Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Are you aware of the similar name link on each author page? (GR-authors excluded) **down on the right side
e.g. http://www.goodreads.com/author/simil...
Hi Ian,A long time ago there was such a list:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4....
However, this list is no longer kept current since you can find something similar on the author page: go to the author page and can click 'similar names' (under the author's photo). This opens a page with all the author names that resemble the author you are working on. The last piece of data on the second line gives you the number of spaces in the name. So you can see which John Locke has 1 space, 2 spaces...
PS: it is custom to leave the following message in the biography field on the author page: Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
And it's always easy for other librarians if you indicate the number of spaces in the name in the librarian note like John^^^Locke where ^ stands for a space.
Thanks for that, did not fully know. Wilco.
Quickly leave a note in biography field; once author claims profile and it belongs to a "goodreads author" we can't edit.
After looking at an author page, the "similar authors" is not what I was looking for. It lists authors who write similar stories, not authors with similar and potentially confusing names. I will add notes to the biography of the main author, and then, when sorted out, add notes to the other authors.
you must be on the edit data section of an author, down the right side, under librarian edits & disambiguate
you are looking for similar names not similar authors
Shoot! I knew that, just checking. Thanks.
There is a list of all the authors who have claimed their profile on Goodreads. It's at http://goodreads.com/author/on_goodreads
When I disambiguate a name, I try to leave a librarian note on EACH author that indicates how many spaces the particular profile and has a list of other similarly disambiguated authors that are linked to those profiles.So for example:
John^^Smith, Author of Super-Awesome, The Series
Also See:
John^Smith, Author of Nature Books
John^^^Smith, Illustrator
The Similar Names page works in a similar way, but this give you a little more control over what information can be conveyed to other librarians. And, honestly, I find that it helps me personally keep authors straight when I'm trying to disambiguate a very common name.
Vicky, I think that your thinking is what I was thinking of.
Is there any way to view either the librarian note on an author's profile or the similar names once they are a goodreads author?
Ian wrote: "@Vicky, is this what you are thinking of?http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/..."
i don't think all this should be visible for everyone
it is not a "librarian note".
all of this kind of info can be added to the genre area & lib notes on each john locke
Librarian note cannot get added or viewed once John Lockes claim their goodreads author profile, I don't think. So the librarian note works fine for deceased authors but stops being viewable when a goodreads author claims profile unless noted in the "about this author" section before author claims profile (most authors will not delete the text talking about a librarian note even if they move it to the bottom).In the linked example for John Locke because there's no way some living author should be able to claim the profile, the information will be viewable in the "Librarian Note" and the publicly viewable "About this author." A living John Lock claiming his profile would stop the librarian note from being viewable.
I do think the publicly viewable statement should include the explanation that the ^ character indicates spaces.
And this is a long example. Mostly it's just 1-3 authors with the same name so it's not such a long note wherever it gets placed.
the spacing info being visible to all-users & libs only was recently mentioned here:http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
I am still a little unclear about ^. Should the list of same name authors be included in each author profile, as they are in my John Locke example?* I moved the list to the bottom of the profile. Makes the profile read better.
An idea! A change to the gr database, so, that in a similar fashion to wikipedia, when a user searches for an author (or book) with multiple entries a list of the possible candidates is given. For example (using Locke):John Locke: 17th century philosopher.
John Locke: crime author, Creed series.
John Locke: British author, "British Twist".
John Locke: Australian SF author, "One Thousand Times the Speed of Light".
John Locke: 19th century illustrator, "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley".
John Locke: author, "Isometric Perspective Designs".
Each of these to be a hyperlink to the respective author.
Good idea, yes?
Ian wrote: "An idea! A change to the gr database, so, that in a similar fashion to wikipedia, when a user searches for an author (or book) with multiple entries a list of the possible candidates is given. For ..."If you are suggesting that this be done automatically in some fashion, you will need to suggest it in the Feedback Group. However, if you wanted to add it manually to the author info, I don't see a problem with it. I have been doing something similar with author pseudonyms. Example:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Mod
I do, especially for the names that have 10+ versions.
Mod
Librarian's Note is visible on their combine page.
To everyone or just to librarians?
Mod
I am prompted to ask this as I have been untangling the 'John Locke' authors. There are the two well known Lockes (the phil and detective writer), but also two or three minor Lockes. Attempting to sort these out, decide who gets the additional spaces, and who is who, is a bit of a detective story in itself. It would be helpful if there was an entry somewhere for "John Locke" where one could record notes about the different authors with that name.
I realise that I can leave notes in the librarian edits fields, but this is rather cumbersome as compared to a separate, single list.