Enhancing bibliographic records in the INNOPAC by adding URLs of book reviews and other value-added information from online bookstores 10 th December 2002 Patrick LO Lingnan University Library (Hong Kong)

Amazon.com Established in Seattle-based Web retailer for books & other educational products. Goal - use WWW to transform book buying & shopping into enjoying experience.

Customers - millions of people form more than 220 countries. In addition to books, also include e-cards, CDs, DVD, toys, games, etc. Selection over 3 million titles, including 1.5 million English titles.

Less than 10% titles advertised in stock. Relies on wholesales, publishers, & out-of-print book services to deliver. Remaining titles to be acquired upon receipt of orders.

Total # of Transactions23 million Total # of customers6.2 million Repeated Buyers58 % Items shipped7.5 million (including books, CDs, and videos) Employees614 employee Sales – growth rate compared to % Inventory – growth rate compared to % Basic statistics on Amazon

CountriesWebsites Canadahttp:// United Kingdomhttp:// Germanyhttp:// Francehttp:// Japanhttp:// Amazon.com International Websites

Amazon.com Associate Programme Amazon.com Associate Programme established To attract new customers Associate Member can earn 5-15% commission on sale

First 3 months, total 5,000 websites signed up to Amazon.com Associate Members exceeded 350,000. Recent statistics - over 600,000 websites joined Amazon Associate Programme.

Lingnan – Amazon Project Lingnan Library has been exploring ways to enhance bib. records for many years. Summer 2002, LU became Associate Member. Developed our own Software - to add direct URLs in WebPAC to Amazon.com book database. Agreed NOT to accept commission.

August more than 7,6000 English. monographs issued from matched against Amazon.com. Overall matching rate reached 85%. More than 64,000 English titles are added with URLs to Amazon.com.

Subject Areas (DDC)Matching rate Pub. YearsMatching Rate Generalities 94%199384% Philosophy & Related Disciplines 95% % Religion 91%199585% Social Sciences 79%199683% Language 85%199781% Pure Sciences 91%199883% Technology & Applied Sciences 87%199987% Arts 86%200088% Literature 92% % Geography and History 90%200288% Total 85% Total 85% Overall Matching Statistics

Example of English Bib. Enhanced with Amazon.com URL

Cover Table of Contents, full-text excerpts of the books Full-text reviews, customer reviews Request lists of similar books

Advantages Obtain book reviews, recommendations & book experts in speedily fashion. Data can be used as valuable information for collection development. Based on buyer's habits, Amazon can recommend books based on others with similar preferences.

Software Developed for Matching URL Links July LU developed unique software for tackling this project. ISBN was used as matching point. Advantages: – Saved time & manpower from manual checking, matching, & input. – Eliminated human errors during manual input.

Procedures for Locating & Matching URLs in Amazon.com Select bib. records need to be enhanced. Export bib. as MARC format out of INNOPAC. Convert MARC records to TEXT-based via MARCBREAKER.

Actual Processing / Matching – Identifies MARC Tag 020 (ISBN number). – Programme automatically validates ISBN via “Checksum” error checking – If ISBN proven valid, it generates online link query for Amazon.com online catalogue:

– Amazon.com URL links will be introduced to subfield z of MARC field 856. – All records upgraded with 856 will be gathered together in the output file.

Text-based file will be converted back to ISO 2709 / MARC records via MARCMARKER. Importing upgraded MARC records back to library system via FTP. MARC records upgraded with Amazon.com URL links can now be reloaded & overlay original ones.

Program Screenshot The following is a screenshot taken from the Software programme.

Overall Statistical Data for Amazon Project No. of Bib. matched against Amazon.com76,096 records Year / Coverage All English language monographs published between # of Bib. records FOUND matching URLs in Amazon64,521 records Overall matching rate85 % Pub. Year - HIGHEST matching rate2001 = 89 % Pub. Year - LOWEST matching rate1997 = 81 % Subject area - HIGHEST matching rate Philosophy & related disciplines = 95 % Subject area - LOWEST matching rateSocial Sciences = 79 % Hours required for matching Bib. against Amazon20 hours Hours required for reloading Bib.12 hours

Period Covered : 1 st July – 1 st December 2002 Unique VisitorsClicksItem Ordered 1,7302,6899 Traffic Summary

Conclusion Major advantages of Amazon Project: – It saved our cost, time & manpower. – Added information in bib. catalogue useful for users. – No special training required for users. – User-interface is highly user-friendly.

Introduce Amazon URL links to our bib. records for AV materials. To explore other potential websites or web- book retailers specializing in selling Chinese & other oriental-language materials. e.g., Barnes & Nobles, books.com.tw ( 台灣博客來網路書店 ), etc. Future Developments

Thank you!