problem adding book via barcode scan

wests
I am using mobile app for Android and trying to add books by scanning their barcodes.

The scanner correctly reads the ISBN - it displays on the screen - but rather than identifying the book, it displays an error message that reads "Failed" with no further explanation of what the problem is or how to fix it. I have entered the same ISBN in the desktop version and it correctly identifies the book.

Is this a known problem? Is there a solution?
  • adamsmith
    What does it say in the Library Catalog field for the books that import in the Desktop? I'd expect Worldcat to work worse on Android
  • wests
    Yes, "Open WorldCat" is in the Library Catalog field.
  • wests
    edited 4 hours ago
    Follow up - the Android app correctly scanned the barcodes of 2 other books and added them. The Library Catalog field for both of this is "Library of Congress ISBN."

    Not sure why it pulled from different sources for the 3 books. The one it failed to identify is a recent publication from an academic press, as is one of those it successfully identified (from a different publisher). The other book it successfully id'ed is a recent publication from a trade press.
  • adamsmith
    Zotero goes through several library catalogs when you add an ISBN. By now the logic is a bit involved, but the basic ideas is that it first tries the Library of Congress, then the joint catalog of (most) German university libraries, then Worldcat. The first two have much better metadata and are very reliable, but have less complete coverage. Worldcat has some data issues and is also quite aggressive in preventing bot access (which is very likely the culprit in preventing the mobile add from working).

    There's unfortunately no other great source for ISBN data (I'm guessing the academic ISBN didn't work because it wasn't in the LoC yet).
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