How to import an ebook

I read mainly audio books and there doesn't seem to be a way to import them as no ISBN exists. Is there a workaround?

I use title and addend audio.

For library searches, separate title and audio with a comma. Amazon doesn't care and finds it with or without comma, but library search normally requires a coma if searching for data in different fields, such as 'title, author', or 'title, audio' in this case

I really botched my question. I need to re-phrase it as follows:

When I add a new book and type in a title, like 'The Essex Serpent' the return was for the edition which is an Ebook. Thus, there isn't an ISBN. Meanwhile, if I go to Goodreads there are numerous editions which do have an ISBN. I prefer to add an edition which has an ISBN, but I can't see how LT offers me a choice of what to add to my library.

Do I need to edit the book details and somehow make a change to an edition with an ISBN?

A related question is why there isn't a standard way to say in LT that a book is an ebook without an ISBN. When I export from Libby the ebooks I have read all end up as non-ISBN books.

Such a list can't be imported into Goodreads

Most eBooks do have ISBNs. Even more eAudiobooks do have ISBNs. Wherever you bought or borrowed the ebook from should tell you what the ISBN is.

My local library's website says that the ISBN for the eBook of The Essex Serpent is 9780062666390. The ISBN for the eAudiobook is 9780062676634.

The standard way to indicate in your catalog whether a book is an ebook is with the media field.

ETA: After looking around it seems like the real problem is that Libby does not display ISBNs, even though the regular OverDrive app and the OverDrive website do. Just one of many reasons why I like the old app better.

>5 norabelle414: If those ISBN's exist why didn't LT match up with one of them when I simply requested in ADD Book the tile of the book I wanted. LT labels it as an eBook but doesn't show any other possibilities. So, the info in your local library isn't in LT

I just went to the Add book page and entered the The Essex Serpent again and LT this time came back with 2 choices. The first was an ebook with an ASIN identification. This is the book I have to read.

A second display has a paperback with a legitimate ISBN. LT didn't show this one to me on my first attempt. There are probably others.

In your discussion about Overdrive do you think it shows an ISBN even for a ebook.?

Another question is why not bring in the ASIN in the ISBN field?

The main reason this ebook discussion is important to me is that, first the majority of books I read are ebook/audiobooks. Second, is that I don't 'own' any of these books so the only thing important to me are the book attributes, like title, etc. Third, my local Denver Public library provides an export of books I read, but they do not include ISBNs.

My choice would be that when I add any book using LT it should display multiple edition choices so I can pick one with and ISBN, or automatically present a single choice which has an ISBN.
It just occurred to me that I could use Goodreads to add a book there with an ISBN and export it to an import into LT. A crude work around, but maybe the best I can do.

You're probably searching on Amazon if the results come without ISBN. Try one of the major public libraries (San Francisco, Brooklyn, Toronto of the top of my head are all available as a source on LT) and have many fiction ebooks catalogued. For non-fiction, I'd recommend CARLI

>6 JoeB1934: Thanks, I will do that first thing.

I just did it and found the proper ISBN at the Brooklyn Public Library. This is a great solution, and I will use it for all of my current Libby books.
Thanks so much again.

>8 JoeB1934: Brooklyn Public Library is a great source for ebooks, as is Seattle Public Library, I have found.

I've often had good results with OhioLINK.

Seattle Public, Brooklyn Public, Toronto Public, and San Francisco Public almost always have the Overdrive/Libby titles. If all else fails, I check worldcat.org to see what library has it, check if the library is a source on LT and add the title from that source.

>11 lesmel: Thanks, I will give those a try. My latest Libby export was chock full of invalid ISBN values, I am in contact with Overdrive to determine what went wrong.

With the help of Overdrive support the mystery of difficulty with importing books into LT has been totally solved. The key facts are these:

1) the ISBN numbers for my Libby books are all correct, but LT can't find them at any library.
2) The issue is that they are ISBN13 values with 13 characters each.
3) The total shock to me is that LT will ONLY IMPORT 10-character ISBN!! Even when presented with valid 13 char ISBN.

As an example of this I took the 146 book Libby export and imported them into my Goodreads account.

All but one record was imported. I then created a GR export file of those records.

I used the LT Goodreads import choice into LT and received failed to find errors on any GR records that didn't have any of the ISBN 10-character values.
The odd thing was the ISBN provided in the failed messages seemed to be 10 of the chars in the actual 13 char ISBN.

I certainly appeal to LT to show me how to successfully import ISBN13 using any method. It isn't that LT doesn't contain books only with ISBN13. They will be produced when you add a book or import a book with both ISBN and ISBN13.

Another complaint I have is that the work-around for this problem is to import records that don't have an ISBN at all. That works fine with my record set, but you end up with records that haven't any ISBN at all even though the book added to your library has fine ISBN values. Why not make that part of the library record for the blank ISBN books?

Have I missed a well-known fact about limitations involving imports into LT?

I certainly have learned to pay strict attention to the sample file structure and been limited by what can be imported. But I certainly haven't run across the 10 char ISBN issue

With LT you are getting book records from libraries or Amazon so it's really the source that is doing the search. Maybe if LT doesn't find the book using a 13 digit ISBN it should convert it to 10 digits if it can and try again but that would be an RSI not a bug.

>15 jjwilson61: I am convinced that the 13 digits are NEVER used during import. I have countless examples of errors in looking for 10 digits even when 13 digits are there and valid.

As to the libraries, all of my imports were handled properly in Goodreads and they only use Amazon. I can tie each LT not found to books with 13 chars. LT is successful any time a book has a legitimate 10 char IBSN

>16 JoeB1934: Have you asked LT staff to confirm that?

There's some vague indication (based on help pages and blog posts) that LT import converts ISBN13 to ISBN10. To test, I just pulled the books I've read in 2022 from my GR export file -- including several audiobooks. I deleted the ISBN10 column. I picked the GR import from the LT import page. I picked Denver Public Library as the source for all three options. Looking at the queue and looking at my test catalog (not this user), LT has converted my ISBN13s to ISBN10s. 33 of the 59 imported. 24 of the 59 failed. Two didn't have ISBNs. I haven't checked every failed ISBN; but I know at least five aren't in DPL's catalog.

What sources are you using? What ISBNs have you tried -- a few examples would help?

FWIW, GoodReads import is very much NOT like LT import. GR clearly states "You can only import books that are in our database." GR doesn't use Amazon or libraries as a source of data for importing.

ETA: I see you created a bug report here with lots of detail: https://www.librarything.com/topic/341901

>17 lesmel: Are you sure that GR doesn't use Amazon? They are owned by Amazon and I can't imagine they don't use it.

As to my bug report, admin has elected to close it under the thinking that if I just had used the proper sample file structure all would be well.

I plan to create a new and more precise explanation of what the bug is that I am concerned about. This will be posted tomorrow AM and I hope that the issue I wanted to raise gets proper consideration.

>18 JoeB1934: Not when importing books - they use it to load the books into their DB but when you are importing, they show you only the books from their DB. Thus their note that only books from their DB can be imported.