How to put book covers in the public catalog is, for many libraries, work that does not scale: someone downloads the cover, attaches it to the record and moves on. In a holding of tens of thousands of titles, whoever catalogs has no time to complete them by hand and the reader sees a list of records without an image.
In Janium 2027, with the ISBN, the system can look up the cover in public sources and attach it to the record. The version is in Janium 2027 is now available.
With ISBN, Open Library and Google Books
The lookup uses the record’s ISBN. With that identifier it queries Open Library and Google Books, takes the cover when either has it, and leaves it attached to the record. The OPAC and the cataloging view can show it afterwards, like any other image already linked to the record.
The ISBN is the key. It is the identifier those public sources use for the same book. A title or an author is not enough for that query: there are namesakes, editions and different covers, and a match by name would put the wrong image on the record.
Existing covers are kept
If the record already has a cover, 2027 does not replace it. Automatic lookup fills the ones that are missing. A cover the institution digitized, or that someone attached by hand, stays.
That matters for rare books, local editions and any title whose real cover is not the one Open Library or Google Books have for that ISBN —or for another ISBN of the same work. The image already in the system is the one that counts.
Without an ISBN there is no automatic lookup
A record without an ISBN does not enter that query. Manuscripts, theses, pre-ISBN editions, local material without a number: the cover, if wanted, is attached by hand, as before.
There is also no guarantee that the public sources have the cover. An ISBN from a small publisher, an out-of-print edition or a restricted-circulation title may return no image. In that case the record is retried later; a cover is not invented, and another edition’s is not taken.
What this capability is not
Collect does not look up covers on the Internet. Collect produces records from the institution’s material; it does not query Open Library or Google Books to illustrate the record. Automatic covers are Janium’s, the ILS, over records already in the catalog that carry an ISBN.
After the update, cover lookup is turned on per institution. If it is not turned on, covers behave as they do today: the ones already attached are shown.
Limits
An ISBN is required, and one of the two sources must have the image. If not, the record stays without an automatic cover and is retried later. An existing cover is not replaced, even if the public source has another.
The lookup does not distinguish editions when the ISBN is the same, and it does not fill covers for records without an ISBN. An archival holding, a photo library or a manuscript collection is not covered by this capability: it is not a book-cover problem.
To continue the conversation
If your catalog has ISBNs on part of the collection and you want to see how many covers would still be missing after Open Library and Google Books, write to us at info@janium.com. The share of records with an ISBN changes whether it is worth turning the lookup on at update.