ISBN-13 is automatically created when entering ISBN-10

BookBrainz
21

One thing that I learnt during this discussion is that ISBN (and barcode) data is not searchable on BB.

That is disappointing considering that the ISBN is the publishing industry’s standard identifier.

I know I search for ISBNs on a regular basis to find particular editions.

Maybe it is a feature that has yet to be installed.

22

Identifiers like ISBN(s) are searchable, it is just we store ISBN(s) inconsistently :frowning: , but we already have the ticket for this so it will be fix soon :wink:

2 Likes
23

Excellent. I thought it might be on the horizon as it is an important search tool.

24

Thanks for all the bug reports!

I’m compiling them and other ISBN-related improvements suggestions into a better way forward for all things ISBN-related.

6 Likes
25

Compiling the issues reported with ISBNs as well as other related suggestions and tickets, here is our proposal for improvements:

  1. We are temporarily disabling the new automatic ISBN10 <-> ISBN13 conversion feature since we’re having so many issues with it.

    • In the future we will not do the conversion automatically (see point 5 below).

  2. Separate the identifiers to be part of the main page, and not hidden behind a button click in a popup modal ([BB-343] Move the identifier & aliases editing to be part of the main editing flow - MetaBrainz JIRA)

  3. If an identifier type has already been manually selected by a user, don’t auto-detect or automatically change the type ([BB-508] Identifier type selection issue - MetaBrainz JIRA)

  4. Separate the ISBN10, ISBN13 and barcode fields from other identifiers, and moving them in the "What else do you know about the Edition?” section.

  5. Add buttons next to the ISBN fields to transform ISBN10 to ISBN13 and vice versa

    • Proposal: also add a button to copy the barcode from IBSNs (barcode is often just the ISBN)

  6. Be more liberal with the pasted/typed formats we accept for ISBNs: with or without hyphens, spaces, etc.

  7. Store ISBNs and barcodes as a string without spaces or hyphens, and format them for displaying on the website according to ISBN authority specifications ([BB-645] Consistenly store and display ISBNs - MetaBrainz JIRA and [BB-650] Barcode (and ISBN) insertion and storage improvement - MetaBrainz JIRA)

    • This will also make searching by ISBN usable (currently users need to know the exact format including hyphens and spaces)
6 Likes
26

Sounds like a good plan, I really like it, thx.

2 Likes
27

Excellent. Although the automatic ISBN generator works perfectly when copying and pasting, the same can’t be said for typed insertion. Therefore it could mislead the uninitiated. I look forward to the improved version!

1 Like