This “In Progress List” software is used to check Project Gutenberg (PG) copyright clearances. It currently does this in two ways. First, it checks the current clearance database for clearances that are either “open” or “submitted”. If a clearance is “open,” someone has already cleared that book and may be working on preparing it for submission to PG. If a clearance is “submitted,” then that book has already been posted. A link to the posted book is provided if available.
The software also searches a recent snapshot of the catalog database. A search for a title or an author (or both) is made against posted books. Due to inconsistencies in the clearance and catalog databases, a search of the catalog database supplements the clearance database. For example, a book may show as posted without an apparent clearance.
The overall scenario is simple: a user has a book they would like to prepare and submit to PG. They typically have a title and an author. The will use the “Title” and “Author” search fields for a clearance search. Results will appear on the same form, so the search terms can be refined, if necessary, to determine if their book has already been cleared or posted. Results are sortable by clicking on the column header; click a second time on a column header reverses the search order.
Note that this software relies on both internal and external search algorithms. Searches of DP Canada and fadedpage, for example, use wildcarding such that ‘ford’ matches ‘Oxford’ and ‘Stanford’. This code cannot control an external search engine’s search algorithm. Other searches, including the local clearance database search, may be coded differently. For example, an “Author” search for “Fitzhugh, Percy” will find “Percy Keese Fitzhugh” and “Percy K. Fitzhugh” in the clearance database. It will find another correct variation, “Fitzhugh, Percy Keese,” in the PG Catalog. But it will find nothing in the Fadedpage search, when indeed searching for just “Fitzhugh” will show there are about 80 books in their catalog by this author. Please choose your search term carefully and perhaps try more than one variation.
How “up to date” are the databases used by the In Progress tool?
The clearance database is “live”; the catalog databse is updated daily. The DPC and fadedpage results depend on the refresh interval of external sites.
Does the IP tool handle clearances that have been returned or cancelled?
Yes. In some cases, users have returned clearances that they do not intend to use.
Can I use the IP tool to manage my clearances?
No. Clearance management is provided by a separate tool. Visit
this site to manage your clearances.
Can I rely solely on the information provided by a search on this site?
No. The information returned by this script relies on several external databases and sites such that accuracy cannot be assured.
What are the controls under some tables?
If a result table has more than five rows, a small pagination widget appears. Left to right, it provides (1) click to go to start of results, (2) click to go to previous page, (3) a description of the rows that are being displayed, (4) click to go to next page, (5) click to go to last page in result, (6) select how many results per page are shown, (7) go directly to the selected page within the results.
What does it mean when only the title/author line shows in the “PG Clearance Database” section and no books are shown?
This tells you there is an earlier clearance before the cutoff date you specified. If you want to see it, change the cutoff to further back, such as “all,” and search again.
In the clearance database report, does "submitted" mean the same thing as "posted"?
Not quite. A clearance gets "submitted" status when it is uploaded to PG. Normally within a day or so, it is picked up by a whitewasher and subsequently posted. Posting is not reflected in the PG database clearance table but only in the ticket table. When it does post, it will show "submitted" in the clearance status list and "posted" in the PG catalog list.
Some clearances are reused for many books. How is that handled by the inprogress code?
When one clearance is used for multiple books in a series, the clearance database list will show only one etext number. There are some book series with over 200 posted eBooks all with the same clearance. The books using the clearance will show up in the "FROM PG CATGALOG" list, but only one clearance line will be displayed in the top list from the clearance database, because there is only one clearance.
Contact copyright2024 at pglaf.org for help or feedback.