Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with libraryofcongress

Library of Congress Classifications in XML?

tkolar — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:16:56 -0800

Is there a machine readable version of the Library of Congress Classifications? I'm essentially looking for an XML representation of this data. I'm working with the Project Gutenberg index and I'd like to be able to find my way back from the LCC abbreviation to descriptive text for the category.

Any help would be appreciated.

What materials should I use for labelling the spines of my books?

Flunkie — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:27:32 -0800

What materials should I use for labelling the spines of my books? A while back, I took the plunge into a big project that I've wanted to do for a long time: organizing my books. My plan went like this:

First, separate books by their physical height, into four groups: (1) Bigger than will fit (standing) on any of my shelves; (2) Smaller than that, but bigger than will fit on any but my largest shelves; (3) "Normal"; (4) Mass market paperback and smaller. This allows for minimal wasted shelf space.

Second, within each of those four broad categories, look up the Library of Congress call number for each book, write it on a piece of masking tape, stick it on the spine, and store the books in that order.

If I couldn't find the LCCN for a particular book, I would classify it under the LOC system myself, to the degree that I was reasonably confident, additionally marking it so that I would know the number on the book's spine was not official.

This was a fairly tedious process, so I would only do a few books at a time, and it therefore took quite a while. But, in general, I am happy with the results, and want to keep my collection this way. I am quite willing to keep tagging my new books as I obtain them

Unfortunately, by the time I was finishing up, the labels on the first books that I dealt with were already fading, some of them to the point of illegibility.

So, I want to do this again. But I want to do it in a manner such that I'll never have to do it a third time.

I don't know whether the fading was due to the ink that I used, the tape, both individually, or both in combination.

So, what should I use?

In addition to the permanency of legibility, I would also like the label to be something that, like masking tape, stays on well, but comes off easily and cleanly if you want it to, without damaging the book or leaving significant residue.

Finally, I've read some other AskMe posts about organizing bookshelves that showed up when I searched for this, and I'm already well aware that a lot of people think this is overkill and/or a waste of time. So if you were going to chime in with that, thanks, but not interested. I know exactly what I'm getting into.

1. ISBN 2. Web Service 3. ??? 4. Profit

basicchannel — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:50:32 -0800

I need to know which book-related web service/API is best (most complete archive, most up-to-date, most metadata) for looking up information about books given an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13. I am writing a web-based application in which users (universities) enter the books in their collections into a database. To aid in data entry I am simply asking they input the ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 number and will use a web service/API to fill in the remaining details, if possible. So far I've investigated: Library of Congress, WorldCat, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Louis (APH), Google ISBN, facultycenter.net, Campusi, and Book Collector.

Which (of the listed or omitted), o' wise MeFites, in your experience is best for such a task?

How does a publisher get Library of Congress information to include in a book?

RossWhite — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 10:33:47 -0800

I'm publishing a book. How do I go about getting Library of Congress information to include behind the title page? I already have an ISBN for the book, but don't know what information I would need to supply to the Library of Congress, nor do I know how I would go about submitting that information to the LOC.

Apologies if this question has been asked before, I may be searching on the wrong terms since "information" is pretty generic.

I'm like a cat lady, but with books. Also, not a lady.

Eideteker — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 08:46:22 -0800

How should I organize my personal library? I have four large bookshelves and several hundred books, currently in boxes. I've put off unpacking them because a) I'm a bit anal about organization, and b) I love my books and want them to look nice and be happy next to each other. I have a decent-sized fiction collection but a rather substantial non-fiction collection as well. I don't feel like simple alphabetical order will cut it anymore, at least not for the non-fiction.

I'd like to start a subject-based hierarchical ordering system, like the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress system (which is what my university's library uses). But if I do this, how do I know where each book goes? And they're only for non-fiction, right? I also know there are "problems" with either system; are there better systems that are as widely used (outside the US, maybe)? Should I just go with LoC for ease of navigation across libraries (again, primarily university libraries)? And lastly, what's the best way to keep things in order across moves? Should I write/stick numbers on the spines as in libraries? Make a note inside the front cover very lightly in pencil? Keep a database on my computer? All three?

I use my library for academic purposes as well as my own writing, both fiction and non. I want it to be both scalable and browseable, such that all the books on serial killers are adjacent, the books on organizational psychology are together and are next to but not mixed in with those on behavioral, social, etc. Thanks for all your help, fellow bibliophiles!

Question number 14736

bubukaba — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 17:01:51 -0800

I have always enjoyed reading the summaries that often appear in the Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (the small type at the beginning of the book that includes the date of publication, etc.) of books for young people. Just because they're amusing, I'll provide an example:

Poinsettia and the Firefighters by Felicia Bond
Summary: Poinsettia the Pig feels lonely and afraid of the dark until she learns that there is someone else awake and keeping watch all night: the fire fighters.

Why are these summaries there? Why don't books for adults have them?

Question number 10016

tommasz — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 13:37:43 -0800

Does anyone know of a site that has sound recordings (either for sale or download) of early American mandolin orchestras (early 20th century)? I've been looking at the Smithsonian and Library of Congress but haven't found much. I'm assuming that given the time period they would mostly have been recorded on wax cylinders.