Sets of books and study guides

[Andrew]

There seem to be a rash of the following:

Records that list all the titles by one author in the one title field.
eg: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

Study guides on popular books / spam.
eg: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75...

What's the best way to deal with these?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Leave them be.

[Andrew]

Why? What are they for? (They aren't really books.)

[Dee]

they are recognized by GR as being books - there is a bookseller who comments regularly about those wikipedia articles and how she has taken to carrying them in her story because she can get bits and pieces of local history that isn't necessarily traditionally published

and study guides, like the shmoop guides - sold in stores - not spam

[Vicky]

The first is a collection of Wikipedia articles about the author's works. It is bound, has an ISBN number and is considered a book by Goodreads. There have been numerous discussions on the validity of these books and while many would not strictly consider them books, others have bought and read books like them.

Study guides like the one you linked are also books. In the linked case it is only available in ebook form, but its content does not differ from something like Cliffnotes. I'm not sure why you think it is spam.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. Maybe spam was a bit strong. It's just frustrating that if you search for a title (particularly on the Android app), they seem to be the first thing that comes up - with the result that some people put their reviews on them.
In the case of "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin, the app didn't find the actual book from its title, just that collection. I had to go in via the author's page.

[Vicky]

It seems like search is going through some major growing pains, finding books like you linked over the intended book is not usually the norm.

[Empress]

About those books: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

Should the author be James Baldwin in this case?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75...

This one has an author on the cover as well

[Cait]

No, those are books about those author's books.

[Mark]

I recently encountered a "book” titled "Harvard Classics” in which all of many volumes were listed and described within the description note. Altho this list is interesting and helpful, I maintain that this is poor practice, and each volume should be indexed separately--same with World Book (or, whatever) Encyclopedia, or "Great Books of the Western World”. The system designers should be encouraged to rectify this problem before it gets out of hand.
In my professional life as IT systems specifier, my motto was, "Never lose control of the data.”

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Mark wrote: "each volume should be indexed separately"

Not unless it was sold individually. Not by long-standing Goodreads policy and practice.

[Nate]

So for instance, a 2 volume set of books that was sold by the publisher as such, means that there should be only 1 entry listed?

What if the series is so old, and there is so little documentation on it, that we do not know how a 2 volume set of books was sold?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Nate wrote: "So for instance, a 2 volume set of books that was sold by the publisher as such, means that there should be only 1 entry listed?"

Correct.


Nate wrote: "What if the series is so old, and there is so little documentation on it, that we do not know how a 2 volume set of books was sold?"

Sometimes the copyright page is helpful. Sometimes WorldCat is (although searching for a pre-ISBN edition can be challenging). If all else fails, you'll have to take your best guess and leave a Librarian's Note in case someone else finds your entry and has more information.