Tagging eBook content

Hi,
I'm very new to LT, and haven't done any tagging yet. I've still got a few hundred books (the paper kind) to add manually, as they don't have ISBNs. Afterwards, I intend to add the eBook content I have, and then go about the nasty business of genre-labelling. I tend to get ~nit-picky~ detailed about what categories a book might fall under -- For example, I'd tag the Warren Report as "Fiction" (if I were a conspiracy theory aficionado).

So, is there some standard, agreed-upon tag that is already in use for eBook content? I sure would hate to re-invent the wheel -- the first of which was square, by the way; and the second one was made triangular, because it would eliminate one bump.

Thanks,
WholeHouseLibrary

I have tags that I use, some standardized, others not... I've tagged all my eBooks with great imagination (drumroll!) "eBook".

Seriously, all my eBooks are tagged atleast as: eBook, eReader or Adobe (depending on the version of book), Project Gutenberg or UVA (because I download free books from these organizations). After that I'll use more standard tags such as Fiction, 20th Century, British Authors, etc.

I try to input tags as I enter the books, but I plan on standardizing my tags to help better organize my virtual bookshelf.

I have been using tags since the beginning, although it has taken some time for them to gel into standards. Pmackey's idea of identifying ebooks by format and source hadn't yet occurred to me, but it would probably be useful.

I started by entering the easy stuff--hard copy books with ISBNs, then some without ISBNs that could be located by title or author--and have only recently started entering any ebooks. I happened to start with the few that I have in both paper and electronic copies, just because it was easiest of all. So I simply added the tag "EBook" to those paper books I also have electronic copies of. (This will be further delayed because the hard drive on my computer crashed, so for the time being I am working on an old Windows 98 laptop without all my files. Fortunately, most of them are backed up on a CD.)

Note that although I use "EBook" and pmackey uses "eBook" LT ignores case when comparing users' tags. It does not, however, ignore differences like "ebook" and "e-book" which some people are using.

A hint for the new tagger: Click the Tags tab from your profile or your library to see all your tags and check for near-duplicates. For example, you wouldn't want to mix "ebook" and "e-book" or "ebooks." There is no right or wrong in the greater scheme of things, but within your own library you will want to be consistent.

I also find it helps, when using a tabbed browser, to view my tags in one tab and my library or add books screen in another, so I can click back and forth between the two for reference.

I've still got a few hundred books (the paper kind) to add manually, as they don't have ISBNs.

There's no need to manually add books without ISBNs. Just enter the title and/or author in the "search" field, and choose a library to search. For instance, suppose you had the 1966, ISBN-less edition of Colette's Earthly Paradise, translated by Briffault, Coltman and others. Put Colette, Earthly Paradise in the box and search. My database of choice is the Library of Congress, which brings up two possibilities, one of which is, indeed, my book. Entering Briffault, Coltman brings up that specific edition.

MUCH easier than manually entering all the publication data.

Hello ebook readers!

I've got some questions about ebook- and podcast editions of works that I've posted to the FAQ group at http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=33146

Of course, I've only just discovered this group and read the thoughts posted here about tagging. So far I've just used the tag "ebook" and what I call the "Amazon method" (see the post to FAQ). If anyone else has comments about cataloguing ebooks, I'd appreciate it :)

Thanks!

d@vid

WholeHouse Library: for what it might be worth, I settled on using *EL for etexts, and *PL for print texts. That makes them sit at the top of the alphabetical tag list for my account, and also makes it easy to use the tags in combination with other tags for as search parameters.

Now, if Tim would just allow us to PowerEdit again, I could finish converting the old tag I used for etexts into *EL... (grumbling)

I am nearing 300 e-books (all are tagged ebook.) I next tag the source (fw for Fictionwise, my most used source.) Fictionwise has two major formats, a multi format which is downloadable in a broad range of choices and can be read by my laptop. I like my Toshiba voice and provides me with a really cheap audio book. I have just been tagging the Secure format “secure” but I am going to add a tag for the purchase type since the large number is starting to include a number of e-books not in my preferred MS-reader. Books from Ereader have an ereader and an ebook tag.

My e-books are primarily fiction. Many e-books are by new authors or reprints of older releases. I load the cover from the seller and as much other information as provided. I usually try to enter from the add page and clean up on the edit but that does not always work.

I’m working on my paper books, but so many are older and almost impossible to track down. I have a couple of sets of seventeenth century editions, I doubt I’ll ever track down.

Muzzie,

If those old editions are classic literature, you could try the Internet Archive or Google Books, both of which provide free scanned-image etexts online.