Re: Laundry list for NGC

I think CDs and DVDs might be biting off too much. So long as there's
no deep problem with adding them later, what's lost if we start with
books? What's new and interesting here is the idea of community
participation and open data. Karen's post—new info to me,
thanks!—shows there might be problems matching CD and DVD covers to
library data. Can't we explore what's new with books alone?

Tim

On 12/14/06, Karen Coyle <kcoyle <at> kcoyle.net> wrote:
> Except for the ISBN, the UPC/EAN code isn't always stored in
> bibliographic records created in the US. The numbers that are stored for
> CDs are the publisher numbers ("Philips 422 416-2") and they are not
> entered in a consistent format, unfortunately. UPC/EANs do seem to be
> showing up on newer CD records. So getting a link to CDs is going to
> take some thought. (I looked on Amazon, and CDs seem to be identified
> only by the ASIN, which Amazon assigns when there isn't another reliable
> identifier.)
>
> I imagine that DVDs will be equally difficult.
>
> kc
>
> Lynn Reynish wrote:
> > Hmmmm.... UPC/EAN-code may indeed be an alternative. It would certainly
> > be no worse than an ISBN.
> >
> > Lynn
> >
> > Anders Ringnér wrote:
> >> From: "Lynn Reynish" <lreynish <at> RPL.REGINA.SK.CA>
> >>> This does sound like a great project. However, I will note that ISBN is
> >>> probably not enough if you want to include CDs and DVDs - most of which
> >>> don't have ISBNs. Amazon uses an ASIN for these items but I'm not
> >>> sure if
> >>> there are any widespread standard numbers in use for CDs or DVDs
> >>> outside
> >>> of mainstream Western classical/pop/rock music (which often has a music
> >>> number). ISBNs have their own problems of course - but at least they
> >>> exist
> >>> for a lot of items.
> >>
> >> Would using the UPC/EAN-code be an alternative? If we then converted all
> >> ISBN-10 to ISBN-13, which in fact is identical to the EAN, we'd end up
> >> with
> >> the same style of numbers for all objects, regardless of format (book,
> >> CD,
> >> DVD and so on). All pictures would be stored by their EAN-code.
> >>
> >> /Anders
> >
> > --
> > Lynn Reynish
> > ILS Librarian
> > Regina Public Library
> > lreynish <at> reginalibrary.ca
> >
> >
>
> --
> -----------------------------------
> Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
> kcoyle <at> kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
> ph.: 510-540-7596
> fx.: 510-848-3913
> mo.: 510-435-8234
> ------------------------------------
>