So... basically it's bookstore cataloguing ON STEROIDS.
Heh. In the bookselling world, the ISBN is what's tracked, for everything. Right now I can't even recall, but I seem to recall that ISBN is linked somehow to, hrm, I want to say Library of Congress -- it's supposed to be an individualized number that you can use to find... uh. My brain just went, again. (Long day, and I don't have any extra room now after reading your explanation. Seriously!)
It's not that surprising to me, when I stop and think about it, considering that my university's searchable database didn't just have books & info, but for each book also had synopsis, sometimes an excerpt, a list of all books referenced, bibliography, all that jazz. That's about, oh, eighty times more information than you need to sell a book -- or maybe it's just that booksellers keep a lot of that in their heads, instead of on the screen. (With a lot less accuracy as the price, undoubtedly.)
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Date: 12 Jan 2009 04:18 am (UTC)So... basically it's bookstore cataloguing ON STEROIDS.
Heh. In the bookselling world, the ISBN is what's tracked, for everything. Right now I can't even recall, but I seem to recall that ISBN is linked somehow to, hrm, I want to say Library of Congress -- it's supposed to be an individualized number that you can use to find... uh. My brain just went, again. (Long day, and I don't have any extra room now after reading your explanation. Seriously!)
It's not that surprising to me, when I stop and think about it, considering that my university's searchable database didn't just have books & info, but for each book also had synopsis, sometimes an excerpt, a list of all books referenced, bibliography, all that jazz. That's about, oh, eighty times more information than you need to sell a book -- or maybe it's just that booksellers keep a lot of that in their heads, instead of on the screen. (With a lot less accuracy as the price, undoubtedly.)