1darius52
Recently I've seen some people talking about source and recommending specific sources over other sources, mainly because of the quality of the metadata. I use Amazon as my source because Amazon has 99% of the books I want to import (according to my chart, if you eliminate Amazon and manual entries I've used the Library of Congress for 26 books and two public libraries for 1 book each which I have no explanation for). This made me start wondering if I'm not getting everything I could out of the book sources.
I manually review all of the metadata related to my books except for the information under the Classification, Collector, and Identifiers headings. I don't trust any data that I haven't reviewed myself so I'd be reviewing my metadata regardless of the source (so fixing Amazon's wrong data doesn't bother me). Am I missing out on anything by using Amazon when I'm going to fix the information regardless of the source? I've never paid attention to Dewey Decimal or other classification numbers (except when in an actual library trying to find something) so maybe there's a use there that I've never thought about (even if just more chart data).
I did a search and found similar topics, but they devolved into talking about what sources are better for finding different things and not what data you get from one source vs another source (because some of the data fields can't be manually edited).
I manually review all of the metadata related to my books except for the information under the Classification, Collector, and Identifiers headings. I don't trust any data that I haven't reviewed myself so I'd be reviewing my metadata regardless of the source (so fixing Amazon's wrong data doesn't bother me). Am I missing out on anything by using Amazon when I'm going to fix the information regardless of the source? I've never paid attention to Dewey Decimal or other classification numbers (except when in an actual library trying to find something) so maybe there's a use there that I've never thought about (even if just more chart data).
I did a search and found similar topics, but they devolved into talking about what sources are better for finding different things and not what data you get from one source vs another source (because some of the data fields can't be manually edited).
2keristars
The main reason to avoid Amazon is to minimize the effort to review/correct the data.
Amazon often has junk as part of the titles that need to be cleared up, or strange measurements or even odd author names.
A long time ago, I just started to add everything manually because I was making so many changes anyway and I enjoyed the process. I think one of my recent additions I used Amazon as a source primarily because I wasn't sure of the data for the book and it was a fairly long title. (French grammar workbook)
If you find using Amazon as a data source generally, and you like your process, there's no need to change. Once you save your data, it won't change, even if amazon stops listing the book. (caveat: if you select an Amazon cover, it may change the ISBN/ASIN to match, but a warning pops up about it now)
Amazon often has junk as part of the titles that need to be cleared up, or strange measurements or even odd author names.
A long time ago, I just started to add everything manually because I was making so many changes anyway and I enjoyed the process. I think one of my recent additions I used Amazon as a source primarily because I wasn't sure of the data for the book and it was a fairly long title. (French grammar workbook)
If you find using Amazon as a data source generally, and you like your process, there's no need to change. Once you save your data, it won't change, even if amazon stops listing the book. (caveat: if you select an Amazon cover, it may change the ISBN/ASIN to match, but a warning pops up about it now)
3darius52
Fair enough and that makes sense!
And yeah, I don't trust any data that I haven't manually reviewed so I check everything but I do prefer fixing things over manual entry (although I've done that too for some more obscure things).
I learned about the danger of Amazon covers a couple of years ago so I'm safe there!
And yeah, I don't trust any data that I haven't manually reviewed so I check everything but I do prefer fixing things over manual entry (although I've done that too for some more obscure things).
I learned about the danger of Amazon covers a couple of years ago so I'm safe there!
4AnnieMod
I use Amazon for modern books - as long as you don’t need any of the fields that only libraries carry and you clean up whatever it brings in, it is not that bad.
Some people will try to convince you that Amazon is unusable in any and all cases. For me it works for almost any library book I am reading (published in USA in the last decade or so mostly). If it works for you, no need to change just because someone tells you to.
Some people will try to convince you that Amazon is unusable in any and all cases. For me it works for almost any library book I am reading (published in USA in the last decade or so mostly). If it works for you, no need to change just because someone tells you to.
5cindydavid4
use amazon for kindle only. i try to support my local store, but i like using ebay which is filled with indys i really like the selection and love the return polic
6MarthaJeanne
>5 cindydavid4: This is not about where you buy your books, but about the source for entering the book in LT.
7.mau.
at least for (new) Italian books, I noticed that often the number of pages is wrong on Amazon, probably because they create the page for the book well in advance of the actual publishng date, and so an estimation is used.
8SandraArdnas
Off the top of my head, the things you can get only from libraries are LC/DDC classification, subject headings, OCLC number. The last two you cannot edit, they either come from the source or not at all. Ditto for ASIN and Amazon. You cannot add it or delete it on your own.
Another thing to consider is do your books combine properly most of the time or does the junk in the titles, wrong authors etc. confuse the auto-combiner often and you have to manually combine it where it belongs.
Another thing to consider is do your books combine properly most of the time or does the junk in the titles, wrong authors etc. confuse the auto-combiner often and you have to manually combine it where it belongs.
