Fix author name AND merge [EDIT]

[LP]

The author's name is Li Feng.

EDIT: Also requesting a merge

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Feng Li = Li Feng (re: the books on early Chinese history)

[Melaslithos]

Hi, fixed.

I considered Feng as the firstname and Li as the surname, am I right? Feng and Li are both common Chinese surname, so I am not really sure of myself in this case.

[LP]

Melaslithos wrote: "Hi, fixed.

Xiexie!

I considered Feng as the firstname and Li as the surname, am I right? Feng and Li are both common Chinese surname, so I am not really sure of myself in this case."

Yes, and I had the same dilemma. Upon further investigation, I found that Mr. Li prefers to have his books display his name the Chinese way, though in his CV he identifies himself as "Feng Li".

http://columbia.academia.edu/LiFeng/C...

I just noticed that the same author has two separate entries (Li Feng, Feng Li) which should be merged. (See edit in OP)

[Melaslithos]

Unfortunately, in Goodreads, we can't decide which comes first. It has to be "first name" then "surname", otherwise it messes with the authors sorting.

We can't change that for now, which is a problem for Chinese authors, as well as authors from quite a lot of other countries. We can only hope that the staff is working on this.

[LP]

I understand (well, even if I'm still confused). I've been reading potentially conflicting rationales for listing an author one way or another (How the name appears on the book jacket, for example, vs actual surname).

In this case all I'm suggesting is for Li Feng and Feng Li to be linked so that a person accessing either entry can find the full list of this author's works. (On early Chinese history, that is; unrelated titles may well belong to a different Li Feng/Feng Li.)

which is a problem for Chinese authors, as well as authors from quite a lot of other countries. We can only hope that the staff is working on this.

I second that emotion. :)

[Melaslithos]

OK, so what I did was to add both Li Feng and Feng Li as an author, so that whatever author you look for, you can find the book.

[LP]

Thanks, Melaslithos.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Melaslithos wrote: "OK, so what I did was to add both Li Feng and Feng Li as an author, so that whatever author you look for, you can find the book."

Please don't do that, for several reasons:

1) Searching should find both in any case.
2) Li Feng and Feng Li appear to be different people, at least sometimes. (The former a historian and the latter writes about e-business.) So unless we have the same book with the author credited both ways, the author listed should be as on the cover.

[Melaslithos]

On the book cover, it's written Li Feng, with Li being the family name, which always comes first in China.

Other Chinese authors I've seen have the family name and first name reversed in GR, in order to follow the "Western" habits, and which does not correspond to what is written on the cover.

How should we proceed in cases like this? Keep the Chinese order or the Western order?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

It really depends. But when all the covers are the same, we generally go with the covers.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the covers are not all the same, and then we usually use the Library of Congress as the official name source.

[Melaslithos]

So I suppose that for this author for example, since all the covers show "He Jiahong", I should reverse the order?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

And this one too?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Is that all covers of ALL BOOKS by those authors?

[Melaslithos]

Yes for the books written in latin letters. I was unable to check those in Arabic/Russian/Vietnamese/etc.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Then yes.

[LP]

rivka wrote: "It really depends. But when all the covers are the same, we generally go with the covers.

Unfortunately, in many cases, the covers are not all the same, and then we usually use the Library of Cong..."

Well, I guess I'm wondering why Goodreads shouldn't *always* have an author listing that corresponds to the LC entry, regardless of (and, sometimes, in addition to) what the covers display?

It seems to me that such a policy -- backed up with the appropriate procedures for creating new listings -- might help clear up confusion and cut down on the number of unmerged or "stray" Goodreads author names.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Goodreads policy has always been that the actual book (including its cover) is the primary source of book data, whenever that does not conflict with data from other books.

[Melaslithos]

OK to follow book covers, but in this case, what about the authors sorting? In the case when we write their name according to Chinese order, the authors won't come out at the right place?

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Author sorting is a different issue entirely, and not something librarians have control over.