Multiple authors in Worldcat

For some reason, when I click on the "book" icon to save a cite from UW Worldcat, Zotero (2.0b4) is only picking up the first author. What's up with that? Is there some pref I've missed?
  • The 'Open WorldCat.js' translator presently relies on COinS that are contained in WorldCat in that page & Worldcat is not presently putting multiple authors into their COinS. I don't know why they're not & perhaps a brief note to them would be worthwhile. Without this, I think Zotero would have to page scrape to get the extra information.
  • I've dropped them a note through their "feedback" link. May I suggest that you do so also?
  • I did yesterday. I also contacted their Product Manager of Social Networking. It has been added to their enhancement list, so will probably be done "eventually," but said list is long & has some high-priority features, so it may be a while before we see it.
  • Hey, at least it's in the pipe. Notsobad.
  • However, you can avoid the whole COinS thing by exporting the citations to EndNote. Zotero should capture it instead (if it is set to default) and you'll get the proper citation, just like EndNote would. This probably because when you ask to export to EndNote, WorldCat provides you with some format other than COinS, so you bypass the incompleteness that is COinS.

    So in the case of WorldCat, Zotero doesn't offer any particular advantages over EndNote (which is too bad, because i use worldcat a lot!), but at least it's not any worse (as it would have been if we had to manually enter all the secondary authors and editors if we were stuck with COinS). So, it's not the end of the world! Zotero lives yet again!

    (of course, it would be wonderful if WorldCat could fix this glitch, but hey,...)
  • I'm wondering if lazark or someone else could give more detailed instructions for setting up Zotero to capture an export to EndNote. I can't quite seem to get it to work.

    How do I set Zotero "to default" in this respect?

    Thanks!
  • You want
    "Use Zotero for Downloade RIS/Refer files" checked in the general tab of the preferences.

    Then in Worldcat you click "Cite/Export" and in the pop up "Export to EndNote" - Zotero will automatically get the reference.

    I've become quite unhappy with Worldcat in a number of ways, btw. - bibliographic data is often bad and inconsistent - wherever possible I'd suggest using Library of Congress instead. See e.g. here, where they have the same book 5 times with all different authors, inconsistent years of publication etc.
    http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=the+state+back+in&qt=results_page
    that's obviously Zotero unrelated, just as a general warning.
    LoC works fine with Zotero, no need to use workarounds.
  • adamsmith,

    Thanks. Now, when I click "export," I get a Firefox dialogue box saying "You have chosen to open DirectExport which is a: application/x-endnote-refer . . . What should Firefox do with this file?" The options are "Open with [Browse] or Save File." Zotero is not an option in the [Browse] box. If I choose "Firefox," I get the text of a script in the Firefox window above Zotero.

    Hmmmm. I'll try LoC.
  • you shouldn't get the dialogue. Which worldcat are you using? worldcat.org or the one though OCLC/first search?
    You triple checked that you have the option checked in the preferences?
  • The "Use Zotero for RIS/Refer files" is checked. I'm using the OCLC/first search WorldCat.

    As you indicated, LoC works fine.
  • OK, right - the "direct export" format that OCLC uses for Endnote doesn't import into Zotero - this works from worldcat.org (which uses RIS export)
    but you're better of with LoC anyway.
  • Yup, I just tried WorldCat.org and it works for me as described.

    Many thanks!
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