It's hard to explain, but the Web-based mind of the Internet Archive 
just can't seem to grasp the role of individual library catalogs in 
helping people find books. The attitude seems to be: well, they should 
just search OL. The project I mentioned is an IMLS experiment to test 
ebook usage of these works through the addition of catalog records. 
There are lots of reasons why this is a good idea (selection, service to 
users...) but folks who don't use libraries don't and probably won't get it.

There is an on-again off-again Internet Archive project to fill in the 
missing MARC records. I was told that if someone can create a file of 
MARC records with links to IA books, that they could be loaded. If 
anyone wants to work on this, I can put you in touch with the 
appropriate person.

kc

On 8/18/14, 5:32 PM, Dana Pearson wrote:
> Karen,
>
> It seems to me that the Open Library would want to broaden use of this
> great collection as much as possible.  Yet, MARC records for the 1/3  or so
> items in the collection cannot be downloaded so that they could be imported
> into local library systems.
>
> Lots of users searching local libraries who might well use google and Open
> Library, Internet Archive for finding ebooks less frequently.
>
> I'll look at Tom Morris's code to see if I might automate record selection
> of Open Library records compared with element of MARCXML records of this
> last group of Guterberg Project additions.  Thanks for that information.
>
> regards,
> dana
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 6:57 PM, Karen Coyle <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> About 1/3 of the 1M ebooks on OpenLibrary.org have full MARC records, and
>> you can retrieve the record via the API. There is also a "secret" record
>> format that returns not the full MARC for the hard copy (which is what the
>> records represent because these are digitized books) but a record that has
>> been modified to represent the ebook.
>>
>> The MARC records for the hard copy follow the pattern:
>>
>> https://archive.org/download/[archive identifier]/[archive
>> identifier]_marc.[xml|mrc]
>>
>> Download MARC XML https://archive.org/download/myantonia00cathrich/
>> myantonia00cathrich_marc.xml
>> Download MARC binary https://www.archive.org/download/myantonia00cathrich/
>> myantonia00cathrich_meta.mrc <https://archive.org/download/
>> myantonia00cathrich/myantonia00cathrich_meta.mrc>
>>
>>
>> To get the one that represents the ebook, do:
>>
>> https://archive.org/download/[archive identifier]/[archive
>> identifier]_archive_marc.xml
>>
>> https://archive.org/download/myantonia00cathrich/
>> myantonia00cathrich_archive_marc.xml
>>
>> This one has an 007, the 245 $h, and a few other things.
>>
>> Tom Morris did some code that helps you search for books by author and
>> title and retrieve a MARC record. I don't recall where his github archive
>> is, but I'll find out and post it here. The code is open source. We used it
>> for a project that added ebook records to a public library catalog.
>>
>> You can also use the OPenLibrary API to select all open access ebooks.
>> What I'd like to see is a way to create a list or bibliography in OL that
>> then is imported into a program that will find MARC records for those
>> books. The list function is still under development, though.
>>
>> kc
>>
>>
>> On 8/18/14, 3:04 PM, Stuart Yeates wrote:
>>
>>> There are a stack of great free ebook repositories available on the web,
>>> things like https://unglue.it/ http://www.gutenberg.org/
>>> https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page http://www.gutenberg.net.au/
>>> https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1/newest/0/free/any etc, etc
>>>
>>> What there doesn't appear to be, is high-quality AACR2 / RDA records
>>> available for these. There are things like https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.
>>> au/meta/pg/ which are elaborate dublin core to MARC converters, but
>>> these lack standardisation of names, authority control (people, entities,
>>> places, etc), interlinking, etc.
>>>
>>> It seems to me that quality metadata would greatly increase the value /
>>> findability / use of these projects and thus their visibility and available
>>> sources.
>>>
>>> Are there any projects working in this space already? Are there suitable
>>> tools available?
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> stuart
>>>
>> --
>> Karen Coyle
>> [log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
>> m: +1-510-435-8234
>> skype: kcoylenet/+1-510-984-3600
>>
>
>

-- 
Karen Coyle
[log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
m: +1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet/+1-510-984-3600