New Worldcat interface and Zotero connector/translator

Nickineastlondon
Hello,

Worldcat.org seem to have quietly completely relaunched their search interface in the last few days and at a quick glance and some very preliminary testing the Zotero connector no longer seems to recognise/extract bibliographic metadata from Worldcat records (instead capturing a webpage snapshot). Has anyone else encountered this and would this require a new translator to be written?

Many thanks for any help.

Also, tangentially related (and sorry to muddle threads) I notice that Library Hub Discover (https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/) seems to be becoming less reliable for Zotero accurately identifying item types from bibliographic records, for example importing 'book' records as 'artworks' or an ebook as 'software'. I assume that this is a problem with the Zotero translator for Library Hub Discover rather than a wider change in the metadata contained(for example the increase in RDA bibliographic records from libraries) as Worldcat continued to work fine with Zotero until the very recent changes mentioned above.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated and apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere.

Best,
Nick

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  • octavian_datcu
    edited August 23, 2022
    Same problem here. Hope the add-on will get updated :( the workaround I use currently is to get the book info directly in Zotero with an ISBN or DOI. It's not ideal, but hei, it works.
  • adamsmith
    Thanks.
    We're looking at worldcat.org, and will update here. This will also temporarily significantly impact Zotero's ability to retrieve metadata for ISBNs. Github issue for technical details here: https://github.com/zotero/translators/issues/2868

    Could you start a separate thread for Library Hub Discover with a couple of examples (URLs)? Nothing relevant changed there, so this is just Zotero struggling with the way they're structuring the (MODS) metadata, which often is a bit tricky for item types.
  • Tremolophage
    New WorldCat axed the bib data file export feature as well. My workaround is to select a volume from a university library and import from the their websites. It works and I usually get the diacritics I want.

    On that note, if a new WorldCat interface emerges it would be great to have one that imports items with diacritics. The old interface did not capture macrons or dots of any kind.
  • AbeJellinek
    edited August 29, 2022
    OK, I just pushed an initial release of a translator for the new system. Your Zotero Connector and client should auto-update within 24 hours, or you can update manually by clicking Update Translators in the Advanced pane of the Zotero Connector preferences and "Update now" in the Advanced pane of the Zotero preferences.

    @Tremolophage:
    it would be great to have one that imports items with diacritics
    That should be working now.
  • peyssard
    Hi, thanks a lot for this update, but the Worldcat translator doesn't work anymore with reference in Arabic. For exemple, this book can't be added in my library : https://www.worldcat.org/fr/title/960449363
    Thanks for your help, best,
    Jean-Christophe
  • Davidmorton7
    Thanks AbeJellinek. . although it's still not working for me after manually updating both, re-opening both zotero and chrome (this is in both the desktop client and the web version of Zotero). Any advice?
  • dstillman
    @peyssard: Fixed, thanks. Your Zotero Connector should auto-update within 24 hours, or you can update manually by clicking Update Translators in the Advanced pane of the Zotero Connector preferences.
  • dstillman
    @Davidmorton7: Please provide an example URL that's not working for you and a Debug ID from the Zotero Connector for a save attempt that fails.
  • peyssard
    @dstillman Thank you so much for this update, it seems to work perfectly.
    All the best,
    Jean-Christophe
  • crankyresearcher
    Hi, I manually installed the Zotero Translaters because i have having issues with adding books from Worldcat (nice of them to let us know about the new design!). The good news is that items are coming in as books now (instead of webpages) but i'm having trouble with Zotero pulling in previous Worldcat items instead of the one i'm on.

    So searched for Early Settlers of Hingham. Added https://www.worldcat.org/title/11995235

    Then searched for Searches into the Gillman or Gilman family.
    Try to add https://www.worldcat.org/title/608773419
    And instead Zoter adds this again: https://www.worldcat.org/title/11995235


    Mac OS MOnterey 12.5.1
  • dstillman
    @crankyresearcher: Thanks — we've pushed another update that should address that. Your Zotero Connector should auto-update within 24 hours, or you can update manually by clicking Update Translators in the Advanced pane of the Zotero Connector preferences. Let us know if you have further trouble.
  • crankyresearcher
    Awesome - I've done the manual update and it's working better - thank you!
  • doyledh
    I am still having problems with the new WorldCat site; all the books and articles I find appear as web pages. I have followed the directions here for updating translators etc., but nothing changes. I need some help!
  • AbeJellinek
    @doyledh: Can you please provide a Connector Debug ID? Make sure to reload the WorldCat page you're trying to add while logging is enabled.
  • doyledh
    Done
  • AbeJellinek
    You need to post the Debug ID here.
  • doyledh
    edited August 31, 2022
    [unrelated debug output removed — D.S.]
  • AbeJellinek
    That doesn't show you reloading the page. Please start debugging, reload the page that isn't being detected correctly, stop debugging, click "Submit Output", and post just the ID that it gives you - not the full output.
  • doyledh
    For reasons that I cannot understand (and do not need to) the interface seems to be working perfectly now.
    Thanks
  • AbeJellinek
    Excellent! OK.
  • Davidmorton7
    @dstillman - sorry I wasn't clear. I can import items, but only as citations for web pages, not books.
  • AbeJellinek
    @Davidmorton7: The two things @dstillman asked for are still necessary to diagnose that issue. Enable debug logging in the Zotero Connector Preferences, reload the page that isn't being detected/saved correctly, disable debug logging, submit, and post the ID that it gives you.
  • adamsmith
    @Davidmorton7 -- this would then apply for you as well:
    Can you please provide a Connector Debug ID? Make sure to reload the WorldCat page you're trying to add while logging is enabled.
  • AbeJellinek
    (Sorry, too many people trying to answer. @adamsmith and I are asking for the same thing.)
  • Davidmorton7
    For some reason, after enabling debugging and reloading the worldcat results page I had selected, the "book" icon now shows up and the item I tested from worldcat was imported into Zotero correctly.
  • BrunoGebarski
    Greetings from Hamburg, Germany! Same issue with WorldCat after their drastic interface [annoying] change; I did the suggested manual update [under Zotero | Preferences | Advanced | Automatically check for updated translators and styles] but the present Zotero extension no longer picks up Worldcat book metadata as it perfectly did until now. Solution: wait until the Zotero folks will have figured out how to address the drastic changes introduced by the WorldCat webmaster. Thank you and kind regards to the Zotero Development Team.
  • dstillman
    @BrunoGebarski: As explained above, we fixed this immediately after the site change. If you're still having trouble, we need the information we request above in order to help you.
  • AbeJellinek
    If you're trying to add books from WorldCat's site in your browser, you'll need to update translators in the Zotero Connector preferences (separate from the Zotero preferences). Right-click the Zotero icon in your browser toolbar -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Update Translators.
  • dstillman
    (To clarify, you should have automatically received the fixes mentioned here within 24 hours. But if that didn't happen for some reasons, you would want to try updating translators manually first in the Zotero app and then in the Zotero Connector.)
  • BrunoGebarski
    @dstillman @AbeJellinek Greetings Gentlemen, and thanks for your kind help. I just did the update in my Chrome Zotero browser extension [as you suggested] under: Zotero Browser Extension | Right Click | Options | Advanced | Translators | Update Translators]; and things are working perfectly as they used to. Thanks to the both of your for your kind assistance. Bruno P. Gebarski, Hamburg, Germany.
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