the formatting of a series in the new vs. the old way (aka the comma issue)

[Robin]

Hello All,

I have a question regarding the formatting of a series in the new vs. the old way.

The goodreads librarian manual says the proper way to enter a series is (series name #1), although it further indicates that the old way with a comma (series name, #1) is still also acceptable.

QUOTE : "Place the series information in parentheses after the title and any subtitle or transliteration. If the book is numbered in the series, place the number after the series name with the # symbol in front of it. (Use the same conventions for series numbering in titles as is used in the series object.) Previous conventions used a comma after the series name and before the number; this is also acceptable."

As I have been making other updates to books (adding descriptions, combining editions, etc), I also update the series - both to add the series to the title or if it's already there, to remove the comma.

I've noticed that when I have changed some series to have the comma removed and added some series to the books title field, that there is a particular librarian who goes back and reverts my changes back to include the comma.
Reviewing her librarian change log, I see that she goes back and adds in commas to many series - not just my edits, also the edits of others as well.

As far as the librarian manual indicates, I am formatting the series properly in the way indicated by using the new format, so there was no reason to undo my work and put it back to the previously used format.
I don't want to get into a back-and-forth editing issue where we keep changing each others updates, but I don't understand why she keeps undoing my work.

Can someone offer some guidance as to what is the appropriate thing to do at this point?
Should I revert her changes back? if I do so, is there a way I can leave her a note as to why I'm reverting?
Should I flag her changes?

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

[Renske]

Perhaps this user doesn't know that the policy has changed. I must say I missed this change also.

[Robin]

Thank you for your reply Renske, I had wondered about that myself.

When I go to any of the books in question, I can go to "edit details" then "librarian change log" to see that she reverted my series changes.
However, clicking on her name only shows me her librarian edits.

Is there a way a way I could contact her to ask why she keeps reverting and if she is aware of the changes?
or is that not appropriate?
Or is there something else I should be doing?

[Monique]

Robin,

I agree with Renske, it is possible that the Librarian doesn't know.

At this point you have several options. If you feel comfortable doing it (and that is an if) you can private message the other Librarian and give him/her a heads up on the changes to the Librarian Manual. Something like "Hey, I noticed this and I thought you might want to know that the Librarian Manual has been updated. Here's the link. [link to manual portion discussing series info in titles] Just wanted to let you know."

That might be good enough.

I would not, at this stage, revert the changes. No point in getting into a reverting "war", but I would say that later, it would be fine if you wanted to revert just the changes you personally made.

I would only flag the changes as a last resort. But that is my personal preference and other Librarians might disagree with me.

Also, you can always message Rivka and ask her opinion or ask her to handle it.

Also, clicking on the picture to the left of the name in the Librarian edits page will take you to their profile on Goodreads.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Since it is still acceptable to have the comma, I'm not sure why you were removing them to start with. I usually add the comma, when I am doing edits (although not always), and would be slightly irritated if I saw someone going through and changing the books I had added commas to.

In general, my feeling is that if you are adding the series information on a book that did not already have it, feel free to add the comma, or not.

But if a librarian has already added the series information, I advise leaving it alone if it is in an accepted format. And to be clear, both with and without the comma are currently accepted formats.

[Robin]

I'm glad to see that you replied rivka, I was just going to message you. :)


>>Since it is still acceptable to have the comma, I'm not sure why you were removing them to start with.

I was doing so because I thought I was doing something useful by transitioning to what the librarian manual indicated was the proper format, and updating information from what was referred to as the previous format.
I think I am understanding you to say that both are *equally* acceptable formats, which was not the impression I got from the manual. My apologies.

Also, I would only remove a comma in a series if I was making other changes to the book at the same time. Otherwise, it wouldn't have ever come to my attention.


>>would be slightly irritated if I saw someone going through and changing the books I had added commas to.

I can understand that. I also feel slightly irritated when I add the series information to a book and later someone edits my work to add a comma in that wasn't necessary.


>>if you are adding the series information on a book that did not already have it, feel free to add the comma, or not.
But if a librarian has already added the series information, I advise leaving it alone if it is in an accepted format.

Understood, thank you for clarifying.

You didn't specifically answer this part of the question, so I'm just going to go by what was implied.
If the series information I have added (without a comma) is later changed to include a comma, I will message the librarian with a link to the librarian manual and this thread inform her that both formats are equally acceptable formats and the lack of a comma did not need an update as it was in an acceptable format.
If I misread your reply, please correct.

Cheers! :)

[༺Kiki༻]

Rivka, my thanks, as well, for the clarification. I was fumbling with proper series formatting today. The manual does seem to favor comma-less series, at least for new additions. It's helpful to know that editing existing series information (e.i. removing the comma) in the title field is not necessary.