The database here seems like a real mess....?

Every LT user can put whatever they want as a title: that's a feature. As another user, you can use that to your advantage, and ignore all those other entries by entering your own, as you seem to be doing.

If you want to use existing entries to speed your cataloguing, you can use other entries -- and you can choose from them. You are not limited to the entry with random info.

Searching existing entries is not the most effective way to add books. Even for books that don't have ISBNs, you will get better and more accurate data by using the 'add books' tab, clicking a library source, and searching 'title, author'. You will get a lot less 'garbage data' this way because it is coming from a library.

Technically with the way LT works, you can't actually add from other people's entries — if you are hitting the 'add book' button on an LT book (instead of adding from the 'add books' tab), you are usually adding from Amazon, which is one of the worst sources as far as incomplete or garbage data.

>4 jsilver2: Amazon is terrible for older titles. The data comes from their partners. Overcat is the best first source to search. It has all library searches already done by others. If it doesn't have what you need, look in some others. There's almost 5,000 sources to choose from, so you might take a look and add a few you think might be good for the sort of books you have.

>5 SandraArdnas: I only get about 12 sources when I go to add a book. There can I find the 5,000? I get a short drop-down list. I often have to select Amazon as my book isn’t found in any of then 10 sources available.

Alternatively you can use "Add books / Other options / Add manually".

Slower, but surely more satisfying, and more accurate.

Or use the universal import.

If you end up using the example csv linked on that page, do not alter the column order or titles, else the system will reject your upload (or, worse, the import will be corrupted).

>6 kjuliff: On the left side, beneath where it says Search Where? There is a link that says "or check our other 4976 sources"

Use the Add Books page, not the short cut button on work pages.

>4 jsilver2: A good source for older books is a major research library in your country (ideally a legal deposit library, if there is one). For example, the British Library, the Library of Congress, or the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

I don't think British Library is back up yet.

>12 MarthaJeanne: Good point; I forgot their API was down. The Oxford University or National Library of Scotland catalogues are good alternatives for books published in the UK.

>9 gilroy: Thank you - oh I remember now. I’d forgotten as I don’t use it - most of my books are from the NYPL libraries though some come from NLS and they aren’t in the list.

Search has been miserable for a while. Overcat is down more than up; yesterday it couldn't fish up anything for me, including "treasure island stevenson dent". Amazon sites were hardly better and half the national libraries seem to be always knocked out.

>16 LolaWalser: no one wants to share APIs for free anymore. Apparently even library consortiums and national libraries? Seems to be the way the world is going. Sucks. There goes free exchange of information.

>15 jsilver2: Yes, it's glitching now. Currently works searching by ISBN, but not title or author. But it's a major source so should be fixed soon

Overcat hasn't found titles for me for years; occasionally I try it but it never ever finds any of my genre fiction. I'm basically stuck using amazon as a source if I want it to actually find anything!

>19 reconditereader: I’m in the same position. I’ve tried using Overcat but have to rely on Amazon.

Overcat is an assembly of all library searches, but when it fails for whatever reasons, there are still plenty of library sources to use, the same ones assembled together in Overcat. No need to use Amazon except for very new titles still not in libraries. Library of Congress is the standout one for US published books, British Library normally for UK ones, but it's still not up and running after security issues, so use the National Library of Scotland, Oxford or one of other other major ones for the time being.

For the record, Overcat works right now with ISBN, but not titles and authors for some reason. In general, when one of the sources fails for more than a day or two, it's advisable to report in Bug Collectors so that it gets fixed.

Hi! I’m a newbie looking for a contemporary book about a young Black woman looking for a job. She goes to a casting call at a restaurant (don’t remember if she knew it was casting call) she gets the lead. The show is a reality show set in the 1950s or 1960s and the story ends up changing from original plan because the cast reacts to her being Black. They never break character and she is a housewife who calls her family for cooking help so they become characters. It’s kinda like Truman Show meets the civil rights inequalities in 2000 IRL, but the show remains in the past. I hope this description is making sense; please help me find this book. Thank you!