What is the best way (or a good way) to import data from EndNote to Bookpedia? Ideally my LCC fields in EndNote would be preserved, as I have edited versions of some of these (to include both original and edition publication year, to identify books in the reference library as such, etc.). It would be nice to see the Editor field preserved as well (i.e., not conflated with the author field in the case of edited collections of works, for which I would prefer to leave the author field empty).
EndNote can export to TXT, RTF, HTML, and XML files; Bookpedia only recognizes the plaintext files (and seems to recognize XML files but cannot recognize the contents). For each of these file formats, EndNote can also can arrange the data according to several style requirements (i.e., it exports formatted bibliographies for pretty much any journal you can name). So far I have tried MLA citation format, BibTeX, an enumerated list of citations, and a tab-delimited format; only with the tab-delimited format have I gotten any kind of traction in Bookpedia. Using a mock reference where the content of every field in EndNote is the name of the field, I can then use Bookpedia's drop-down menus to indicate which fields are which. The remaining problem is that Bookpedia then creates a bunch of phantom entries, and on some texts the fields are scrambled (or, I presume, offset by an extra tab or two somewhere). Close, no cigar.
I would settle for just an export of some unique identifying information for each book and my idiosyncratic LCC data, if anyone knows how I can get that out of EndNote and into Bookpedia. Advanced>Get Advanced Info>LOC would import the rest of the field data that I need just fine.
Also: Keeping imported collections out of the library until approved is wonderful. Many thanks.
(Relatively) painless import library from EndNote?
Re: (Relatively) painless import library from EndNote?
I vaguely remember that there was a problem with the EndNote export because it would add new line characters as part of fields and these made it impossible for Bookpedia to read the file. If you could please send us that tab-delimited file you're trying to import, we'll take a look at that and see if there's anything we can do to make the import work.
Alternatively, if you can find a way to only export the LCC column from EndNote, you can copy paste that list of LCC numbers into the 'Add Multiple' window in Bookpedia and do the search that way. (The field is only one row high but it can take a list of many entries, no worries. Also, make sure you have selected LOC in the regular search window before you start the search so the multiple add knows where to search.)
Alternatively, if you can find a way to only export the LCC column from EndNote, you can copy paste that list of LCC numbers into the 'Add Multiple' window in Bookpedia and do the search that way. (The field is only one row high but it can take a list of many entries, no worries. Also, make sure you have selected LOC in the regular search window before you start the search so the multiple add knows where to search.)
Re: (Relatively) painless import library from EndNote?
Do please send us the XML version as well, so that I can look at writing an importer for the EndNote XML.
Re: (Relatively) painless import library from EndNote?
Sent the files to the support@bruji address. I am posting, though, to (a) suggest a way Bookpedia might import from tricky formats and (b) point out a less-than-ideal workaround.
(a) Before settling on Bookpedia, one of the other cataloging options I was trying out is LibraryThing. I put a chunk of my library catalog up there by importing from EndNote, but I do not think LT actually programmed in specific EndNote support. Their solution to weird import formats is, if I understand correctly, to use an algorithm that identifies everything resembling an ISBN and then just using those numbers to fetch the rest of the data from the provider of you choice (in my case, the LoC and a couple reliable university libraries as fallback options). Everything else in the file you import is ignored. Several books without ISBNs were never imported of course, but there were only a couple false positives/incorrect books. Bruji might consider a similar approach for creating a last-chance importing option. (Search for a string of numbers between x and y digits long, call it an ISBN and fetch the other details?)
(b) Bookpedia may not import from EndNote terribly well (yet!), but it does import LibraryThing's tab-delimited export file with very little effort and no significant error. So if it comes to using a kludge I could treat LT like a middleman for processing my EndNote exports. I would prefer to avoid that, but I can confirm that it does a good chunk of the job. The only specific things you need to make that work are choose the tab-delimited format for your LT export, convert the file from a spreadsheet to a .txt file by manually changing the filetype, and check/edit the list of fields to make sure everything goes in the right place. Nice bonus: In that last step, you can decide between a couple different ways of listing the author's name.
(a) Before settling on Bookpedia, one of the other cataloging options I was trying out is LibraryThing. I put a chunk of my library catalog up there by importing from EndNote, but I do not think LT actually programmed in specific EndNote support. Their solution to weird import formats is, if I understand correctly, to use an algorithm that identifies everything resembling an ISBN and then just using those numbers to fetch the rest of the data from the provider of you choice (in my case, the LoC and a couple reliable university libraries as fallback options). Everything else in the file you import is ignored. Several books without ISBNs were never imported of course, but there were only a couple false positives/incorrect books. Bruji might consider a similar approach for creating a last-chance importing option. (Search for a string of numbers between x and y digits long, call it an ISBN and fetch the other details?)
(b) Bookpedia may not import from EndNote terribly well (yet!), but it does import LibraryThing's tab-delimited export file with very little effort and no significant error. So if it comes to using a kludge I could treat LT like a middleman for processing my EndNote exports. I would prefer to avoid that, but I can confirm that it does a good chunk of the job. The only specific things you need to make that work are choose the tab-delimited format for your LT export, convert the file from a spreadsheet to a .txt file by manually changing the filetype, and check/edit the list of fields to make sure everything goes in the right place. Nice bonus: In that last step, you can decide between a couple different ways of listing the author's name.
How to import from EndNote (w/ v.4.5.3)
Conor put in support for EndNote X libraries exported as XML files in a BibTeX format. Here is a quick "how-to" do that, with some caveats.
In EndNote X:
1. Edit > Output Styles > BibTeX Export.ens
This will select BibTeX as the reference style format for your export file.
If BibTeX Export.ens is not listed:
1.1) Edit > Output Styles > Open Style Manager. . .
1.2) Scroll down to BibTeX Export.ens or Find > By Name. . . and enter "bibtex"
1.3) Check the box next to BibTeX Export.ens and close the Style Manager window
2. File > Export. . .
3. Pick a filename and location.
4. In the dropdown box labled "Save file as type:" select XML, then save. (That is all you need EndNote for, unless you want to double-check the import later.)
In a text editor (I used TextWrangler):
5. Open the XML file you just exported, and change the encoding from "UTF-8, no BOM" to "UTF-8"
In this case, I do not know the relevant difference between these two. However, without this change certain characters would import incorrectly. First caveat: Certain other characters--notably apostrophes and ampersands--will still import incorrectly.
In Bookpedia:
6. File > Import Collection. . . (or hit CMD+O)
7. Select the XML file, import it, and go about collecting any additional data from Amazon or the Library of Congress.
I should note that for some fields, the LoC data imports much more cleanly into Bookpedia than it did into EndNote. EndNote collects information exactly as it was entered, which is more detailed but not always consistent. The data collected by Bookpedia is a bit more consistent. (For example, the LCC info from the library includes the buildings in which the work is kept--EndNote collects all this information in the LCC field. Bookpedia just grabs the LCC number.)
Second caveat: For whatever reason, Amazon and the LoC occasionally (infrequently) pick the wrong book or wrong edition. Usually it is a closely related book, so this probably has to do with some books changing title through editions. Third caveat: The LoC will only let you request info (through "Get Advanced Info") for about fifty or so books within a short period of time. Just wait about five minutes, and then send the next batch of requests.
In EndNote X:
1. Edit > Output Styles > BibTeX Export.ens
This will select BibTeX as the reference style format for your export file.
If BibTeX Export.ens is not listed:
1.1) Edit > Output Styles > Open Style Manager. . .
1.2) Scroll down to BibTeX Export.ens or Find > By Name. . . and enter "bibtex"
1.3) Check the box next to BibTeX Export.ens and close the Style Manager window
2. File > Export. . .
3. Pick a filename and location.
4. In the dropdown box labled "Save file as type:" select XML, then save. (That is all you need EndNote for, unless you want to double-check the import later.)
In a text editor (I used TextWrangler):
5. Open the XML file you just exported, and change the encoding from "UTF-8, no BOM" to "UTF-8"
In this case, I do not know the relevant difference between these two. However, without this change certain characters would import incorrectly. First caveat: Certain other characters--notably apostrophes and ampersands--will still import incorrectly.
In Bookpedia:
6. File > Import Collection. . . (or hit CMD+O)
7. Select the XML file, import it, and go about collecting any additional data from Amazon or the Library of Congress.
I should note that for some fields, the LoC data imports much more cleanly into Bookpedia than it did into EndNote. EndNote collects information exactly as it was entered, which is more detailed but not always consistent. The data collected by Bookpedia is a bit more consistent. (For example, the LCC info from the library includes the buildings in which the work is kept--EndNote collects all this information in the LCC field. Bookpedia just grabs the LCC number.)
Second caveat: For whatever reason, Amazon and the LoC occasionally (infrequently) pick the wrong book or wrong edition. Usually it is a closely related book, so this probably has to do with some books changing title through editions. Third caveat: The LoC will only let you request info (through "Get Advanced Info") for about fifty or so books within a short period of time. Just wait about five minutes, and then send the next batch of requests.