Godmar,
Thank you for answering some of my questions (and I apologize for asking
anything that was more pertinent to an off-list discussion). I didn't
realize that the addison.vt.edu:2082 demo site was only showing "partial
view" links. I had assumed, wrongly, that it was perhaps only excluding
"metadata view" and "no view" instances. That said, I do think it's a
very elegant implementation of the GBS Viewability API into a
locked-down OPAC, and I'd like to see it implemented at my library as
well (or at least any implementation of a Google, LibraryThing, or
OpenLibrary API).
Also, I apparently haven't looked at the Viewability API enough, but you
did teach me something else by providing those examples. I should've
explicitly said, too, that I was *not* doing a GBS search for
"oclc01052228" (and I just tried that to see what would happen, and it
does return the book, but the lone result is for page 52, an illustrated
page...?). I was, instead, using one of the basic viewability API
examples provided by Google, simply adding "oclc" to any of my requests
(I don't have a background in computer science, so I was just playing
around in order to test the rate of inclusion/recall in GBS for a local
set of books). According to the API callback, it seems then that the
reason that I am finding the full view for this book is because it has 3
bib numbers (or bib keys) attached to its oclc number.
So, in addition to the two links that you included, this link also works
(but not because [I don't think] that string appears in the hidden
metadata)
http://books.google.com/books?jscmd=viewapi&bibkeys=OCLC01052228&callbac
k=X
So,
"bib_key":"OCLC01052228"
"bib_key":"OCLC:01052228"
"bib_key":"OCLC:1052228"
But not:
"bib_key":"OCLC1052228"
Is that right, or am I still missing something?
Mark Custer
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Godmar Back
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 11:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] google books and OCLC numbers
Mark,
I'll answer this one on list, but let's take discussion that is
specifically related to GBS classes off-list since you're asking
questions about this particular software --- I had sent the first
email to Code4Lib because I felt that our method of integrating the
Google Book viewability API into III Millennium in a clean way was
worth sharing with the community.
On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 10:07 AM, Custer, Mark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Slide 4 in that PowerPoint mentions something about a "small set of
> Google Book Search information", but is also says that the items are
> indexed by ISBN, OCLC#, and LCCN. And yet, during the admittedly
brief
> time that I tried out this really nice demo, I was unable to find any
> links to books that were available in "full view", which made me
wonder
> if any of the search results were searching GBS with their respective
> OCLC #s (and not just ISBNs, if available).
GBS searches by whatever you tell it: ISBN, OCLC, *OR* LCCN. Not all of
them.
>
> For example, if I use the demo site that's provided and search for
"mark
> twain" and limit my results to publication dates of, say, 1860-1910,
I
> don't receive a single GBS link. So I checked to see if "Eve's
Diary"
> was in GBS and, of course, it was... and then I made sure that the
copy
> I found in the demo had the same OCLC# as the one in GBS; and it was.
> So, is this a feature that will be added later, or is it just that
the
> entire set of bib records available at the demo site are not included
in
> the GBS aspect of the demo?
By "demo site" provided, do you mean addison.vt.edu:2082?
Remember that in this demo, the link is only displayed if Google has a
partial view, and *not* if Google has full text or no view. It's my
understanding that Twain's books are past copyright, so Google has
fully scanned them and they are available as full text.
If you take that into account, Eve's Diary (OCLC# 01052228) works
fine. I added it at the bottom of http://libx.org/gbs/tests.html
To search for this book by OCLC, you'd use this span:
<span title="OCLC:01052228" class="gbs-thumbnail gbs-link-to-preview
gbs-if-partial-or-full">Eve's Diary</span>
which links to the full text version. Note that --- interestingly ---
Google does not appear to have a thumbnail for this book's cover.
>
> Secondly, I have another question which I hope that someone can clear
up
> for me. Again, I'll use this copy of "Eve's Diary" as an example,
which
> has an OCLC number of 01052228. Now, if you search worldcat.org
(using
> the advance search, basic search, of even adding things like "oclc:"
> before the number), the only way that I can access this item is to
> search for "1052228" (removing the leading zero). And this is
exactly
> how the OCLC number displays in the metadata record, directly below
the
> field that states that there are 18 editions of this work.
>
> All of that said, I can still access the book with either of these
URLs:
>
> http://worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/1052228
> http://worldcat.org/wcpa/oclc/01052228
>
> Now, I could've sworn that GBS followed a similar route, and so, I
> previously searched it for OCLC numbers by removing any leading
zeroes.
> As of at least today, though, the only way for me to access this book
> via GBS is to use the OCLC number as it appears in the MARC record...
> that is, by searching for "oclc01052228".
>
> Has anyone else noticed this change in GBS (though it's quite
possible
> that I'm simply mistaken)? And could anyone inform me about the
> technical details of any of these issues? I mean, I get that
worldcat
> has to also deal with ISSNs, but is there a way to use the search box
to
> explicitly declare what type of number the query is... and why would
the
> value need to have the any leading 0's removed in the metadata
display
> (especially since the URL method can access either)?
>
That's a question about the search interface accessed at
books.google.com, not about the book viewability API. Those are two
different services. The viewability API advertises that it supports
OCLC: and LCCN: prefixes to search for OCLC and LCCN, respectively, in
addition to ISBNs, and that works in your example, for instance,
visit:
http://books.google.com/books?jscmd=viewapi&bibkeys=OCLC:01052228&callba
ck=X
or
http://books.google.com/books?jscmd=viewapi&bibkeys=OCLC:1052228&callbac
k=X
The books.google.com search interface doesn't advertise the ability to
search by OCLC number --- the only reason you are successful with
searching for OCLC01052228 is because this string happens to occur
somewhere in this book's metadata description, and Google has the full
content of the metadata descriptions indexed like it indexed webpages.
Take also a look at the advanced search interface at:
http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search
You'll find no support for OCLC or LCCN. It does show, however, than
isbn: can be used to search for ISBNs, in the style prefixes can be
used in other search interfaces.
- Godmar
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