[Ads-l] Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans

Rich Lowenthal 000018596069864c-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Fri Oct 30 22:48:09 UTC 2026 

The issue seemingly has to do with the Digital Library of India titles, 
with some poor scans, incorrect titles and metadata, etc. When the 
titles were uploaded to the Internet Archive, the problems came along 
with them.

An article on the Digital Library of India is at
https://www.thehindu.com/books/carl-malamud-contends-that-all-the-books-will-be-out-of-copyright-at-some-point/article20783479.ece




------ Original Message ------
>From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 10/30/2026 6:21:24 PM
Subject Re: Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans

>Thanks for carefully examining Graham Greene's books, Dave. This
>misdating pattern is enigmatic (to me).
>
>On the topic of using computer algorithms to help correct inaccurate
>dates I have attempted to clarify my viewpoint by posting a follow-up
>message on the thread titled "Improving text databases".
>Garson
>
>On Fri, Oct 30, 2026 at 6:51 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>  This does not seem to be the case with the books in the Internet Archives's India Public Library collection. Many of those books have systematic, rather than random, misdatings. For instance, many of the Graham Greene books are given a date of 1916. A random change would have various dates, some pointing to later, rather than earlier dates. The affected books are also all reprints, which suggests that at some point a title page with an incorrect date was inserted into the print book.
>>
>>  But it must be stressed that this is a problem with a very small number of books on the Internet Archive. This particular type of misdating is very rare.
>>
>>  And I would be leery of using AI to derive a date based on the text's language or context. That would almost certainly introduce more errors than it would resolve.
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2026 6:56pm
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans
>>
>>
>>
>>  Thanks for sharing a fascinating article and video, Grant. The book
>>  source metadata for the Internet Archive copy of "A Burnt-out Case" by
>>  Graham Greene lists the following digital publication data:
>>
>>  dc.date.digitalpublicationdate: 2013-03-06
>>
>>  If I am reading this data correctly, the book was scanned circa 2013.
>>  The scanner bug was present in 2013. The precise identity of the
>>  hardware device used to create the scans for this book does not appear
>>  in the metadata (it seems). In any case, it is conceivable that the
>>  error was caused by a bug in the scanner compression software.
>>
>>  Garson
>>
>>  On Thu, Oct 29, 2026 at 3:00 PM Grant Barrett
>>  <00001c78cf50a67a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > This related story may interest you:
>>  > https://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are_switching_written_numbers_when_scanning
>>  >
>>  > "Scanners / copiers of the Xerox WorkCentre Line randomly alter written
>>  > numbers in pages that are scanned. This is not an OCR problem (as we
>>  > switched off OCR on purpose) [...] patches of the pixel data are randomly
>>  > replaced in a very subtle and dangerous way: The scanned images look
>>  > correct at first glance, even though numbers may actually be incorrect."
>>  >
>>  > GB
>>  >
>>  > On Oct 29, 2026 at 10:03:23, ADSGarson O'Toole <
>>  > 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > > Thanks for your responses, Rich and JL. I have hesitated to mention
>>  > > this topic because the environment is punitively litigious for
>>  > > databases such as the Internet Archive and Google Books. I agree with
>>  > > JL that this type of error is rare.
>>  > > Garson
>>  > >
>>  > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM Jonathan Lighter
>>  > > <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > I've seen this problem in Internet Archive as well, but only once or
>>  > >
>>  > > twice in thousands of instances.
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > JL
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 1:52 PM Rich Lowenthal
>>  > >
>>  > > <000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > The initial copyright date is also incorrect: "1910" rather than "1960."
>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > There are also leather-bound copies of the book available on the
>>  > >
>>  > > > Internet that cite the 1916 date. I would guess that the incorrect date
>>  > >
>>  > > > is the result of poor scanning and OCR work, as is the case of many
>>  > >
>>  > > > print-on-demand titles that come from India. The scanned copy also
>>  > >
>>  > > > differs from the first edition in that it lacks the "all rights
>>  > >
>>  > > > reserved" notice on the copyright page.
>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > ------ Original Message ------
>>  > >
>>  > > > From "ADSGarson O'Toole"
>>  > >
>>  > > > <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > >
>>  > > > To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  > >
>>  > > > Date 10/26/2026 12:40:27 PM
>>  > >
>>  > > > Subject Incorrect dates displayed in Internet Archive scans
>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >While searching in the Internet Archive I came across a novel with an
>>  > >
>>  > > > >incorrect publication date. It is common to find mistakes in the
>>  > >
>>  > > > >metadata of databases such as the Internet archive, Google Books,
>>  > >
>>  > > > >newspapers.com, etc. But this situation was different and more
>>  > >
>>  > > > >dangerous. The incorrect data appeared on a page scan of the book that
>>  > >
>>  > > > >was supposed to display the correct publication data.
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >The novel "A Burnt-Out Case" by Graham Greene was first published in
>>  > >
>>  > > > >1960, but the publication date on the scan claimed that the book was
>>  > >
>>  > > > >published in 1916.
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Incorrect Date on Page Scan: 1916
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Actual First Publication Date: 1960
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Book Title: A Burnt-Out Case
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Author: Graham Greene
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd, London
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Book Source: Digital Library of India
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > > https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150016/page/n3/mode/2up?q=1916
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >[Begin excerpt]
>>  > >
>>  > > > >This English language edition first published 1916
>>  > >
>>  > > > >[End excerpt]
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >I think (and hope) this problem is rare. Have others seen this
>>  > >
>>  > > > >problem? Can someone offer an explanation (on or off list)?
>>  > >
>>  > > > >Garson
>>  > >
>>  > > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > >------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > >
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>>  > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
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>>  > >
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>>  > >
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>>  > > >
>>  > >
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>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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