internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary
Feature: Whole-part relationships between works
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- Python
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Description
## Proposal
The current system of works and editions leaves a gap for collections of works - both by single and multiple authors. I think it could be useful for end users to be able to identify which collection(s) a given work is in - especially short works that are frequently not published alone or not included in any collection title.
## Constraints
> Which suggestions or requirements should be considered for how feature needs to appear or be implemented?
There would need to be a way to identify something as a container work and then identify the relationships between collections and the works contained within. And it would be useful to the Open Librarian if when the relationship is indicated on one record that the reciprocal be created automatically. Also useful if the tags from the work carry over to the collection.
I've set up an example of how this might look using the books of The Lord of the Rings:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL27448W/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15331214W/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring
## Priority
> What evidence do you have this feature or bug is important to this audience? Mostly my personal experience of trying to locate/log short works not published alone.
What is the value to us and/or to each user impacted?
This would be something OL can offer that other reading log sites do not as their inclusion policies generally allow published manifestations. So if one wants to include a short work on their "to read" list, they must add the collection(s) rather than the work to their list. This can be a lot of work for the user to locate (and, personally speaking, I sometimes forget which item I wanted from a given collection later down the line).
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