[Ads-l] Google Books dating error category =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=93_?=replacing nine with zero

Wed Jan 26 17:19:59 UTC 2022

Another dating (and sourcing) error is when books are rebound together in a single codex, which is a frequent practice in research libraries. Google Books will extract the metadata from the first title page, ignoring the metadata for the subsequent books in the codex. One must always check to see if the codex contains multiple books and which book the relevant passage comes from.

-----Original Message-----
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 11:29am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Google Books dating error category – replacing nine with zero

Fred Shapiro wrote:
>
> Another problem with Google Books is that its page numbers seem
> to be arrived at through a mechanical counting process that does
> not necessarily correspond to the actual page numbers in the source.

Yes, I've also encountered this class of errors.

Here is a subclass of this error type. Google Books sometimes
specifies a page number for a magazine that is larger than any page
number within a volume. The problem occurs (I conjecture) because
Google Books maintains an internal page counter used to assign page
numbers when no page number appears on a page.

Sometimes Google Books is unable to detect the final page of an issue;
hence, it continues to increment its internal counter and uses it to
assign page numbers. The initial pages of the subsequent issue are
assigned page numbers as if they were a continuation of the previous
issue.

Thus, if the previous issue was 200 pages long then the eighth page of
the subsequent issue would be assigned page 208.

Garson

_________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 10:28 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Google Books dating error category – replacing nine with zero
>
> In a previous message Fred Shapiro mentioned the following class of
> dating errors: An issue of a serial is assigned the beginning date of
> the serial rather than the date of the specific issue.
>
> Here is another type of error I occasionally encounter: The digit nine
> in a year is replaced by a zero. Thus, 1893 becomes 1803. I conjecture
> that when a book is being scanned it is also inspected, and the
> metadata observed is entered into a database which is used to
> construct the GB database.
>
> Here is an example of an 1893 book mislabeled with 1803.
> (This error was present on January 26, 2022)
>
> Year: 1893 Copyright (1803 incorrect year specified by Google Books)
> Title: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau,
> Volume 9
> Section Title: Excursions
> Author: Henry David Thoreau
> Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
> Original from: the University of California
> Digitized: Feb 9, 2007
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DdGsdAAAAIAAJ%26&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C718d0f44026d492e8a0208d9e0e09927%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637788077798394390%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=J7AxB3DT9VNpZWyxzF%2B2I7bMuaZudaotb%2FBz0oFSsCI%3D&reserved=0
>
> Garson
>
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> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C718d0f44026d492e8a0208d9e0e09927%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637788077798394390%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=q4hR16UXm3%2BNXhnw%2F9u9c%2BGlpbwcMKYRIU%2FJlOBnvjk%3D&reserved=0
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2022 10:28 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Google Books dating error category – replacing nine with zero
>
> In a previous message Fred Shapiro mentioned the following class of
> dating errors: An issue of a serial is assigned the beginning date of
> the serial rather than the date of the specific issue.
>
> Here is another type of error I occasionally encounter: The digit nine
> in a year is replaced by a zero. Thus, 1893 becomes 1803. I conjecture
> that when a book is being scanned it is also inspected, and the
> metadata observed is entered into a database which is used to
> construct the GB database.
>
> Here is an example of an 1893 book mislabeled with 1803.
> (This error was present on January 26, 2022)
>
> Year: 1893 Copyright (1803 incorrect year specified by Google Books)
> Title: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau,
> Volume 9
> Section Title: Excursions
> Author: Henry David Thoreau
> Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
> Original from: the University of California
> Digitized: Feb 9, 2007
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DdGsdAAAAIAAJ%26&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C718d0f44026d492e8a0208d9e0e09927%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637788077798394390%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=J7AxB3DT9VNpZWyxzF%2B2I7bMuaZudaotb%2FBz0oFSsCI%3D&reserved=0
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americandialect.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C718d0f44026d492e8a0208d9e0e09927%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C637788077798394390%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=q4hR16UXm3%2BNXhnw%2F9u9c%2BGlpbwcMKYRIU%2FJlOBnvjk%3D&reserved=0
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org