Type of site | metasearch |
|---|---|
| Owner | jonathanotto.com |
| Created by | Jonathan Otto |
| URL | http://www.ottobib.com/ |
| Registration | no |
| Launched | January 2006 |
| Current status | no longer operational |
OttoBib.com was a website with a free tool to generate an alphabetizedbibliography of books from a list ofInternational Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) with output inMLA,APA,Chicago/Turabian,BibTeX and Wikipedia{{cite book}} format.[1] Each query also generated a "temporary"permalink (self-destructs in about one month) which could be used to recall the bibliography without reentering the ISBN data. The site was ametasearch engine, integrating data from several sources, including the U.S.Library of Congress API, theAmazon.com database of books, andISBNdb.com. OttoBib accepted ISBNs with either 10 or 13 digits.
OttoBib.com was started as a hobby project in 2006 by Jonathan Otto, a then 4th year undergraduate at theUniversity 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 fromSeth 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:
- a bibliography based on looking up the data online and
- a web page that would allow the reader/teacher to see the books, their covers... etc.[4]
OttoBib.com performed 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]
In January 2007, OttoBib introduced aREST interface to allow a citation to be generated from a URL that contains the ISBN. For example,ISBN 0-19-511797-2 could 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 inBibTeX and Wikipedia{{cite book}} formats.
As of April 2022, OttoBib is no longer operational.