Contribution newbie

Hi,
I scanned my book (barcode 9782911617089) and it was missing.
So i manually created it and combine it to existing Les miroirs de Cosme.
But ...
1. That barcode is still missing if I scan it (so if someone else scan it, he could create manually the same title ?)
2. That title appears in 7 different editions ... but what is the difference between all of them ?
3. When I go to "book detail" the barcode shown is 9782911618086 whereas my login is written below.
4. Some titles have missing datas, if I correct "my book", it only works for me. Everyone adding the book has to correct the same missing data again ? how global update works ?

Thank you for your help

Your data is your data and only you can change it. Work data is partly entered by members (Common Knowledge) and partly decided by the computers on the basis of how common variants are.

Each 'edition' looks a little bit different to the computers. That's all. Some look quite similar to humans, others less so.

Hello, noodlesoupx! To answer your questions....

1. When scanning in a book, the information in the barcode must match a record in the data source. Example: Amazon.com is a data source. If it doesn't recognize the book, then someone must choose another data source or use the manual entry form to add the book.

2. LT members enter their data for the same work in different ways. Every variance of the title, author, or ISBN shows up as a different edition.

3. That number on your barcode and on your book edition within LibraryThing is an ISBN. What shows on LT should be what you typed in when manually entering the book. You can correct the number by using the "Edit your book" link.

4. Yes, unless the data can be entered in Common Knowledge. Sometimes members won't bother entering all the authors for a work, but all of them can go in the Other Authors section on the main Work page.

>3 aspirit: 4. That information is available to you on the work page, but it will not update your catalogue.

Continuing >4 MarthaJeanne: a catalog ("Your books" on the site's main menu) can be set to show Common Knowledge fields.

Edited to add: Be aware that edits to CK does change the data for everyone. That's whether the change is made in a personal catalog or the book/work page.

Thank you both for your answers.
If I understood correctly the concept of LT : base content is added automatically from tiers source, then every member populates its own books as he pleases.

For example : I have a book whose author field is blank. I can't contribute to the database so that other later users benefit from my editing?

If you edit your entry, giving an author, that will be part of the information the computer uses to set the work author.

This may or may not be helpful to other members, but the change you make will not affect what is in their entries. It can affect the work. If your author field is empty because your source didn't include the author you can ask the source to correct their information. If they do, then the later user will get a better record. You can get better data for yourself by using library data for your entries rather than Amazon. While Amazon data for new books has gotten a lot better, the data for older books tends to be from their 'marketplace partners', and can be abominable. I use Overcat, which will have information if someone else found a library source on that search.

And you have it backwards. The members enter their books. The various entries that match are combined into works. The works do not exist until members have entered their copies.

>6 noodlesoupx:. And you can add the author on the main page just above Common Knowledge. After you do that there’s a button in the lowest box on the right column to recalculate author. Then it shows for everybody.