1Joe.McLaughlin
I have copied and pasted my personal Kindle library from here - https://read.amazon.com/kindle-library?itemView=compact&sortType=title
to a spreadsheet in Google Docs.
I now have about 2,000 book titles and the author(s) in one sheet.
I want to import this list into LibraryThing, which requires an ISBN for each book.
I do not want to manually look up the ISBN for every book, and copy and paste it into the spreadsheet in order to import the list.
Any suggestions for an API or another way or service to append ISBNs to a spreadsheet row/ database record?
Thanks!
to a spreadsheet in Google Docs.
I now have about 2,000 book titles and the author(s) in one sheet.
I want to import this list into LibraryThing, which requires an ISBN for each book.
I do not want to manually look up the ISBN for every book, and copy and paste it into the spreadsheet in order to import the list.
Any suggestions for an API or another way or service to append ISBNs to a spreadsheet row/ database record?
Thanks!
2Petroglyph
You do not need an isbn for mass import, and it may actually be a better idea to omit isbns altogether.
On the Import page (under More > import ), click "Universal" or "Spreadsheet". That will take you to a page where you can upload a spreadsheet (I recommend exporting your Google Sheets document as a .csv).
On the bottom right of those pages you can download an example csv file, called LibrarythingSample.csv, with one row filled out by way of example. Copy/paste your information into this csv file. Do not alter the order of the columns, do not delete columns, do not add columns (they will be ignored by the importer, or they may break the importing process). Once your details are in the file, save it and upload it to LT.
It is imperative that you leave the isbn column empty (except the column header, obviously). If an isbn is present, the importer will default to looking up bibliographic details for the isbn and it will ignore the title / author / publication info / pagecount in that row.
I would strongly suggest trying to import a few dozen rows first, to verify that it works and that your desired information lands in the right fields.
On the Import page (under More > import ), click "Universal" or "Spreadsheet". That will take you to a page where you can upload a spreadsheet (I recommend exporting your Google Sheets document as a .csv).
On the bottom right of those pages you can download an example csv file, called LibrarythingSample.csv, with one row filled out by way of example. Copy/paste your information into this csv file. Do not alter the order of the columns, do not delete columns, do not add columns (they will be ignored by the importer, or they may break the importing process). Once your details are in the file, save it and upload it to LT.
It is imperative that you leave the isbn column empty (except the column header, obviously). If an isbn is present, the importer will default to looking up bibliographic details for the isbn and it will ignore the title / author / publication info / pagecount in that row.
I would strongly suggest trying to import a few dozen rows first, to verify that it works and that your desired information lands in the right fields.
3Joe.McLaughlin
Thanks so much. Every time I attempted an import of a spreadsheet with just Title and Author, I got an error message that the .csv file was not in Goodreads export format.
I have successfully imported my spreadsheet with just Title and Author, without ISBNs, using the template. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
However :), having an ISBN provides a lot more info, like automatically adding a cover from Amazon,etc., so I'd still like to figure out a way to append ISBN numbers without copying and pasting manually.
I'm checking out the ISBN API here - https://isbndb.com/ .
I have successfully imported my spreadsheet with just Title and Author, without ISBNs, using the template. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
However :), having an ISBN provides a lot more info, like automatically adding a cover from Amazon,etc., so I'd still like to figure out a way to append ISBN numbers without copying and pasting manually.
I'm checking out the ISBN API here - https://isbndb.com/ .
4MarthaJeanne
Except that there can be multiple ISBNs for a title. Generally the eBook does not have the same ISBN as the paperback and the hardback is different again. The US editions will be different from the UK ones.
Also note that the cover can change for an ISBN, and if you use Amazon covers they can change or disappear in your entry.
Also note that the cover can change for an ISBN, and if you use Amazon covers they can change or disappear in your entry.
5ZephCraven
Great tips all! Adding that, if you do format your import exactly like that sample spreadsheet, you can inclue ISBNs when you have them. LibraryThing import should still notice that the file is formatted precisely, and include the other information as well. But that's not a lot of help to you, as you don't have the ISBNs yet. I wish I knew a better way to get ISBNs from a Kindle library, or a way to target them via API. Hopefully someone can chime in with a good suggestion!
6Joe.McLaughlin
>4 MarthaJeanne: Thanks for the info, @MarthaJeanne !
7Joe.McLaughlin
>5 ZephCraven: thanks Zeph! I'll update here if/when I figure out a solution that I like. I may spring for a one-month trial of the API from ISBNdb.com, mentioned above, to see if that is doable. Thinking there should be an API for OCLC Worldcat, the Library of Congress, other sources.
8MarthaJeanne
>6 Joe.McLaughlin: Please use my full name or not at all.
