Ingram assigned isbn to wrong book

[Peter]

This ISBN (according to ALL sources I can find except the Goodreads database) belongs to Mrs. Starling's Problem by Pearl S. Buck.

Ingram assigned it to Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing by May Sarton.

What is the best way of handling this?

[Peter]

Note: ALL sources include LoC, WorldCat, ISBNdb, OpenISBN, retail search site Bookfinder4U, and Amazon. (Retail sites checked just for completeness.)

[lafon حمزة]

And yet WorldCat also assigns it to Mrs. Stevens: http://www.worldcat.org/title/mrs-ste...


I'm guessing that it's probably a re-used ISBN.

ETA: I'm only seeing Mrs. Stevens for the ISBN you linked. Just for completeness, can you post the ISBN?

[Peter]

Sorry. I put it in the about box, but it does not show.
ISBN10: 0381996336
ISBN13: 9780381996338

I don't think it's a reused ISBN, since I would find it somewhere other than on GR if it was.

[lafon حمزة]

And yet a regular Google search shows both under the same ISBN. I'm still leaning towards a re-used ISBN.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Peter wrote: "I don't think it's a reused ISBN, since I would find it somewhere other than on GR if it was."

Absence of proof is not proof of absence. I agree with lafon.

[Peter]

lafon حمزة wrote: "And yet a regular Google search shows both under the same ISBN. I'm still leaning towards a re-used ISBN."

I tried following some of those links, and came up with the Buck book, not the Sarton book, even though Google's link listed them as the Sarton book. (Google probably got the data from the same place ingram did.)

rivka wrote: "Peter wrote: "I don't think it's a reused ISBN, since I would find it somewhere other than on GR if it was."

Absence of proof is not proof of absence. I agree with lafon."

How about this then:

The book is listed as published by HarperCollins.
Pearl S. Buck is on HarperCollins author list. (http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/...)
May Sarton is not on HarperCollins author list. She is on the W. W. Norton author list (http://books.wwnorton.com/books/autho...).

, , , and were published by W. W. Norton, as were most of her other editions.

Finally, ISBNs starting 0-381 have belonged to John Day Co and HarperCollins. (http://home.us.archive.org/~edward/is...)

Is this sufficient proof of absence?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Not for a book from 1975, no.

[Peter]

rivka wrote: "Not for a book from 1975, no."

Please explain.
The author was not published by the publisher who owns the ISBN. The ISBN was used by the publisher who owns it.

Sarton's publisher used ISBNs starting with 0-393 at the time.

It looks like either a software error or an error in ingram's database, perpetuated to GR's database.

What would be sufficient proof?

ETA: Is it necessary to contact ingram to prove this?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

None of that proves that the ISBN was not re-used. Possibly in error, but that doesn't help users who have the book.

[Peter]

rivka wrote: "None of that proves that the ISBN was not re-used. Possibly in error, but that doesn't help users who have the book."

No one has shelved it under this ISBN.

[Peter]

rivka wrote: "None of that proves that the ISBN was not re-used. Possibly in error, but that doesn't help users who have the book."

No one has shelved it under this ISBN. Doesn't that matter?