internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary

authors field inconsistent between Works dump and .json endpoint

Open
#1,059 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Affects: Data Lead: @cdrini Needs: Investigation Priority: 3 Type: Bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Here is work `/works/OL15348267W` from the [Open Library data dumps](https://openlibrary.org/developers/dumps):

```json
{
"title": "Living Peace: the open space of our lives. An initial consideration of the personal practice Open Space",
"created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2010-08-23T21:58:29.243780"},
"last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2010-08-23T21:58:29.243780"},
"latest_revision": 1,
"key": "/works/OL15348267W",
"authors": [
{"type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}
],
"type": {"key": "/type/work"},
"revision": 1
}
```

And here it is from https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15348267W.json :
```json
{
"title": "Living Peace: the open space of our lives. An initial consideration of the personal practice Open Space",
"created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2010-08-23T21:58:29.243780"},
"last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2010-08-23T21:58:29.243780"},
"latest_revision": 1,
"key": "/works/OL15348267W",
"authors": [

],
"type": {
"key": "/type/work"
},
"revision": 1
}
```

Note the differences in the "authors" field.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by comparing the dump representation and https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15348267W.json for work OL15348267W, then trace how each representation is generated. Determine why the authors field differs and verify that both outputs consistently represent the work after the fix.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api, backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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