Editing subjects list

Faithlife eBooks do not have any entry in the Subject field. Is there any way to edit this field and add subjects? I realize that I can add my own tags. This makes creating collections more difficult because I have to filter for both subjects any my own tags.

Is there any plan to add subjects to the Faithlife eBooks? Any book published in the United States has a Library of Congress catalog record, which includes subjects for the use in library catalogs. It would be a simple matter to include this metadata with eBooks.

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Reuben Helmuth

I don't believe there's any way for users to edit the subjects field on resources. While it's true that FL ebooks generally don't have the subject field populated, I do have 8 in my library that do. I think it would be a good idea to at least use the Library of Congress subjects (or programmatically adjust those).

Simon’s Brother

FL eBooks are automatically created from files provided by the publisher. Unless publishers provide the subject data in a file format that can be included in that automatic processing FL i can not see FL adding subject data. From the introduction of what was then called Vyrso it has been indicated subject data would not be included with these resources.

I would like it included too but don’t see it happening any time soon. I have no issue with including an extra field in searches and often include both anyway as I might tag things a little differently to the subject fields anyway.

Dave Hooton

Is there any way to edit this field and add subjects? I realize that I can add my own tags. This makes creating collections more difficult because I have to filter for both subjects any my own tags.

You can only request that a Subject be changed or added via the forums e.g. Attn Kyle. Otherwise, it is frequently necessary to add your own Tag(s) because of the inconsistency, or lack, of supplied Subjects For example, my collection on Eschatology has the rule subject:(eschatology, end-of-the-world) OR mytag:eschatology. If I wanted to simplify the rule, I could tag the 4 books with subject:end-of-the-world. But the tag accounts for 26 out of the 42 books because they (partially or otherwise) cover my need for the topic.

Harry Hahne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1078541#Comment_1078541

FL eBooks are automatically created from files provided by the publisher. Unless publishers provide the subject data in a file format that can be included in that automatic processing FL i can not see FL adding subject data.

The full library catalog record, including subjects, is readily available in the Library of Congress public database (https://catalog.loc.gov/index.html). It has various automated ways of getting full MARC catalog records for a batch of books by using Z39.50 and other APIs (https://labs.loc.gov/lc-for-robots). Alternatively, it would take about 1 minute per book to manually enter the LC number for a book and then copy and paste the subjects field into the Faithlife resource. Adding consistent subjects would add a lot of value to the users' Logos library, particularly when using Collections.

I might tag things a little differently to the subject fields anyway.

I don't much like many of the Library of Congress subjects, either. But they follow an authority list, which gives a greater degree of consistency between books than any subjects I would come up with.

Until Faithlife decides to include subjects with their resources, I guess I will have to copy and paste the subjects from the Library of Congress website into the Tag field every time I get a new Faithlife eBook.

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1078583#Comment_1078583

FL eBooks are automatically created from files provided by the publisher. Unless publishers provide the subject data in a file format that can be included in that automatic processing FL i can not see FL adding subject data.

The full library catalog record, including subjects, is readily available in the Library of Congress public database (https://catalog.loc.gov/index.html). It has various automated ways of getting full MARC catalog records for a batch of books by using Z39.50 and other APIs (https://labs.loc.gov/lc-for-robots). Alternatively, it would take about 1 minute per book to manually enter the LC number for a book and then copy and paste the subjects field into the Faithlife resource. Adding consistent subjects would add a lot of value to the users' Logos library, particularly when using Collections.

You don't have to convince me, it's FL and their business model and they way they choose to process books. They only use the files provided by the publisher's as they are provided because they say it is not economically viable to do it any other way. The only time they intervene is if something seriously goes wrong with the process. I'm not saying I agree with their business model, just pointing out their 'worldview' and that what you or I think is important and worth doing they see as a cost they can not bear and be price competitive in a very tight market - as someone who worked in B2B and B2C environments for many decades I do understand that reasoning even if as a consumer I don't like it.

Reuben Helmuth

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1078655#Comment_1078655

They only use the files provided by the publisher's as they are provided because they say it is not economically viable to do it any other way. The only time they intervene is if something seriously goes wrong with the process.

This is entirely accurate, but "the process" involves a conversion (automatic of course) into Logos format. I don't think it would take that much to tweak the process to also include subjects (perhaps via the API Harry mentioned). I totally get the need for an entirely automatic process for the ebook market, but perhaps FL will consider this small improvement!

Harry Hahne

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1078655#Comment_1078655

You don't have to convince me, it's FL and their business model and they way they choose to process books.

Sorry. I did not mean to be offensive to you. I knew you were on the same page. I was building on what you said to nudge FL staff in the direction of adding LC subjects, since it would add value to all FL eBooks at insignificant cost.