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Online general-interest book databases are bibliographic databases intended primarily for general rather than academic use, and are often constructed in a way resembling social networking sites. Some of the most important ones are discussed below.
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Internet Book Database
The Internet Book Database (IBookDB) is an online database with information about books and authors with an added social networking component. It was started as an effort to be the IMDb equivalent for books. It currently contains information on over 140,000 books (over 480,000 ISBNs), 40,000 authors and 2,500 series1 making it one of the largest online databases of author and book information. Unique features include finding historical publication information for books using their 'Other Versions' feature on every book page. They also provide price comparisons.
Registered users can catalog and manage their book collections online, find users with similar books, authors or series' and discuss books on the forums. They can also rate and review books in addition to Tagging them. iBookDb recently introduced a recommendation system that recommends books based on users ratings and favorites. Users can also rate and tag authors and series'. Other features offered include showing random books from users catalogs on their websites, blogs or on their pages on social networking sites, and search web sites of various bookstores. IBookDB also holds a monthly giveaway in which they giveaway around 10 books each month to users of the site, most of which are signed by the authors2. Users can request editor status which currently allows them to enter and correct series related information.
IBookDB also offers services to authors such as hosting their official forums for free, getting their books listed, updating their Biography and other book publicity services, providing a platform for authors and readers to connect. Currently IBookDB hosts the Official Forums for several authors, including Paul Levine, Susan McBride, Becky Garrison, Kristina O'Donnelly and Danielle Girard.
Some pages on IBookDB3 recently started pointing to a new sister site - The Internet Adult Book Database - which seems to be a database of books that are primarily erotica. The Internet Adult Book Database claims to be "completely integrated" with the Internet Book Database and is currently inviting publishers to get their books listed. It currently contains information on over 3000 books by over 900 authors4 and holds a separate giveaway5
Internet Book Database of Fiction
The Internet Book Database of Fiction (IBDoF) is an online database for books, mostly works of fiction. The site also hosts a message board specifically geared to the discussion of books. The Database currently holds information for over 35800 books and 4730 authors, the community consists of roughly 1330 active members who have made 123500 forum posts in over 6400 topics.
Members of the IBDoF are able to and encouraged to add books and authors to the database as well as rate and write reviews on existing books. The message board, which is now shared with the Internet Book List, includes discussion areas on some of the more popular authors in the database and also hosts official discussion boards for several authors including: Charles Pellegrino, L. E. Modesitt, Jack McDevitt, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (joint board), Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald (joint board), Heather Gladney, John Dalmas, Elizabeth Bear and David B. Coe.
Internet Book List
The Internet Book List (IBList) is an online database with information about books, authors, and short stories.
The site is entirely volunteer-based and contains information on over 62,000 works including short stories (52,000 books), 19,000 authors, 4000 series, 68,000 user ratings as well as over 4000 user reviews. Registered users may rate and review books they have read, as well as submit books for inclusion that don't yet appear in the database. Users can also request Editor status which allows them to enter information directly into the database.
The message board, which is now shared with the Internet Book Database of Fiction, includes discussion areas on some of the more popular authors in the database and also hosts official discussion boards for several authors.
Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on science fiction and related genres such as fantasy fiction and horror fiction. The ISFDB is a volunteer effort with both the database and wiki being open for editing and user contributions. The ISFDB database and code are available under Creative Commons licensing and there is support within both Wikipedia and ISFDB for interlinking6. While the ISFDB is primarily a bibliographic research database it also contains biographic data for books, authors, series, and publishers that do not meet Wikipedia's notability standards.
The ISFDB database indexes authors, novels, short stories, publishers, awards, and magazines. Additionally, it supports author pseudonyms, series, awards, and cover art plus interior illustration credits which is combined into integrated author, artist, and publisher bibliographies. An ongoing effort is verification of publication contents and secondary bibliographic sources against the database with the goals being data accuracy and to improve the coverage of speculative fiction to 100%. The current database statistics are available on line7.
Major alternatives to the ISFDB for speculative fiction research include:
- Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, edited by William G. Contento. This site catalogs genre-related anthologies and collections published prior to 1984.
- The Locus Index to Science Fiction, edited by William G. Contento. This site catalogs genre-related magazines, novels, anthologies, and collections published since 1984.
- The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards, edited by Mark R. Kelly.
References
External links
- Comparison of Internet Book Databases on Slashdot.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 November 2008, at 21:24.
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