Dealing with invalid ISBNs

[Aleksey]

Hi everyone,

Not for the first time I see this issue: the book is exist on the Goodreads, but has invalid ISBN10 (usually it's a part of ISBN13 entered into ISBN10). Since I cannot fix this error, probably I should add a new edition with correct data and then merge old record into the new one, right? Okay.

Here goes the second issue: the ISBN13 used by the book publisher is 987-5-8628-0074-3, and I cannot add it to the Goodreads, because it's invalid (ISBN calculator says it should be 987-5-8628-0074-4).

So, what sould I do now? Shall I add the book with "correct" ISBN - and it will not be found by the ISBN used by the publisher? Or maybe I should ask Superlibrarian to add the book with invalid ISBN?

Thanks.

[Tami]

Hello, when encountering a truncated ISBN, don't create a new edition and instead request support to correct the ISBN numbers. Staff members have the ability to edit ISBN numbers. Only request a merge if the edition with the correct ISBN already exists.

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. ISBN13 should start with 978 or 979, not 987.

That number is another identifier that Goodreads does not use: "The book may have another identifying number such as an LCCN and that can be added to the note as well. A note can also be added using the Librarian Note feature linked near the top of the book edit page. An LCCN or other identifying number should never be entered into the ISBN field, though we do allow Nook IDs to be added to this field. Nook IDs are 13 digits and begin with 294. This may generate an error message, but will update when you click on Save Changes." https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

The book may have a valid ISBN but I don't know the book so I can't help. That number on Google doesn't produce any results. The book you linked above appears to have a valid ISBN10 per the librarian note it's an alternate cover edition but I can't find the original record. Why did you link that book?

You can use the library of congress ISBN converter to check ISBN numbers https://www.loc.gov/programs/preassig...

[Aleksey]

Tami,
thanks for the reply.
Somerthing changed in the book record so it doesn't contain the wrong ISBN (thanks again?).

You can found the book here: https://carnegieendowment.org/files/T... and it clearly has the ISBN note: "ISBN 987-5-8628-0074-3 © Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2009"

So, if I understand correctly, it could be NOT the ISBN13 but some ISBN-like number and it can be added to the book record so it can be found by this number.

Overall: if I find the book with the truncated ISBN, I just report it to the superlibrarians. Okay.

[Tami]

I didn't make any changes to the record; you can verify this in the edit log. Unfortunately, I'm unable to open the PDF file as it appears to be blank.

Please refer to the librarian manual: ISBN-like numbers should only be added as a librarian note, not in the book record itself under the ISBN fields. However, it seems you have already done it.

Aleksey wrote: "Overall: if I find the book with the truncated ISBN, I just report it to the superlibrarians. Okay."

Please review my response. It's important to contact staff rather than superlibrarians in cases of truncated ISBNs, as superlibrarians can't edit ISBN numbers. Superlibrarians are volunteers like you and me. Use the 'contact us' links to reach out to staff when you encounter a book with a truncated ISBN and no record with the correct ISBN exists. If a record with the correct ISBN does exist, it can be merged. In such cases, you can post in the superlibrarian folder if the book has more than 5 shelvings. If it has 5 or fewer shelvings, you can perform the merge yourself.

[Aleksey]

Ok, got it. Thanks.

[Olga]

I've seen it happen among independent Russian publishers. It has a technical reason. Something went wrong when they added that information to the copyright page, a typing error maybe. This book on РГУ site has ISBN 978-5-8628-0074-3 (this is also checked as invalid)
https://search.rsl.ru/ru/search#q=%D0...
We don't know what the error was they have made and what the real ISBN is. It's ok to add the book without ISBN. In this case, if there is already an ISBN, you can leave it like this. But please remove your Librarian Note about ACE. This book doesn't have an alternative cover. If you'd like, you can leave a Note that this book has the wrong ISBN on the copyright page.

Note, that this author has books translated in English and his main profile is Dmitri Trenin. So Russian editions should have Dmitri Trenin as the primary author and Дмитрий Тренин as the second.

[Tami]

Olga wrote: "I've seen it happen among independent Russian publishers. It has a technical reason. Something went wrong when they added that information to the copyright page, a typing error maybe. This book on ..."

I noticed that the isbn deleted is a valid isbn. Deleting valid isbn is a violation of Goodreads policies. The isbn in the ACE librarian note which was deleted is 9875862800 corresponds to isbn13 9789875862807

On worldcat: https://search.worldcat.org/title/113...

Aleksey you should not merge (delete) books records with valid isbn numbers. You can get your librarian status taken away for making edits against Goodreads policy.

[Olga]

Tami, there is some error with the Worldcat link. This link is to a page with some conference material, without ISBN. (And Russian books have ISBN13 starting with 978-5-)
But it seems ISBN 9875862800 is a valid ISBN10.

[Aleksey]

Tami,

I appreciate your care, but if you look at the numbers, 9875862800 is just a truncated version of 9875862800 743. I'm sure it's not a valid ISBN10 number. ISBN13 9789875862807 doesn't lead to any book.

[Aleksey]

Olga wrote: "Note, that this author has books translated in English and his main profile is Dmitri Trenin. So Russian editions should have Dmitri Trenin as the primary author"

Good point, thank you.

I will check my edits again.

[Tami]

Olga wrote: "Tami, there is some error with the Worldcat link. This link is to a page with some conference material, without ISBN. (And Russian books have ISBN13 starting with 978-5-)
But it seems ISBN 98758628..."

If you input the isbn numbers 9875862800 which corresponds to isbn13 9789875862807 in the search bar on worldcat it will lead you to that book. Disregard my link and just go on https://search.worldcat.org/ and search the isbn numbers.

[Tami]

Aleksey wrote: "Tami,

I appreciate your care, but if you look at the numbers, 9875862800 is just a truncated version of 9875862800 743. I'm sure it's not a valid ISBN10 number. ISBN13 9789875862807 doesn't lead to any book."

it's a valid isbn number per the library of congress and has a corresponding isbn13, the bibliographical information might be incorrect but the isbn is valid.

I also found a match on Abebooks when searching the isbn: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear... it is possible this isbn was used more than once.

These are the acceptable sources for book data per the librarian manual which include Abebooks and worldcat and they both yielded results for the ISBNs https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...