Bug with books

nerimarsili
edited August 27, 2022
I have noticed that when I add a book to my library, random volume information is often added (even if the book is a single volume).
Weirdly, the problem persists even if I manually remove the incorrect volume information.
So, when I cite a book I have "Vol. 46" or "Vol. 187" in the citation – even if I manually removed that number from that book's info tab.
Is this a known problem? And is there a way to fix it?
  • AbeJellinek
    random volume information is often added (even if the book is a single volume)
    Can you provide a link to a book that saves this way? And are you saving using the Zotero Connector (Save to Zotero button in your browser toolbar)?

    Bad library/database metadata is often responsible for that kind of thing, but if it's detectable then we'll see what we can do.
    the problem persists even if I manually remove the incorrect volume information
    Could you export an item that's exhibiting this behavior as Zotero RDF, then upload the contents to a site like Pastebin or as a public Google Drive file, and paste the link here?
  • adamsmith
    Let's first figure out where the info comes from -- how are you importing those books? What does it say in the library catalog field?

    (I suspect the volume info remaining in citations is either that the citations aren't updating or that you somehow disconnect them from the Zotero item, in which case they use the original metadata stored in Word)
  • nerimarsili
    @AbeJellinek @adamsmith
    I tried to replicate the error, and I seem to be able to do it only when I add an item from the "Philpapers" database (large repository for philosophy). So, this is solved, since the origin of the issue is likely them. If you want to see it in action, here's a link:
    https://philpapers.org/rec/LACLFW-2 (under options, click "export to", then "Zotero")

    Now, for the volume information not updating. It persists across different devices, and across different documents. Note that whenever I update info on any other book, I don't get this problem (it works as it should, i.e. info gets updated in the word document bibliography).

    I uploaded the Zotero RDF here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NSXBDQCCsgSOhJa338OZE6V5L_HsR2nI/view?usp=sharing


  • AbeJellinek
    Use the Zotero Connector whenever possible: click the icon it adds in your browser toolbar to save the item directly. The "Zotero" export option on PhilPapers exports significantly poorer quality metadata than saving directly will give you. (Note that in this case saving with the Connector displays one regression compared to the export option, namely that there's a publication place in the Publisher field, but I'll fix that tomorrow. It's not possible for us to fix issues with export options provided by publishers.)
  • AbeJellinek
    Huh. There's no volume information in the RDF at all, so it's odd that it would be showing up in your document. Does it appear when you add a new citation of this item after removing the volume info? And can you check to be sure that you don't have multiple copies of the item and might be editing the wrong one?
  • nerimarsili
    edited August 29, 2022
    Thanks. I checked, no multiple copies of the item. I tried to add a new citation, but volume info stays there (same if I hit refresh).
    I noticed, however, that if I create a new document the issue goes away.
    It's still weird because if I do the same with other books, the info will update in the same doc. And I guess it can still be a problem if e.g. you can't move to a new doc. But it's a very minor problem
  • adamsmith
    I'd guess those items are disconnected from their Zotero entries (e.g. because you had multiples and deleted the cited version). If you put your cursor in a citation, click add/edit citation and then click the blue/grey bubble containing the reference, do you see the "Show in Library" button? If not, the item is indeed no longer connected to Zotero metadata (but uses metadata statically stored in the Word document on first citation instead).
    This is what you'd see for a citation still connected.
  • nerimarsili
    Thanks, @adamsmith . That's the issue: it's disconnected. "Show in Library" doesn't appear.
    Is there a procedure to troubleshoot this?
    I have this problem in other documents, and it can mess up the bibliography (e.g. often I have same author saved with slightly different initials, but to fix it I need the doc to be responses to changes in the Zotero library)
  • adamsmith
    As far as I know, there are three ways to get that message:
    1. Deleting the item that was originally cited, e.g. when removing (instead of merging) duplicates. Merging duplicates does not cause this.
    2. Exporting and importing your library to move it between computers (instead of using sync)
    3. Citing from a different library, e.g. a group you have left or if you have two different accounts.

    If you look at your field codes for the citations in question (alt+F9 to show fieldcodes), you would be able to tell if it's 3) -- URI would start differently. So e.g. your normal item URI would be something like http://zotero.org/users/7764660/items/XJUBSQ68 -- the very last part (XJU...) is different for every item, but anything up to and including items would be the same for all items from the same library.

    Beyond that, there's no way I can think of how to troubleshoot that.
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