLC. [[User:Maximiliankleinoclc|Maximiliankleinoclc]] ([[User talk:Maximiliankleinoclc|talk]]) 00:45, 30 May 2012 (UTC)



Revision as of 12:22, 27 September 2012


For older discussions (before 2010) check out version 423408350 of this page. For an explanation see WP:ARCHIVE.

Miscellany

improve Usability

See Wikipedia:ISBN for further discussion of this page, how to use it, etc.

Suggested additions:

be bold! :)

Manchester Libraries

I'd like to suggest adding http://catalogue.library.manchester.ac.uk/items?query=MAGICNUMBER and https://librarycatalogue.manchester.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_005_TitleInformation.aspx?rcn=MAGICNUMBER&fr=is&searchType=5&referrer=02_001_Search.aspx

interwiki links depending on namespace

Dear friends;

testwiki:project:Book sources, ro:project:Surse de cărţi and yi:project:דרויסנדיקע ליטעראַטור ISBN contain interwiki links depending on namespace.

{{ #ifeq: {{NAMESPACE}} | {{ns:04}} |<!--
Interwiki links for the project namespace -->
[[als:Wikipedia:ISBN-Suech]]
...
[[zh:Wikipedia:网络书源]] |<!--
Interwiki links for the special namespace -->
[[als:Special:Booksources/MAGICNUMBER]]
...
[[zh:Special:Booksources/MAGICNUMBER]]
}}

I am not shure how bots will handle this. The benefit is that either project pages or spacial pages with the MAGICNUMBER are linked together.

Best regards user:Gangleri ‫·‏לערי ריינהארט‏·‏T‏·‏m‏:‏Th‏·‏T‏·‏email me‏·‏‬ 21:57, 8 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

[[Project:Book sources]] and [[Special:Booksources]]should work with all MediaWiki installations, I fear that I miss your point. The target pages use their relevant scripts and languages, the source page here is English, not Mandarin or Alsatian or what you have. Assuming that zh: actually is Mandarin – this language tag is rather obscure, see RFC 5646.
-82.113.121.52 (talk) 02:17, 14 April 2011 (UTC) (the Wikivar without RTL fan ;-)[reply]

Ohio

You may want to add these websites which search many libraries in Ohio state:

OhioLINK - http://www.ohiolink.edu/ Search Ohio - http://ohpir.westervillelibrary.org/ Clevenet - http://www.clevnet.org/

206.57.40.102 (talk) 21:12, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sources of free books -- this is innacurate

One of the sections on this page is "Sources of free books" (also referred to as "Books available from free resources"). However I think it is very misleading to refer to these sites as "sources of free books". While membership in the site might be free, most of them require users to give items away in exchange for the items they receive. As a whole, they would be more accurately characterized as book swapping websites.

BookCrossing is the only site in the list that could be considered a completely free (gratis) source of books. BookHopper, BookMooch, PaperBackSwap, and ReadItSwapIt require members to give books away in order to receive books from other members. Anyone that joins one of these sites thinking it is a source of free books will cause problems because they don't realize they are morally obligated to give something in exchange for what they receive.

I am going to rename this section "Book swapping websites" as I think that more accurately describes the group as a whole. --Smiller933 (talk) 19:06, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ireland

The find a book is missing Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council libraries. The link is http://www.dlrcoco.ie/library/. They have a full online search similar to Dublin City Council. I don't know how to add in the link or even if I should. There are also South Dublin County Council http://www.southdublinlibraries.ie/ and Fingal County Council http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Library/ . If someone could add or show / allow me to add them to Ireland, I would be most grateful. The most important being Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. --DubhEire (talk) 13:35, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's quite alright. I added them myself. --DubhEire (talk) 13:42, 1 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Georgia Universities - add to sources?

The University System of Georgia has a universal catalog for all (most?) of the state colleges: https://giluc.usg.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=1570627401&HIST=1&SL=None&Search_Code=ISBN&PID=HIFWTLHX6NWY8cGZLA127X6Z_&SEQ=20100426141413&CNT=50&HIST=1

Some of those arguments *might* be optional...

There's also a new http://gilfind.gsu.edu/ search that uses http://vufind.org/ - not sure if it will be "universal" or not... Samatva (talk) 18:24, 26 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Amazon associate number

In January 2004, Jimmy Wales signed us up for an associate account, as an experiment. (See the January archives for the rest of the amazon thread(s), and philosophical musings on ethics, etc). The associate code was added to this project page on January 20, 2004, and then was removed from this project page on June 20, 2004.

In 2009, Lunchboxhero asked what the results of the associate account had been, at User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 47#Status of Amazon Associates account, but received no reply.

I'm wondering the same thing (any measurable success?). A few hundred people use the userscript that (usually/by default) redirects ISBN links to amazon, which includes the associate code (wikipedia08-20), and it appears in a few other places in google results.

Would it be useful to discuss re-adding the code to this page? (Discussion either here, or somewhere at Meta, or on the foundation-mailing-list, or elsewhere...?) This potential income stream (even if just a trickle) seems worthwhile to consider. Comments welcome. Thanks. -- Quiddity (talk) 20:15, 6 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. We should add amazon associate number on every amazon link with a bot--Neo139 (talk) 18:21, 3 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
just no sales  was the result of this old experiment. If the affiliate ID still works you should definitely check out how it works, seven years ago the WikiMedia/MediaWiki/etc. structure was different. Obviously this talk page isn't a good place to discuss complex ethical/financial/foundation issues, maybe try the VILLAGEPUMP. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 03:23, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Errata wiki

Can we include a link to http://errata.wikidot.com/ - for example, to http://errata.wikidot.com/9781849383707 ? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 18:45, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Free wikis may in some cases show our adverts might be a matter of taste, but less than 40 ISBNs are IMNSHO a showstopper. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 02:36, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Bargainbooksmole.org

First, let me start with transparency of saying I helped develop www.BargainBookMole.org [<supports nonprofits] and www.BargainBookMole.com [<guarantees lowest price or BargainBookMole.com pays for the book], while I know this means I'm biased, it also means I'm something of an expert on the topic of book price search engines and bookselling online (which I've been doing since 2002). Given how crowded the field of book price searchers is, I can assure you we researched it thoroughly before creating BargainBookMole and only proceeded when we determined we have something better to offer. While, I know it will be difficult to get a fair hearing here, I can assure you that a few things need correcting on your General search engines entry.

1. "General search engine sites" doesn't make sense as an entry. What should be listed here are search engines that specialize in book searches and none of those you now have listed on Nov 9th, 2010 (Addall, Google Product Search, Yahoo! Shopping) are book specific searches [AddAll comes the closest, but as noted below they are far from the best]. The importance of being a book specific search can be seen if you do a search on Google Product Search and say our site or www.CampusBooks.com [which we draw information from their database but is a totally separate company]. Google search or Yahoo Shopping is not organized well and is missing the details [can see shipping and book condition details in one place] other good book price search sites have

2. I've tested and timed many book pricing websites. AddAll and Bookfinder [a Wikipedia listed site which has external links in a number of places] are really slow. BargainBookMole is 10-20 times faster if you search by title. Also BargainBookMole is the only one to offer free browser add-ons for Firefox and Internet Explorer, which allows you to search for the lowest book prices from any website (only popping up as a small tab when it encounters an ISBN).

3. BargainBookMole.org supports nonprofits which is in the spirit of Wikipedia. Five percent of income received from affiliate fees are given to support libraries, literacy efforts, and environmental efforts.

In other words, by virtue of being the best and most charitible, I suggest BargainBookMole gets included. And that there is some criteria for inclusion as a book price search so Wikipedia users are best served.

PeteMartet (talk) 21:45, 9 November 2010 (UTC)PeteMartet[reply]

Link to State University of Campinas - Brazil

The link points to the Digital Library of State University of Campinas, which stands for only a very small part of their catalog (e.g. own thesis). The actual full collection catalog can be reached here: http://acervus.bc.unicamp.br/ Is it possible to fix it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arthur Welle (talkcontribs) 13:50, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately the webpage you mentioned can only accept POST requests and not GET (difference here). You can contact the admins of that webpage and ask if they can modify the webpage and make GET requests possible. bcartolo (talk) 20:08, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Run seach once for ISBN-10 and once for ISBN-13 ?

When I use "Wikipedia:Book sources" to search a library catalog for a book that has both an ISBN-10 and also an ISBN-13, do I need to run the search twice (once for the ISBN-10 and once for the ISBN-13)? Wideangle (talk) 21:47, 10 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As far as MediaWiki is concerned you can use any style, correct ISBN hyphenation is a complex task... ;-) Seriously, there are tons of more or less useful ISBN "MAGICNUMBER" search links on the Book sources here, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the less useful links still don't grok the "new" ISBN-13. The opposite would be bizarre. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 01:40, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Link to Catalogue Iris of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec not working

I tried [1] (from [2]) and it just brought me to the homepage of the catalogue. Even if they don't have the book, is that normal? I find the URL very strange. --Chealer (talk) 19:36, 17 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

request for a better intro

As a few-time user of this page, I have had a negative experience. If you click on an ISBN number on another wiki page, you are brought here, and the ISBN is already in the box, with the "Go" button next to it. Several times in the past I have clicked on "Go" and the page quickly reloaded... and the same page appeared. I have thought this page was broken, and only just now realized how this page works - namely:

1) when I arrived at the page the first time, all the links below were already formatted with my ISBN and were ready to be used 2) The "go" button is pointless with regard to the book I am looking for - but of course is useful if I should happen to have another ISBN handy. 3) There is some explanatory text (the section starting.. "This page links to catalogs of libraries, booksellers, and other book sources where you will be able to search for the book with ISBN ..."), but it is located under the map and I never assumed it was important! 4) This page is both a search engine and a search results page. The little introductory section of the page and search box are static features, and are present on the main page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources ) as well as the ISBN search result page. The ISBN search results that appear below are dynamic.

Suggestions:

A) Eliminate #4 -- in other words, do NOT show the little introductory section and search box on the search results page. Instead, add a sentence to the explanatory section of the search results that says: "If you wish to search for a new ISBN click here" with the link going to the main page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources ) -- or just offer a blank search box and Go button.

B) Move the explanatory text for the search results ( so it is ABOVE the map. Add a sentence just above the map that says something like: "Click on your region to jump to the section of the search results below that are for sources located in your region" This is important!

C) As an alternative to A, in case what is static now must remain static... please add a sentence IN BOLD to the little introductory section that says something like: "This page is both a search engine and a search results page. If you arrived here by clicking on an ISBN elsewhere in Wikipedia, the page is ready for you -- just scroll down and click on the link of the book source where you wish to go. If you have arrived at the main page, please enter an ISBN in the search box, click Go, and the search results will appear below."

==

somebody made changes along the lines I suggested! That was fast. However the use of the phrase "magicnumber" to fill in for the missing ISBN number if you just arrive here without having clicked on a link is . They have a full online search have better ideas?Jytdog (talk) 13:40, 1 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

These changes will increase the usability of this page.Jytdog (talk) 12:41, 30 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps set up auto-archive of this page

Hi,

This talk page is getting insanely long, and the old discussions are of marginal relevance. Would it perhaps be an idea to set up automatic archiving of this page using MiszaBot? It could be configured to have a nice long retention period, and keep a minimum of however many threads would be desirable, but would archive away the stuff from 2006(!). Archives would, of course, be linked from some suitable archive box at the top of the page, so they wouldn't be lost, just tidied out of the way a bit. --Xover (talk) 08:58, 5 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that it needs to be archived. However, it doesn't appear to be modified very often, but I don't know anything about MiszaBot. --SweetNightmares (talk) 21:58, 10 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You don't need a bot to cleanup a talk page, just use common sense, WP:BOLD, and WP:ARCHIVE. The subpage methods are better, but for a first archive a permalink is good enough. I've done this now, if you prefer a better method simply undo my attempt. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 01:21, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, it's not the world's most critical issue, and manual archiving should work just fine. The only thing is that it'd be dependent on someone remembering to do it every once in a while, and keeping the method of archiving consistent. Anyways, I take it nobody would object if I set up one of the archive bots to make sub-page archives (linked from a infobox at the top of the page, of course) with a nice long retention period like 400 days or so? --Xover (talk) 07:18, 10 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Dead link to University of Cambridge Newton source

The "Find this book" link to the University of Cambridge site is dead. I was not sure how to find a new link. Bob1960evens (talk) 15:46, 25 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Be bold and remove anything that doesn't work as expected. There are far too many book searches here, anything with a red link can't be good enough for this critical page used by all ISBN links. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 01:48, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sherbrooke, Canada libraries

Here is a link to the public library of Sherbrooke. Here is the University of Sherbrooke's catalog. Finally, here is the website for Bishop's University, also located in Sherbrooke. Fargo's library could also be added to this list, and the link for that is at this address. I've searched around for a way to insert the MAGICNUMBER function in the URL, but I don't know how, otherwise I would add them myself. Furthermore, to cut down on the length of the article itself, could we perhaps be able to collapse all the categories by default, allowing the user to navigate to the desired catalog? --SweetNightmares (talk) 21:58, 10 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The MAGICNUMBER business is quite simple: Find a working URL for a specific ISBN nnnnn search, and in this working URL replace nnnnn by MAGICNUMBER. I'm rather surprised that the Book sources are not protected, but maybe there are enough users watching this critical page to fight vandals and spammers. -82.113.121.52 (talk) 01:31, 14 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Yup, thanks to your lead, IP, I just added a different libary: Oakland's. SN, mimic my edit. (You can look at my edit history to find it.)--Elvey (talk) 16:33, 16 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, it works. I followed the above directions to correct the link to the Los Angeles Public Library. Don't worry about anything: just substitute "MAGICNUMBER" for the ISBN and the link works.Myron (talk) 17:32, 25 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Awesome, great instructions. They should be made more accessible. :) --SweetNightmares (awaken) 16:25, 5 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please Add: Saskatoon Public Libraries & University of Saskatchewan Library

http://catalogue.sasklibraries.ca/search/i?SEARCH=MAGICNUMBER&sortdropdown=1&searchscope=2 http://sundog.usask.ca/search/a?searchtype=i&SORT=D&searcharg=MAGICNUMBER&searchscope=8

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.2.56.170 (talk) 05:35, 2 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Collapse/expand?

The page is getting pretty lengthy. Could we automatically collapse continents/countries? --SweetNightmares (awaken) 16:30, 5 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Generally frowned upon. However, we certainly can be smarter about how we sequence them. Burying the Library of Congress and the British Library way down after every local library listed makes no sense. How about we move the national libraries in general ahead of the university and local libraries?LeadSongDog come howl! 17:57, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Timberland Regional Library (US)

The link to the Timberland Regional Library catalogue does not seem to work. I believe the domain should be cat.trl.org, not ipac.trlib.org. VanIsaacWS 12:06, 4 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

India

There seems to be no links to search Indian books. I tried to edit, but the edit page didn't come up. This site http://www.indiabookstore.net/ allows search of books from various online stores and ISBN can be searched too. Please check and add if compatible.--Anoopkn (talk) 13:30, 29 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

LibraryThing

The link to LibraryThing doesn't seem to work. All I get is this empty search page. --91.67.132.42 (talk) 15:21, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Update Seattle Library link

Please check the following URLs to the Seattle Public Library replacing "MAGICNUMBER" with an ISBN number.

  • https://catalog.spl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?term=MAGICNUMBER&index=ISBNEX old
  • http://seattle.bibliocommons.com/search?custom_query=identifier%3A%289780809053971%29 new

I want to be sure that this replacement will work. Thank you in advance. – Allen4names 22:08, 27 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I believe this is now fixed. --Robert.Allen (talk) 19:26, 14 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. – Allen4names 07:25, 15 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect statement

This article currently states: "The standard Amazon link shows up correctly only if an ISBN-10 number is used." I have not found this to be the case. For instance, the following ISBN pairs give the same result:

  • ISBN 978-0-262-13275-6
  • ISBN 0-262-13275-3

So do these:

  • ISBN 978-1-85273-109-0
  • ISBN 1-85273-109-5

I believe the statement is inaccurate and should be removed. It was added more than a year ago with this edit by an IP. As written it is certainly not accurate. There may be occasional ISBN-13s for which it is true, but the same could probably be said about all the sites which are searched from this page. Also, it may also be true that occasional ISBN-10s do not work, when the ISBN-13 will work. I think we should just delete it. --Robert.Allen (talk) 19:49, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, Amazon have been working correctly with 13 digit numbers for some years. Rich Farmbrough, 12:16, 10 May 2012 (UTC).[reply]

Newbie: How to add another library system?

How does one add another big U.S. city library system to this search scheme? I'm Wikipedia-savvy and library-savvy, but I don't want to try editing something this special without more knowledge. I'm well-connected with the folks at our Allegheny County Library Association system here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and I'd like to see them in this list. We also have quite a few colleges and universities that might belong here. Lou Sander (talk) 12:28, 6 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The University of Texas library catalog is http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/

The University of Texas library catalog is: http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/

The given link is to the main University of Texas site, not the library. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.190.133.143 (talk) 02:24, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Possible error/lack of functionality

Howdy. I'm using the ISBN parameter in a cite book template and the link that is produced goes this page with a message of "The given ISBN does not appear to be valid; check for errors copying from the original source." The ISBN I'm using can be seen here. I have verified that the ISBN I'm using matches the one in the book. The target page for the generated link for WorldCat lists the book. It is the 2nd entry. Seeing this makes me think that the ISBN is at least somewhat valid. Is getting the red error text on this page fixable?--Rockfang (talk) 19:35, 9 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The correct ISNBs for this book appear to be
  • ISBN 978-0-403-09753-1
  • ISBN 0-403-09753-3
There is an increasing problem with folk just cutting off the "978" and hoping for a valid 10 digit ISBN. 10 times out of 11 it will be wrong. Rich Farmbrough, 12:23, 10 May 2012 (UTC).[reply]

Amazon busted?

Seems that the ISBN link to Amazon is giving a 404. For example, ISBN 9780824836344 provides this link to Amazon, which is a 404. --jpgordon::==( o ) 02:31, 21 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Not seeing that problem. Something local for you, or transient?LeadSongDog come howl! 04:26, 21 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Not transient;I noticed it a few days ago. Happens on all my browsers. Oh, interesting. It only happens if I'm logged in. --jpgordon::==( o ) 04:53, 21 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Bad JS. No biscuit. --jpgordon::==( o ) 04:55, 21 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The above link is indeed giving a 404. The correct link is http://www.amazon.com/s?search-alias=stripbooks&field-isbn=9780824836344 which is ok. --Nakohdo (talk) 12:19, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Consideration of xISBN

Has it ever been considered to use xISBN integration into special:booksources? xISBN is an OCLC service API which given a single ISBN returns a list of associated ISBNs, like all the editions of a specific title. How would one go about proposing such an integration? As a disclaimer I do work for OCLC. Maximiliankleinoclc (talk) 00:45, 30 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"Key national libraries"

At a workshop yesterday, it was pointed out to me that the seven (now six) entries here cover three national libraries and three union catalogues - COPAC (UK academic), Canada, and KVK (European). Any idea for a better section title? Andrew Gray (talk) 09:51, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]