Mike Tribby wrote:
"there is no reason for anyone to have to key a publisher name for a modern book
with an ISBN -- the identity of the publisher is inherent in the ISBN and that
information could be system supplied (using a barcode scanner)"
Is this true of very small publishers who buy their ISBNs in tiny blocks--like
10 or so at a time? If so, great, but that seems like it would require an awful
lot of work by Bowker Of course more power to them if they do it. And what
about ISBNs that are resold? (If one's answer is unawareness that this happens,
then we're back to square one on this question, aren't we?)
Most likely this would work with "major" publishers, not the small press
folks. Then again, one saves the same amount of time NOT typing "Random
House" as one does NOT typing "Mama's Press" and we probably save more
time *collectively* not typing the more common publishers. I see no
reason to give up the possibility just because it won't be available for
every book.
"Many people were quite affronted when the Future of Bibliographic Control report
suggested getting as much data as possible from the publishers. There is data that they
obviously have and presumably could pass on. And a simple identifier like the ISBN is
actually a window to a whole host of information that could be used to populate a
bibliographic record."
As one of the many who were affronted--although I prefer to describe the
phenomenon as being baffled by why anybody would think most publishers would be
interested in or capable of providing much information of a quality and in a
form that could be easily used for bibliographic control--I'm not convinced.
[snip} I'd feel a lot more sanguine about this strategy if someone would relate
their positive experiences in getting such useful information from publishers.
I'm sure it will depend on what you mean by "useful", but the Open
Library just loaded about 6 million records gleaned from Amazon, most of
which were probably first provided by publishers. It isn't "library
cataloging data" of course, it's "publisher catalog data," which in many
cases looks different from what libraries produce. The site also
contains a snapshot set of LC MARC Books All from about 2007 (8 million,
I believe). The Open Library site is new so we don't yet know what uses
people will make of it, but it will be an interesting place to see a
mixture of library and non-library bibliographic data in combination.
kc
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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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