To change or not to change....

[Kim]

Hi, I'm a new librarian and before I go changing a pet peeve of mine, I thought I'd get some advice (because I am new after all).

There is a series I love that has been given a series title of "Eugenides, Book x" by Megan Whalen Turner. The reason this bugs me is because Amazon and almost every other blogger out there is calling this series "The Queen's Thief, Book x".

So, do I change it?

Thanks, Kim

[Eva-Marie]

Don't take my opinion because I'm not a super user but I figured I'd throw my two cents in anyway.
I wouldn't change it myself. Amazon and a lot of others sites have mistakes sometimes and I think the basic premise of us being able to make changes is to have listing correct in relation to what the author has done. If the author is Turner that you mentioned above, I myself would leave it as she wants.
Someone else will surely chime in though and I do know how it feels to have a pet peeve like that! :)

[Kim]

Thank you for replying.

I don't believe the series title came from the author. Her website nor the publisher has given it this title. I believe it came from someone here within Goodreads. Even Wiki uses "The Queen's Thief" title. By changing it, it makes it easier for people to do research on it. By leaving it, it adds to the confusion.

[Eva-Marie]

Ah- I thought the title came from the author or publisher. Have you checked the librarian log for that book listing? It might be able to clue you in to who added it, if it was added by a GR member. Maybe then you could inquire to why it was done?
Sometimes the change log won't have changes in it though and this would leave you back at square one. :(
Someone else will reply soon and they'll let you know what they think!

[Eva-Marie]

I just looked and as far as I can see it used to just be "Book 1" and http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/58... changed it to what it is now. There have been changes since then but none to that specific area so you could message her to see the reasoning behind it.

[Kim]

Thanks for your help! I just emailed her.

[Eva-Marie]

You're welcome! It's not often I know enough TO help- rivka, lisa, cait and the others are much more knowledgable so I'm happy to help....when I can! LOL

[Kim]

Changes made. I'm happy now.

[Eva-Marie]

I love this group- when I first started here in the group I was already a librarian for a little while but I would have never felt comfortable giving my opinion or answering someone's question, even if it was a simple question that I knew the answer to.
But I've asked a lot of questions, some when my brain wasn't working all that well, that should have been answered by myself and have never felt anything negative. Everyone is really helpful and I've learned a lot just from this group. :)

[mlady_rebecca]

Don't know if this was settled or not, but I thought I'd give you my opinion. Unless it was specified by the author or printed on one of the books, I'd stick to the more commonly used series name.

[Valerie]

According to the Librarian Manual, see this link: http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/74..., the synatax for a series should be Book Name (Series Name, #x) - without the word book.

This has been a bit of a pet peev of mine, too. The Sookie Stackhouse series for example is being changed back and forth and back again by well meaning librarians.

I happen to export my booklist to another program and everytime the name changes it - the book is treated as a new addition. This is very annoying.

But I digress. The manual is very useful.

[Eva-Marie]

Actually, that helps me with another series too- thanks Valerie.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Valerie, that's a relatively new addition to the manual, so not all librarians have seen it. You might send a message to the librarian(s) adding in the word "book". Although you might want to wait until after Sunday, when I plan to finish adding and cleaning up those new sections. ;)

[mlady_rebecca]

Maybe there needs to be a mechanism for all Librarians to be notified when there are major manual updates. If there isn't a current blog post, maybe a note on the front page (where new blog posts are announced) would be helpful.

[Eva-Marie]

mlady_rebecca wrote: "Maybe there needs to be a mechanism for all Librarians to be notified when there are major manual updates. If there isn't a current blog post, maybe a note on the front page (where new blog posts a..."

That is a GREAT idea, if it could happen that's wonderful. I try to keep up on it but it is hard. I was wondering why I wasn't aware that was in there but I thought I just missed it.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

I'm still working on these, but I do have the ability to post to the blog, and it's a good idea. It'll probably still be a week or two before I'm done though. (I know I said Sunday, but I was being overly optimistic. ;) )

[mlady_rebecca]

No rush, Rivka.

Hopefully something like that will catch the attention of those who don't compulsively follow this group. (Like me. *g*)

[Cynthia]

We need to follow the blog, too? Meep! I'd missed that, somehow.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Nah. I'll definitely post something in the group when I'm done.

[Kim]

Thanks for the additional information. One more question. How should audio books be labeled?

[Cait]

Kim wrote: "Thanks for the additional information. One more question. How should audio books be labeled?"

Audio books don't need to be labeled in the title field at all. There are formats specifically for audio books. (Sometimes audio books are imported from Amazon with the format in the title, and that can be removed.)