OttoBib.com

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OttoBib.com
Make a bibliography. It's free, easy and OttoMatic.
URL ottobib.com
Type of site metasearch
Registration no
Owner jonathanotto.com
Created by Jonathan Otto
Launched January 2006
Current status operational

OttoBib.com is a website with a free tool to generate an alphabetized bibliography of books from a list of International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) with output in MLA, APA, or Chicago/Turabian format.[1] Each query also generates a permalink which can be used to recall the bibliography without reentering the ISBN data. The site is a metasearch engine, integrating data from several sources, including the U.S. Library of Congress API, the Amazon.com database of books, and ISBNdb.com. OttoBib accepts both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13

Contents

[edit] Background

OttoBib.com was started as a hobby project in 2006 by Jonathan Otto, a 4th year undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, USA[2]. It was originally called "That's Crazy Hot!" but the name was quickly changed to OttoBib because the original title was "not suitable for the academic environment and consequently won't take off."[3]

The original inspiration for the site came from Seth Godin's January 3, 2006 blog post on "Stuck Systems", where he wrote:

"A quick online search didn't turn up what seemed obvious to me: a free service that would allow a writer to type in all the ISBNs used in creating a paper and then generate two things:

1. a bibliography based on looking up the data onlline and
2. a web page that would allow the reader/teacher to see the books, their covers... etc."[4]

[edit] Functionality

OttoBib.com performs the two basic functions outlined. Marcus P. Zillman, an Internet information retrieval consultant and speaker said "this website is the start of a new paradigm of citing sources."[5] Jason Clarke, a writer and web developer, said OttoBib is a "tool that solves a simple problem in a simple manner."[6]

[edit] Developments

In January 2007, OttoBib introduced a REST interface to allow a citation to be generated from a URL that contains the ISBN. For example, ISBN 0195117972 can be used in the URL:

http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/apa

to display

Patterson, J., (1997). Grand Expectations. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press.

In February 2007, OttoBib introduced the ability to request citations in BibTeX and Wikipedia {{cite book}} formats.[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boswell, Wendy (2006-10). Back to School: Automate your citations with Ottobib. Lifehacker.com.
  2. ^ Web 2.0 Application Listings -- About the company
  3. ^ Jonathan Otto (January 13, 2006). That's Crazy Hot!. OttoBib Blog. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
  4. ^ Stuck systems January 03, 2006 post on Seth Godin's Blog
  5. ^ Internet Happenings, Events and Sources December 11, 2006 post by Marcus P. Zillman, accessed December 24, 2006
  6. ^ Downloadsquad review posted Sep 20th 2006 by Jason Clarke
  7. ^ Jonathan Otto (February 15, 2007). OttoBib for Librarians. OttoBib Blog. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OttoBib.com"
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