[WEB4LIB] Sample pages at Amazon

[Peter Schoenberg]

In our DRA Web2 Catalogue we have added links to   amazon.com  amazon.uk.co
and chapters.indigo.ca.   (We have an agreement with chapters.indigo.ca to
use the cover art from their site, using a dynamic link, no ongoing
maintenance required).   These links are based on isbn numbers, require no
ongoing maintenance on our part and put all the great content of Amazon one
click away for our customers.   

Of course there will be some broken links if the vendor does not have the
book or if we have a british edition and the customer clicks on the american
amazon link or of if the book is long out of print.  (we give the customer
one hint by displaying the country of publication) 

This feature ties in nicely with offering our customers the ability to write
reviews of any books in our catalogue.

In this case, if you can't beat em, at least use em.   (Note: we have not
joined any of their affiliate programs for internal policy reasons)

http://www.epl.ca    (to see the amazon links, find a book in our catalogue,
click on More Detail About this Item, see bottom of the page)

__________________________________________________ 
Peter Schoenberg 
Manager - Virtual Library Services - Edmonton Public Library 
pschoenberg at publib.edmonton.ab.ca tel: (780) 496 1855 



-----Original Message-----
From: Jenny Levine [mailto:levinej at sls.lib.il.us]
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 8:51 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Sample pages at Amazon


    Amazon has made some changes to the books section of their Web site that
allow you to view sample pages of titles.  The home page highlights the new
"Look Inside" feature that is available for "thousands of books", including
childrens titles.  For example, if you go to
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068982954X/103-2992880-3883837 to
find "Olivia Saves the Circus", you can view the back cover, an excerpt from
the book, the front & back flaps, and the intro pages (8 sample pages
total).  Other titles let you view the table of contents, the index, and
more.  The title "Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's
Wildlife" includes 112 sample pages
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789477645/103-2992880-3883837), and
this item hasn't even been published yet.
    From a precursory glance, it looks like they are scanning in each page
and displaying them as standard images in the browser, which essentially
means they have their own digitizing project.  At the top of each image is
the phrase "Copyrighted material", which is just another version of the
signs we put on our photocopy machines.
    Looks like they scooped libraries again and are offering another service
that we should be integrating into our catalogs.  How would we pull this
off?

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Jenny Levine                                          125 Tower Drive
Internet Development Specialist              Burr Ridge, IL 60527
Suburban Library System                       +1 (630) 734 5141
http://www.sls.lib.il.us/                            levinej at sls.lib.il.us
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