Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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I think that people that are from non-English speaking countries get approved for librarians immediately. The problem is that they are not very active. I have updated the description for the following book.
"Asking only English countries to supply librarians"That's very English-centric, especially for a international site.
This problem also works the other way round - I noticed some cases where some English speaking librarian overrode a German or French book description when he added a English translation and simply set his description to be default. So it's not the "foreigners" who cause problems, but the construction of the "default description" feature in Goodreads.
Mod
1) We certainly do want librarians who speak languages other than English, as long as their English is sufficient to read the Manual and have discussions in this group when needed. We also want librarians who speak only English.
2) About 80% of the speculations in this group regarding the how and why of librarian approval are incorrect. This thread is no exception.
What's the fix for when the title of a book published for the first time in Roman script e.g. French, English, German etc shows up in author lists in something most of us can't decipher e.g. Persian, Arabic, or Russian translations using a non-Roman alphabet? (Actually, I can read Russian titles, but I'm pretty sure most people can't). I know how to set the default description to English but how do you set the default *title* to English or if people object to that, to the book's original title in its original Roman script? (Or set an edition as the default edition so that this doesn't happen?)
I don't think this is being English-centric, I speak 5 languages as well as English, 2 of them fairly fluently, but I think that using the International Language makes GR book data accessible to most people, and using a Roman script means it can be read by most people even if they don't speak that language.
*Sigh* Just found the answer to my suggestion about setting a default edition in the manual. The default edition is the one that most people review. So if millions of Russians read and review Tolstoy's War and Peace in Russian, that's the edition that becomes the default. Could get interesting when the Chinese in China discover Good Reads, eh?
Speaking as a multi-lingual Librarian, I can say that having a default edition in another script isn't a problem for me - I just swap to the edition page. Also, it is arguable that English is the International Language as you suggest, so it would be far more unfriendly to seem to suggest that other languages aren't welcome!My only niggle is when the dates get changed to a different system and a book from last decade appears to have been first published in the 14thC :D
Re English: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internat...I didn't suggest that other languages are unwelcome. I happily read reviews in French and Indonesian, (and with a struggle, have a go at Spanish ones). I like seeing the perspectives that different cultures bring to reviews. My concern is about *scripts*.
FWIW I do find it odd that an English language site allows an English title or a title originally written in a Roman Script that nearly all of us can decipher to be displaced by a translation in some other script based purely on the number of reviews posted to the site. LOL Maybe I'm a Roman script cultural imperialist *wry smile*
Swapping to the edition page is not a solution if an author has written multiple books and (as I encountered the other day with a French author) the first two listed on the author page are in a script I'd never seen before (it turned out to be Persian). I had to open up the edition page for both books to find out which books they were before I could tell which title was the one I was looking for and add it to my TBR.
But hey, that's how it is, and as I always say, you can't complain about online services that are free. At the end of the day it's only a minor irritation.
Default description was replaced with complete blank credited to a new librarian user in Germany for Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage. I fixed, messaged apparent contributor. But problem may be related to "languages" and "default description" discussion issue? re: Lisa .. Chinese in China discover GR Wondering smile from me too.
Emy wrote: ..first published in the 14thC :D" I just fixed a book with many reviews and ratings, original publication date listed as 2025. Even google had same wrong date elsewhere, but finally one entry with 12/25/2013, what I used.
Nobody else is running into more non-English default descriptions or wrong user attributed? Latest, from series, one in german, another italian, yet the user name linked to default descriptions had not read either book, their county was not listed. Another time I changed a description, but the "GR user" link at the bottom did not connect to me. For an empty description, I contacted the user, no reply, other GR directly, because I wondered if the system was glitching?
An Odd1 wrote: "yet the user name linked to default descriptions had not read either book"I often clean up records for books which I'm not reading. A lot of librarians clean up their own books and then start branching out into general work.
Me too. Especially when I recognize one user still posting descriptions full of typos and personal opinions. Or run into ones full of just review quotes. I look elsewhere, condense to facts, or take facts from reviews. I agree not necessary to read book though preferable. What seemed odd was two different languages when user reads and writes in English. You are absolutely right though. Thankfully so many are so generous of time and effort.
For other books, series were added in different languages (Thai, maybe Russian, others, sorry I forgot to note). I hope errors are unintentional, not vandalism. But I am getting tired of fixing language problems, affecting more and more books I read.
I have always applauded and supported the international multilingual expansion of the site, but PLEASE HELP. Asking only English countries to supply librarians could block good people and still allow trouble.
Could additions to the librarian manual stop these mistakes before they proliferate beyond repair? At least lessen? Or is this the price that must be paid?
Suggestions? Actions?