Monographs: Are They Books?

[Lauren]

I have a monograph from the Brookings Institution on my (physical) bookshelf, and I want to add it to my Goodreads one. It doesn't have an ISBN, however, and I'm not sure whether Goodreads counts monographs as books, or as more like magazines and what have you. Is it okay to add it?

[Janet]

If you read ALA and other cataloging rules, most "books" are considered monographs. Magazines are serials. There may be confusion between monographs in series and serials, and libraries often make arbitrary decisions concerning them--cataloging rules permit those. Nothing printed/published prior to about 1970 has an ISBN, although reprints of earlier publications may have them assigned. Are you saying that books published prior to 1970 are not to be entered?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Lauren, is it a bound book -- hardcover or paperback -- or a booklet, like a magazine? Was/is it for sale to the general public? How many pages is it?

[Lauren]

It's bound like a cheap, paperback book, not like a booklet. It's 105 pages. I received it at a Brookings event, and Brookings doesn't appear to be selling it. It's listed under "research papers" on their site here: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/rese...

[rivka, Former Moderator]

If it was never available to the general public, we don't usually consider it to have been published.

[Lauren]

rivka wrote: "If it was never available to the general public, we don't usually consider it to have been published."

Fair enough. Thanks for your help!