Having trouble using the "Add Item by Identifier" function with ISBN numbers

This discussion was created from comments split from: Not populating from ISBN # or Amazon URL.
  • Hello,

    I am having trouble using the "Add Item by Identifier" function with ISBN numbers. The following ISBNs do not work for me when I try to add them:

    978-80-8063-978-80-8063-496-4

    978-80-8063-496-4

    The Debug ID for this failed attempt is: 2015927198

    Could someone please help me identify the issue and suggest a solution? Thank you very much.
  • That's a Report ID. Can you provide a Debug ID?
  • I guess the first number
    978-80-8063-978-80-8063-496-4
    is not a valid ISBN (which should have 13 digits) and the second is just absent from the libraries that Zotero uses for for ISBN lookup. These are just several major libraries around the world, but these may currently not include any Slovak library, which I understand is where the book was published. The presence of any given library among the sources used by Zotero is subject among other factors to the API interfaces that this library offers
  • Yes, @aeodhpt is correct, so no Debug ID necessary. (The first number is just a corruption of the second, with some of the numbers repeated, and the second isn't in the databases Zotero uses. Unlike with DOIs, there are no standard public repositories for ISBN metadata, and ISBNs only published within a given country are less likely to have metadata available.)
  • Thank you very much for your help.

    The long ISBN number is printed in the physical book I have at home — it seemed unusual to me, so I then tried the shorter one. I understand now that a book published in Slovakia (or another smaller country) may not be in the international databases Zotero uses.

    If I ever need to report another error, where can I find the Debug ID? After submitting an error report, I received this message:

    "The error report has been sent.
    Report ID: 2015927198
    Please write a message to the Zotero discussion forum (forums.zotero.org) containing this ID, a description of the problem, and the steps needed to reproduce it.
    Error reports are not reviewed unless they are referenced in the discussion forums."

    So far, I have only found the Report ID and am unsure how to get the Debug ID.
  • I linked to Debug ID instructions above.
  • Sorry, I didn't notice... thanks

Sign In or Register to comment.