anyone keeping the “p” behind page numbers after an import?

[ozean]

When one imports bibliographic information, most libraries add a “p” for page number (or, for German libraries, an “S”, as in Seiten).

Does any one actually keep this? I always go into the field after an import and manually delete the p, pp, or S that is imported. If there is no one who actually keeps it, it might make sense for Jon to implement an automatic deletion thingy.

However, I would like Bookends to keep other information, such as separate page numbers that are given for an introduction. This usually looks like this:

XXII, 297 p

In this case, I want to keep the “XXII” but get rid of the “p”.

Of course, it would also be necessary to get more feedback on possible other characters that have to be deleted in other language imports. (Although I think p and s should cover it for quite a few Germanic and Roman languages…)

Please vote on the poll and add your thoughts on the subject!

[ozean]

To add some complexity to this issue:

I just imported a recent title from Columbia U and found this in the page field:

Code: Select all

xiii, 330 p., 12 p. of plates

Weeell, I see that it might be kind of difficult to get an automatic filter that deals with this in a proper way.

But, for the page field, I actually do not need or need the information about how many plates are in there, and I would be pretty sure that no citation format calls for any information about this either. This is a “nice to have” for the notes field, but not more than that.

[Jon]

Please explain what the logic for trimming page numbers would be. It's not obvious to me what would be foolproof (and not remove information that you'd want to keep). Count back from the last character until a number is encountered? No, because roman numerals would be removed. And in your second example you'd get "xiii, 330 p., 12", which I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want.

Given the virtually infinite variety of ways that "pages" can sent from libraries, I can't think of a way to get the useful info and "do no harm". Importing what's sent, and letting the user decide what is useful, is the only way I can think of to ensure important information isn't lost.

Jon
Sonny Software

[ozean]

Still, I am wondering: there are exceptions but almost all of my imports only have one of four combinations:
_p
_p.
_S
_S.
where the _ stands for a space.

Since the S is a special, local case, it would already be a substantial improvement if Bookends would filter out the standard _p and _p. strings. That would cover approximately 90% of my imports…

Of course, this is not a live-or-die feature, but since Bookends has attained a very high degree of sophistication already, why not ask for a cherry on the pie?

[Jon]

Hi ozean, I'll add that to the list of things to look into.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

Hi,

This feature has been added to the next Bookends update.

Jon
Sonny Software

[ozean]

Yay! Then I will keep a list of things to import afterwards and enjoy the new ease