Bookpedia Newbie questions

[Eric]

Hi, all. I'm new to Bookpedia and trying to adapt it to my needs. Here are some things I could use some help with:

(1) Seems that in the "Summary" field Bookpedia automatically places the first review in amazon.com? Is that right? Any way I can prevent that? I especially don't like it that in the sample I did, it imported that review with no credit to its author and at first I thought it was from a blurb on the cover or dust jacket. Edit: I deleted the unwanted summary and saved. Then I searched again for this book, and Bookpedia again wrote in the data I had deleted. Any way it can be set so it lets you decide what new info to import if you do a search on a book already in your library?

(2) I can't get any "LCC" codes to import, even if I do a special search of the "LOC" database (even though by default I'm searching the LOC database).

(3) Seems that Bookpedia does not pick up the following information, even though it is in the actual book's copyright page: CIP data (like the code starting with a year and then a numeric code for "Cataloging in Publication" data). Particularly disappointing is that the actual book may have several subjects already listed in the CIP data, but those subjects DO NOT end up in the "Subject" field. Not good, in my opinion. Seems to me as if they should be preference since that' show the publisher categorized the book. Maybe I'm missing something that would make this information be included.

(4) I scanned a book in and got the data and added it to my library. It's on amazon.com. However, the cover picture didn't come (there is one at amazon.com, though). I did another book, and the cover pix imported. Why? Any way I can manually copy the cover pix from amazon.com?

(5) I sometimes borrow books as well as loan them. Does it seem unclear to anyone else that in Bookpedia "borrowed" means I loaned it? I changed that collection's name to "I loaned out." The ability to change default collection names is very nice! I made another collection called "I borrowed" for books I physically have, but that are not mine.

(6) The imported Dewey codes look much different than in the actual physical book's CIP data: e.g. I have a book with "231`.5--dc21" (less the quotes) as the Dewey code. It comes through in Bookpedia as "231.5". I'm no librarian, so it doesn't really matter to me, but seems strange. Edit: in some cases the Dewey code in Bookpedia is nothing like the one in the book's CIP data. A book I imported has "028" as the Dewey code in Bookpedia, but the book's CIP data lists this: "487'.4—cd20".

[Nora]

Seems that in the "Summary" field Bookpedia automatically places the first review in amazon.com? Is that right?

When Amazon doesn't send the summary along (because of copyright reasons) Bookpedia is set to pick up the review voted most helpful instead.

Any way it can be set so it lets you decide what new info to import if you do a search on a book already in your library?

At the moment it isn't possible to choose which data to import or not (unless you turn a field off in the Preferences/Fields, in which case the data will not be imported at all but then you also won't see the field displayed). But do try searching another database if the summary provided by Amazon isn't what you're looking for. Just remember to delete the information before doing an advanced search since Bookpedia will never overwrite information already present in a field.

I can't get any "LCC" codes to import, even if I do a special search of the "LOC" database

Could you give us a few sample titles that you're searching for so we can try to repeat the problem here? Thanks.

CIP data

Bookpedia does pick up the Subjects from the LOC but they were added to the Genre field. We've changed that in the Beta so that the subjects are now added to the Subjects field.

the cover picture didn't come

This probably means that the image was scanned in by a user and not provided by Amazon. For some reason, these images are not included in webservices results. But if you can give me a title, we'll look into the problem some more.
To add a cover image manually just drag and drop it into the cover image well in Bookpedia (either underneath the source column or in the Add/Edit window.)

The imported Dewey codes look much different than in the actual physical book's CIP data

Bookpedia simply copies over the information in whatever format the LOC provides it. In the case of the Dewey, it is usually written with periods and backward slashes on their website.

[Eric]

Just remember to delete the information before doing an advanced search since Bookpedia will never overwrite information already present in a field.

Eric: Thanks for that info. I didn't know it wouldn't override present data, and I didn't really understand the advanced search. I tried it out more with text in a field and none there and it works as you described (of course!)

I can't get any "LCC" codes to import, even if I do a special search of the "LOC" database

Could you give us a few sample titles that you're searching for so we can try to repeat the problem here? Thanks.

Please try ISBN 0825421993 and/or ISBN 0310218950. I've added about 8 books today that should have LOC data, and nothing comes up from LOC.

[Nora]

Neither one of those ISBNs seem to exist on the LOC website. It could be that they have different editions of the books in the database. For example, the second example, "Does God still guide?" does exist on the LOC site but has no ISBN listed, possibly due to its age. The first book exists in two different editions, acid-free paper and electronic, which are probably not the editions you have. You should be able to find them by title search though on the LOC. For both books, I was successful on Amazon with the ISBN search.

[Eric]

Thank you so much! You are very helpful and gracious. I now see that if a book has many editions, it's likely the LOC data (LCC and Dewey) will be identical for all editions, so I can copy it from a diff. edition, e.g. Does God Still Guide's older edition will supply me with what I need for LOC codes. My own ignorance is my biggest problem here. I, for example, couldn't get any of the books I'd entered to show up on LOC, so I didn't even understand the formatting of the Dewey codes and LOC call number (LCC in Bookpedia). I REALLY appreciate your help!

[Eric]

Bookpedia will never overwrite information already present in a field.

Bookpedia does pick up the Subjects from the LOC but they were added to the Genre field. We've changed that in the Beta so that the subjects are now added to the Subjects field.

A thought: might it be good if one could select fields this way:
. append newly downloaded data to present data for this field (e.g. subjects); it'd be nice if it would search and not duplicate already present data
. not make any changes to fields with data in them
. replace current data with newly downloaded data

In some cases, on a book-by-book basis, I'd love to see what the new data that's being offered is and manually choose on the fly to accept, reject or append.

[Conor]

Thank you for the feedback on adding more information to entries.