Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Policies & Practices
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How to write Mrs?
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I only know that Mrs is British and Mrs. American.
I’ve always just matched it to the coverMrs. Georgie Sheldon
So far I haven’t encountered any that left off the period; English used to include it like American does, so in dealing with public domain authors it’s always there.
Edit: worth noting that almost zero modern authors publish using a Mrs.
Edit 2: I may be wrong, but if a reprint edition like Forgotten Books messes up author names (which they do on most of their books) I still go with what name the author used during their lifetime or what name was used on the original edition the book was copied from, instead of leaving ten author profiles for the same author. In other words, I don’t match covers if they are cheap copies of the original.
Hannah wrote: "I may be wrong, but if a reprint edition like Forgotten Books messes up author names (which they do on most of their books) I still go with what name the author used during their lifetime or what name was used on the original edition the book was copied from, instead of leaving ten author profiles for the same author."If a PD publisher uses an incorrect or more complete name on their cover it should be added as secondary author.
F.e. Lucy Maud Montgomery should be added as a secondary author, because it is a more complete version of L.M. Montgomery.
An author name with a typo should also be added as a secondary author, f.e. Jane Austin: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... (although she should probably get her own profile, since there is an actual Jane Austin as well :) )
Name versions that should not be added are those with dates in brackets and those with titles, unless the primary profile on Goodreads uses a title as well (Lord Byron).
Then why do we as librarians spend hours combining authors with OCR typos in their names and such? We still have to obey the guidelines for what qualifies as a name entry. Surely you aren’t suggesting we leave all the author names as the cover shows, if the cover version breaks the guidelines?? That’s what I’m talking about.
Hannah wrote: "Edit 2: I may be wrong, but if a reprint edition like Forgotten Books messes up author names (which they do on most of their books) I still go with what name the author used during their lifetime or what name was used on the original edition the book was copied from, instead of leaving ten author profiles for the same author. In other words, I don’t match covers if they are cheap copies of the original."I do this too. Merge misspellings, names with dates, erroneous/duplicated middle and/or surnames.
To answer the original question. I opt for Mrs. and merge those without a period on the rare occasion when I've seen it.
Hannah wrote: "Surely you aren’t suggesting we leave all the author names as the cover shows, if the cover version breaks the guidelines??"I don't know exactly what you are referring to, but names analogous to the examples I gave should be added as secondary author. I.e. full name when the author was published with initials or a shorter name in their lifetime, and spelling mistakes such as Austin instead of Austen. A reader searching for Jane Austin should be able to find their copy of Pride and Prejudice. These author versions do not "break the guidelines".
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I do this too. Merge misspellings, names with dates, erroneous/duplicated middle and/or surnames."
I once edited a (non-PD) French book. The book cover had a spelling mistake in the author's name (comparable to Mongomery versus Montgomery). I was told by rivka the name should be added as on the cover.
Well, we don't add names without accents when they name is usually published with them. And other types of misspellings. If that is not correct, I can stop doing them. And most of the librarian work I do.
The thing is, since this is an American system, 'search' ignores accents. So whether you type Brontë or Bronte in the search field, it will find the Brontës.Not so when looking for a full name if the author is only added with their initials. Or when looking for a wrongly spelled author, such as William Somersert Maugham if he is only known as W. Somerset Maugham (in this case there is no cover, so it can be changed, but it was the only typo I could find in the system. My go-to author Virginia Woolf seems to have no variations left).
lethe wrote: "The thing is, since this is an American system, 'search' ignores accents. So whether you type Brontë or Bronte in the search field, it will find the Brontës.Not so when looking for a full name if..."
If someone has that book, then they can search by title, not author. Author searches are horrible on GR.
I do wonder that you advocate so strongly for the name as published, yet you seem to want the name Soseki Natsume rather than Natsume Soseki.
Whether you search Soseki Natsume or Natsume Soseki makes no difference at all to the system.On the other hand, it is a pretty basic rule on GR that you should never merge a fuller name into a shorter one (if published).
lethe wrote: "Whether you search Soseki Natsume or Natsume Soseki makes no difference at all to the system."So, it's OK with you that we just put the names in any old order because the search is the same?
It would be good to hear from Rivka that we shouldn't be merging garbage profiles.
There are authors who have dates and parentheses and other strange characters OCRed into their names. The Projects folder has been cleaning up a lot of these (Arenda is very active there). It would be very strange to think that anyone would think the author name like “Wil(iamson” would be searched by anyone....🤔
Like these exampleshttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
What I’m saying is, no author gets to keep an initial without a period...those get merged. It is librarian policy to add a period after every initial, no matter how published. That’s the sort of situation I’m talking about.
Hannah wrote: "There are authors who have dates and parentheses and other strange characters OCRed into their names. The Projects folder has been cleaning up a lot of these (Arenda is very active there). It would..."I already said (in msg #4) that those should not be added. I only said fuller names should not be merged into shorter names and spelling mistakes like Austin should be kept. Of course I am not talking about things like Jane Aus(ten.
Spelling mistakes should be merged.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Spelling mistakes should be merged."No, see msg #8, last paragraph.
lethe wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Spelling mistakes should be merged."No, see msg #8, last paragraph."
I'll wait for Rivka, thank you.
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "lethe wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Spelling mistakes should be merged."No, see msg #8, last paragraph."
I'll wait for Rivka, thank you."
Agreed. Meanwhile, I found the thread and it depends on whether the author can be found in search: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
"Every case is different"In any case, I've decided I'll only do random edits, like when I see "a novel".
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Mrs.
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F.e. Lucy Maud Montgomery should be added as a secondary author, because it is a more complete version of L.M. Montgomery.
An author name with a typo should also be added as a secondary author, f.e. Jane Austin"
Agreed.
Like all work done by Goodreads Librarians, any specific librarian can choose to avoid -- or prefer! -- working on specific books or types of books.
rivka wrote: "Arenda wrote: "I can't find in the Librarian Manual or in this group how to write these authors. Should it be "Mrs" or "Mrs." ?"Mrs."
Thank you
Goodreads Librarians Group
Authors mentioned in this topic
W. Somerset Maugham (other topics)Lord Byron (other topics)
Mrs. Georgie Sheldon (other topics)
I can't find in the Librarian Manual or in this group how to write these authors. Should it be "Mrs" or "Mrs." ?
I've seen examples of both here on GR. Personally I'm inclined to include the period, just like we do with initials, but maybe we need an official policy.