Linking to works without an ISBN

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Linking to works without an ISBN

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1KingRat
Nov 13, 2009, 2:15 am

I'm revamping my web site and plan to start linking my books to LibraryThing. For books with an ISBN, it's easy: http://www.librarything.com/isbn/0441172717

What about books without an ISBN? If I link directly to the work page, will I ever end up with a situation where the work id no longer belongs to the same book?

I'm kind of thinking about some of the more scary cases of combination/separation. I link to a work page. Someone combines all that authors works into one work. LT members separate them back out correctly. Is there now a chance that the work page I linked to before will point to a differently titled book?

Should I just stick with linking to ISBN based books?

2jjwilson61
Nov 13, 2009, 9:32 am

Work Ids and hence work inks are not stable. I don't know if there is an alternative for non-ISBN books.

3paulhurtley
Nov 13, 2009, 12:55 pm

You can use a link like http://www.librarything.com/work/book/31290820 - omit the work number. I bet that the book number won't change.