/addbook/help
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<p>We've made a list of all the fields we try to capture about books on Open Library. Hopefully, these examples and explanantions will help you if you're not sure what something means. The main thing is to not make simple errors like typos. Really, the rest is up to you!</p>
<ul>
    <li><a href="#title">Title-related</a></li>
    <li><a href="#auth">About authors</a></li>
    <li><a href="#pub">Publishing</a></li>
    <li><a href="#about">What's the book about?</a></li>
    <li><a href="id">Various identifiers</a></li>
    <li><a href="#object">About the physical object</a></li>
</ul>
<a name="title" id="title"></a>

<table cellspacing="0">
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>Title-related</h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Title</strong><br />
                    <em>The main title of the book</em></p>
            <p>Take the title of the book from the title page or the cover. Remove initial articles not used in sorting, and place those in "title prefix"</p></td>
            <td class="example">
           <b>For example...</b>
            <ul>
                <li>Raintree County </li>
                <li>Tom Sawyer</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Title Prefix</strong><br />
                    <em>An article at the beginning of the title, not used for sorting</em></p>
            <p>Remove any parts of speech at the beginning of the title that are not to be used when sorting the title in alphabetical order. Include a blank character at the end if the prefix stands alone as a word.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>The </li>
                <li>Eine </li>
                <li>L</li>
                <li>Det</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Subtitle</strong><br />
                    <em>An extension of the title that is not the main title</em></p>
            <p>The subtitle is usually distinguished by using different or smaller type than the main title. Record the subtitle without beginning or ending punctuation.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>envisioning the next fifty years</li>
                <li>The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Other Title(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>Other titles for the same book</em></p>
            <p>Enter  alternate titles that are found on the same book. In some cases, this can occur when the cover title and the title page title are different. There  can also be titles in different languages, especially in publications by international  agencies.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Fifth column</li>
                <li>Situación del Program</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Work Title</strong><br />
                    <em>A title that represents the original work</em></p>
            <p>Work titles are assigned to the original work and serve to bring together different editions and translations of the work. Record the work title only if you are able to determine the original work.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Zauberberg</li>
                <li>Du côté chez Swann</li>
            </ul>
            <a name="auth" id="auth"></a></td>
        </tr>
                <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>About Authors </h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Author(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>Author name in natural order</em></p>
            <p>Author names are recorded in natural order, as found on the book. As you type the author's name a list will appear of existing authors from which you can choose. To correct an author's name, make edits in the author field of any type, then select the correct name. To create a new author, select &quot;Create new author&quot; at the bottom of the list.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Mary E. Shelley</li>
                <li>J. K. Rowling</li>
                <li>Mao Tse-Tung</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>By Statement(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>Statement following a title giving author and other contributors</em></p>
            <p>This statement is usually derived from library catalog records that have a statement following the title and prefixed with a forward slash</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>by Herman Melville</li>
                <li>illustrated by Pablo Picasso</li>
                <li>edited by David D. Anderson</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Contribution(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>Any creators other than the main author</em></p>
            <p>Contributors can be secondary authors, other types of creators like illustrators or translators, or corporations that are listed as responsible for the work.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Ariel Durant</li>
                <li>The MacArthur Foundation</li>
            </ul>
            <a name="pub" id="pub"></a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>Publishing</h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Publisher</strong><br />
                    <em>The name of the publisher of the book</em></p>
            <p>Input  the name of the publisher of the book.  Generally, the name of the publisher is taken from the title page of the book, if that is available.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Random House</li>
                <li>Asiatic Society of Bombay</li>
                <li>Feltrinelli</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Publish Date</strong><br />
                    <em>Date of publication</em></p>
            <p>Generally the year of publication of the book. If it's a recent publication, there may also be a month or even day of the month.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>1978</li>
                <li>March 2006</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Place Published</strong><br />
                    <em>Place of publication</em></p>
            <p>The city in which the book was published. Optionally, the country may also be included if the city alone is ambiguous.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>London, England</li>
                <li>Jakarta</li>
                <li>Washington, D.C.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Series</strong><br />
                    <em>The name of the series the book is part of</em></p>
            <p>This field is for named publishers' series. Series are published over time and may be ongoing or have a defined ending point. The series name is generally found on the cover and/or the title page of the book, and may be numbered. </p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>The Story of Civilization, part III</li>
                <li> Acta Universitatis Gorhoburgensis</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Copyright Date</strong><br />
                    <em>The date of copyright</em></p>
            <p>The date of copyright is generally given as a year following the copyright symbol or the statement &quot;Copyrighted by John Smith, 1987&quot;</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>2008</li>
            </ul>
            <a name="about" id="about"></a></td>
        </tr>
                <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>What's the book about?</h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Description</strong><br />
                    <em>A description of the work or its contents</em></p>
            <p>A paragraph that describes the content of the work.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>&quot;Blink is about the first two seconds of looking...&quot;</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>First Sentence</strong><br />
                    <em>The first sentence of the main text</em></p>
            <p>Take the first sentence from the main text, not from a preface or other materials included in the book.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>&quot;It was a dark and stormy night.&quot; </li>
                <li>&quot;Call me Ishmael.&quot;</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><strong>Genre(s)</strong><br />
                <em>The literary type of the document</em></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Fiction</li>
                <li>Picture books</li>
                <li>Humorous stories</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Language(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>Language of the text</em></p>
            <p>Begin typing the language and select the correct one from the pull-down list that appears. Create additional language fields for books with more than one significant language. </p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>English</li>
                <li>Albanian</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Notes</strong><br />
                    <em>Notes about the book</em></p>
            <p>Include here any notes about the book that may be of interest.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Bibliography: p. 66-68.</li>
                <li>A Plume book.</li>
                <li>Selected reprints from the author’s sixteen-volume work ’Lives of the Saints’</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Subject(s)</strong><br />
                    <em>What topics the book is about</em></p>
            <p>List here all of the topics the book covers. Use specific terms. Topics can include persons, places, and events.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Veterinary medicine</li>
                <li>War of 1812</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Table of Contents</strong><br />
                    <em>A list of sections and/or chapters in the book</em></p>
            <p>Record the titles of sections and chapters. If they have numbers, place those numbers in the &quot;label&quot; field. If the chapters have individual authors, include these after the title using &quot;by&quot; or &quot; / &quot;.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>2. The Data Merchants</li>
                <li>Info Fetishism / Doug Henwood</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Edition Name</strong><br />
                    <em>A named edition</em></p>
            <p>A named edition that is found on the book itself.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>First edition</li>
                <li>Centennial edition</li>
                <li>2nd edition, revised</li>
            </ul>
            <a name="id" id="id"></a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>Various identifiers</h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>ISBN 10</strong><br />
                    <em>Ten-digit ISBN</em></p>
            <p>Please record the ISBN without hyphens. Include all ten characters, including an "X" that appears at the end of the number.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>0694504319</li>
                <li>014023666X</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>ISBN 13</strong><br />
                    <em>13-character ISBN</em></p>
            <p>13-character ISBNs often start with "978" or "979". Input the 13 characters without hyphens, and include the "X" if it appears at the end of the number.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>9780440058519</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Dewey Decimal Number</strong><br />
                            <em>The Dewey Decimal number assigned to this book</em></p>
                    <p>Often found in library records, the Dewey Decimal number provides both a shelf location and a place in a classified view of information. Include here a DDC number associated with the book.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                    <li>780.97291</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>LC</strong> <br />
                    <em>Library of Congress classification number</em></p>
            <p>This number is assigned by libraries to book to determine their place on the shelf related to the subject of the book. It can be copied from library records, or from the numbers that appear on scanned books. These numbers generally begin with one or two upper case letters followed by a combination of numbers and letters.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>PS3543.O55 M6</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>LCCN</strong><br />
                    <em>Library of Congress Catalog Number</em></p>
            <p>The LCCN is an identifier assigned to catalog records in the Library of Congress Database. They can be found in the 010 field of the MARC record, both in LC's catalog and often in catalogs of other libraries. It will be either 8 or 10 digits in length.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>57007479</li>
                <li>2001275875</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>IA</strong><br />
                    <em>Internet Archive identifier for scanned book</em></p>
            <p>The Internet Archive identifier can be found on the IA record for the scanned book. It is the right-most part of the URL given as "Identifier-access", such as: Identifier-access:  http://www.archive.org/details/mother00gorkgoog</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>mother00gorkgoog</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>OCLC</strong><br />
                    <em>OCLC catalog identifier</em></p>
            <p>The number that identifies the bibliographic record in the OCLC database.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>63242611</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Purchase URL</strong><br />
                    <em>A URL for a site where the book can be purchased</em></p>
            <p>The Open Library links automatically to common booksellers. This field holds a URL for a personal or lesser known site from which the book can be purchased.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>http://mybook.example.com/</li>
            </ul>
            <a name="object" id="object"></a></td>
        </tr>        
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2"><h2>About the physical object</h2></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Weight</strong><br />
                    <em>The weight of the book</em></p>
            <p>Give the weight and the unit of measure.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>0.5 pounds</li>
                <li>8 ounces</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Size</strong><br />
                    <em>The physical size of the book</em></p>
            <p>Give size as height x depth x width. Include the unit of measure.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>8.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches</li>
                <li>23 cm.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Physical format</strong><br />
                    <em>Physical format of the book</em></p>
            <p>Record the type of binding or special physical characteristics of the publication.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>Hardcover</li>
                <li>Trade paperback</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Physical dimensions</strong><br />
                    <em>The physical dimensions of the book</em></p>
            <p>Most commonly, the book's height is given in centimeters, but width and depth may also be included.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>24 cm.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Pagination</strong><br />
                    <em>Pagination statement</em></p>
            <p>The pagination statement gives the highest numbered page of each pagination pattern used in the book. This often consists of  of front matter with Roman numerals followed by the main book section using Arabic numbers.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>xii, 346p.</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td><p><strong>Pages</strong><br />
                    <em>The number of pages in the book</em></p>
            <p>Input only numbers indicating the total number of pages in the book or the highest numbered page.</p></td>
            <td class="example"><ul>
                <li>364</li>
                <li>557</li>
            </ul></td>
        </tr>
</table>
title: Need help adding books?