Adding duplicates of an already-existing book (like copying a file)?

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Adding duplicates of an already-existing book (like copying a file)?

1MOQLibrary
syyskuu 28, 2017, 8:09 pm

Hi all,

Is there some way to "select" a book already existing in my catalog, and then "copy" or "reproduce" it?
I thought it might be possible through "power-edit," since that allows me to select a book, but I don't know what to do next.

I'm trying to go through my catalog and make duplicate books of items that I marked as 2 or more copies.

For example, I have about 30 New American Bibles, currently only ONE entry/item in my catalog, multiple "copies."
Is there an easy way to re-produce this original entry 30 times over? Then I plan to change each title to something like "New American Bible: #3" or New American Bible: Copy #28," etc.

Or, another dilemma I have: I am manually cataloging a big set of annual Parish directories (no ISBNS, same basic front cover for each). If I enter one book out of the series, say the 1995 year, how can I then "copy" that book about 20 times? This would then allow me to just go down the list and keep all other details like author or cover the same, just changing each title to Parish Directory 1996, Parish Directory 1997, and so on.

Thanks for any help or suggestions! Library Thing is absolutely incredible.
MOQ Library

2MOQLibrary
lokakuu 24, 2017, 12:20 pm

Does Library Thing allow duplicates?

3MarthaJeanne
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 24, 2017, 12:56 pm

You can have multiple copies of the same work that are different editions in different records.

You can have multiple copies of the same edition of the same work in different records.

You can have multiple copies of the same edition of the same work in the same record by entering the number of copies (see edit book.) However, these copies are not differentiated at all, so it is not recommended if you are using the circulation feature.

If you have separate records, each copy must be entered separately. There is no easy way to do this.

You already have several books with more than one copy entered. http://www.librarything.com/profile/MOQLibrary/stats/workdups

There were a few cases of wrongly combined books, but I have separated them.

4Keeline
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 24, 2017, 2:42 pm

It depends on the purpose. For those who are using the lending features of LT and perhaps TinyCat, each copy of a book must be its own record in your catalog.

Otherwise, you can use the "Quantity" field to indicate that you have more than one copy of a book but that won't work with the lending features.

If it is too tedious for you to add a book a second time, there is a user-contributed script for GreaseMonkey (Firefox) / TamperMonkey (Chrome) that would let you copy most of the fields of a detail record found on LT into the manual entry form. You can edit the fields as needed and add it to your collection.

Doing this, requires using the right browser (Chrome or Firefox). Then you would need to add the corresponding plugin and restart the browser. Once that is there, you would have to add the script.



If this doesn't intimidate you and you want to go further, I or others can provide further details.

James

5peterlo
tammikuu 31, 2018, 2:11 am

Does LT Copy Book only work for books that you do not own? As I tried to use the script, I couldn't find "+ Add to your Books/Wishlist" buttons for my own books, but I could see the buttons when I view books that I do not own.

6.Monkey.
tammikuu 31, 2018, 10:45 am

>5 peterlo: It sounds like you don't have the script and are merely looking at the normal "add to your books" button, which takes you to the add books page.

7peterlo
helmikuu 3, 2018, 2:42 am

I have installed Tampermonkey on Chrome with LT Copy Book - LibraryThing script Version 0.0. Strange

8obatpembesarpenis
helmikuu 10, 2018, 11:39 am

Tämä käyttäjä on poistettu roskaamisen vuoksi.

9Lyndatrue
helmikuu 10, 2018, 12:48 pm

It's a pity that when we get spam in a thread, the actual post cannot be removed. I'm commenting here ONLY to not see the tombstone. It was otherwise an interesting and useful thread.

10jjwilson61
helmikuu 10, 2018, 1:08 pm

>9 Lyndatrue: I really wish people wouldn't do that. The only reason the tombstone was added was so that people could avoid seeing a new message in a thread and clicking on that thread only to find that there isn't anything to read after all. All your doing by adding a post is making it impossible to tell whether there is really something to read before clicking on the thread.

11Keeline
Muokkaaja: helmikuu 12, 2018, 11:00 pm

When it is working, the LT Copy Book script will copy any book from the detail page. The script looks for a particular URL pattern. I don't know if it works better on the US version versus other localizations in case that is a factor.

In my image example, it is one of my books. However, I have used it to copy books from other LT libraries.

I am concerned that you have an old version. If you visit this URL, does it show the script as installed? (i.e. Reinstall Version 2)

LT Copy Book on GreasyFork

The original version offered in Hacking LibraryThing stopped working after some changes to the site. The one on the link above does work. I just tested it on a MacBookPro with Chrome / TamperMonkey / LT Copy Book version 2 on one of my book listings on a detail page ( The Lion City of Africa ). When I click on the "Copy to your library" button, it opens the blank form with the data filled in.

James

12boyerjh
huhtikuu 29, 2018, 2:34 pm

I'm new to LT and trying to understand how to use it for our residential, retired library. The staff policy is to allow two paperback copies and one hardcover copy of any book. While practicing scanning in books, I did find two paperback copies for one book. I was able to scan both and it became two entries for the same book. Seeing that there is a copies number field, I deleted one entry and marked the other with a '2' for two copies. For the purpose of tracking a limit on copies to two, which would have been the better way to handle? Two entries each marked '1' copy or combine into one entry with '2' copies? Thanks for shedding any light on this arcane topic.

13MarthaJeanne
huhtikuu 29, 2018, 2:48 pm

If you want to use the circulation feature the copies need to be separate entries.

It might actually be easier to see how many copies you have with the separate entries, as the copy number is not very obvious, but separate copies are shown on the main page.

14boyerjh
toukokuu 10, 2018, 11:00 pm

We don't use any circulation controls, so I ccould just sort by "copy counts" for reports on excessive numbers of copies. We running out of library space so the limit is two copies. I will let the head librarian decide which way to go with record keeping for copies. Thank you for your help! 😀

15ECCClibrary
lokakuu 31, 2018, 3:15 pm

Hi James (Keeline), our library usually carry two copies of each title for circulation. May I have more information on how to use the Tampermonkey Chrome please. One review in the download website mentioned it was disabled on Chrome, is there any problem with that? Thanks James.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldm...

16RichTraube
Muokkaaja: helmikuu 17, 2021, 1:39 pm

I have just started using LT and tinycat on my personal collection. For dupes I put "c.#" in the public comment and make sure to up the count in "copies". Yes, *identifying* dupes, as the catalog grows beyond a certain point might be painful. I anticipate that views and reports based on ISBN and LCCN and will be helpful. If I get involved with a fullblown project at a nonprofit, I foresee exporting LT's TSV, converting it to CSV, importing the CSV into SQLite and checking on the public comments and copy counts. The number of records without either an ISBN or LCCN will hopefully be small enough to eyeball.

I'm not so interested in a widget to make one copy. Now multiple copies... then we're talking.