Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

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Questions (not edit requests) > Librarian application

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message 1: by Erica (new)

Erica (ericastrahon) | 11 comments I've applied for Librarian a little over a week ago. I don't know whether or not if Goodreads needs new librarians but I have tons of books that I have added that need cover images. I have the images for them they just need to be applied and for some reason I can't edit books I've added. I don't like the idea of wasting time asking someone to edit all the books I have.


message 2: by Empress (new)

Empress (the_empress) Erica wrote: "I've applied for Librarian a little over a week ago. I don't know whether or not if Goodreads needs new librarians but I have tons of books that I have added that need cover images. I have the imag..."

Well you might as well do it while you wait. Just post the links to books and covers.

P.S. You can re-apply I believe, the problem is there will be no email if you are unsuccessful with the application.


message 3: by Erica (new)

Erica (ericastrahon) | 11 comments Ok so I think I may be a librarian now. I'm supposedly #45 in top librarians list. So if I'm a librarian, why can't I edit book covers? Clicking on "edit details" only tells me "Your permissions will only allow the editing of the metadata". I used to be able to edit covers, now I can't.


message 4: by Renske (new)

Renske | 12222 comments Adding new books and other things non-librarians can do are also counted for the top librarian lists, so a non-librarian can be in that list.
You are not yet a librarian. When someone is a librarian the profile will say 'Goodreads librarian'


message 5: by Simone (new)

Simone (simonegrace) | 141 comments I've hear stories of Librarians getting accepted within the week but maybe they're really busy? I applied before Apr 6 and haven't heard back. I think I'm going to re-apply.


message 6: by Erica (new)

Erica (ericastrahon) | 11 comments I tried re-applying as well, but it told me I had already applied.


message 7: by Dennis (new)

Dennis Elten | 8 comments i also applied and reaplied but no news yet


message 8: by Empress (new)

Empress (the_empress) Maybe instead of waiting around actually help with the database improvement. Librarian is just a status. You can do a lot to help out without being a librarian and there are users that do only that.

Post in this group:
editions for merging,
editions for combining
covers to be added
qutoes to be fixed
authors profiles for merging
authors profiles for disambiguation.
items for deleting that don't belong to the GRdatabase
editions to be added.
Authors names to be fixed, there are so many that either users or scripts add wrong.

There are users only posting books for combining and they have kept us busy for a long time. There are whole profiles of publishers, so the books need authors added. Findind these for us and posting with the information to be fixed will save us time.

Also doing all of this will help you understand the manual.


message 9: by Simone (last edited Apr 25, 2014 04:06AM) (new)

Simone (simonegrace) | 141 comments Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "Maybe instead of waiting around actually help with the database improvement."

Thanks Ellie, but I have actually already been doing this for quite a while with several web development books.

Our church library has recently received a whole lot of books that need editing on Goodreads. So, I figured I could help Goodreads out faster if I could edit them myself. I've also printed a hard copy of the manual and have read it all twice.
I'm also a librarian in real life and have access to an extensive amount of reference material (such as New Zealand history books) that I can contribute to the site.

So believe me, I'm not sitting here doing nothing.


message 10: by Empress (last edited Apr 25, 2014 04:20AM) (new)

Empress (the_empress) Simone wrote: "So believe me, I'm not sitting here doing nothing. "

A real librarian! ::Envy::

That is great! I wasn't implying you personally aren't or trying to help or to be judgemental. I know some people apply for librarians because they have something in mind and we could do those amends while they wait.

I suggest you reapply, and mention any other languages that you speak, also all of the above that you have mentioned. My personal theory is that other languages do help to get the status.

The History books, do they need to be added to the system? Is there anything other librarians (not so real ones) can help with?

A question, Does the NZ Transport Agency books have editors?


message 11: by Cloudedleopard (new)

Cloudedleopard | 139 comments You can also add books without being a librarian. If you search for a book which isn't present in the database, the page returns with a "add book manually" button. As far as I know only the cover art must be added by a librarian then. Maybe there will also be some editing to do but at least the book is represented at GR and people can put it to their libraries. The most important dates are: Author, Title, ISBN, publishing year/date, publisher and page count (maybe also some blurb).

This also helps a lot and is appreciated for further processing.


message 12: by Erica (new)

Erica (ericastrahon) | 11 comments Those are good ideas. I just didn't want to clog the forums with all my requests because I have hundreds of books and a large portion of those need covers and fixing. But it would some good while I wait.


message 13: by Empress (new)

Empress (the_empress) Erica wrote: "Those are good ideas. I just didn't want to clog the forums with all my requests because I have hundreds of books and a large portion of those need covers and fixing. But it would some good while I..."

Don't worry, plenty of librarians that are looking for stuff to do, and issues do come up with those requests so you would become more familiar with the rules.

I personally can't learn the manual by reading it without seeing an example, so I keep asking the same questions. I feel like the slowest librarian sometimes.


message 14: by Renato (new)

Renato (renatomrocha) | 44 comments Cloudedleopard wrote: As far as I know only the cover art must be added by a librarian then."
No, it is possible to add a new book and its cover without being a librarian. :)


message 15: by Empress (last edited Apr 25, 2014 10:23AM) (new)

Empress (the_empress) Renato wrote: "Cloudedleopard wrote: As far as I know only the cover art must be added by a librarian then."
No, it is possible to add a new book and its cover without being a librarian. :)"


It is also possible to do that after (for limited time) creating the edition.


message 16: by Simone (new)

Simone (simonegrace) | 141 comments Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "A question, Does the NZ Transport Agency books have editors?"

No it doesn't. Only the NZTA is credited for all road codes (including the motorcycle and heavy vehicle codes).

:) Honestly, working at a library is the coolest job ever. And I think I will reapply. And make myself sound a bit more awesome :P


message 17: by Empress (new)

Empress (the_empress) Simone wrote: ":) Honestly, working at a library is the coolest job ever. And I think I will reapply. And make myself sound a bit more awesome :P "

I can only imagine! I hope you get approved.


message 18: by Edward (last edited May 21, 2014 05:46PM) (new)

Edward Davies | 189 comments I've applied three times and haven't heard anything yet. It's a shame because there are lots of Hardy Boys books I want to update covers for, and also I keep noticing incorrect page counts on specific editions of books...


message 19: by Erica (new)

Erica (ericastrahon) | 11 comments I think we'll be waiting a long while. I've already applied about 5 times.


message 20: by Edward (new)

Edward Davies | 189 comments Grr, and I'd started adding books in anticipation that need to be combined but it's too time consuming asking someone else to combine them...


message 21: by Edward (last edited Jun 12, 2014 08:29PM) (new)

Edward Davies | 189 comments I've just found that most of the info on the Garfield Pocket Books is wrong, there's over 60 of them, and I'm not sitting down writing up what needs changing. I reeeeeeally want to be a librarian - my OCD is starting to kick off!


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