Books missing publish date in book sort field

[Jennifer]

I've found some books that have a publish date or expected publish date listed on the book page, but the publish date is shown as "unknown" when sorting on shelves by the publish date field ("date pub"). This field typically works for books that are not yet published, so I'm unsure of what needs to be added to resolve it.

Let me know if you need any other details or help with this! Thanks - details and examples below. Dates are pulled from the book pages.

Example of future publication that DOES WORK:
Only Mostly Devastated

Books that are to-be published and show as unknown:
Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend - Feb 4, 2020
Miss Iceland - June 16, 2020
The Jetsetters - Feb 4, 2020
Last Couple Standing - Mar 17, 2020

Books that are already published and show as unknown:
Tokyo Mindscapes: Where to Go, When to Go, What to See - Aug 1, 2019
Tales from Behind the Window - Aug 21, 2019
Killer Domes and the Chosen One - July 6, 2019
The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae - Oct 29, 2019
Every Colour of You - Nov 15, 2018
People I Want to Punch in the Throat: Volume 1 - April 13, 2015
Cryptofauna - May 5, 2018
Little Girls - Apr 30, 2019
The Escape Manual for Introverts - Aug 6, 2019
Bruce Lee - July 30, 2019
Into the Wildbarrens - July 17, 2019
The Art of Looking Up - Oct 29, 2019
I Have Never - July 13, 2017
Literary Places - March 5, 2019
The Magician - Nov 1, 2017
My Job: More People at Work Around the World - March 12, 2019
Tigerheart - March 26, 2017

[Sandra]

The books need the Original Publication Date added. That is not always the date your edition was/is to be published. It is the earliest date for that work that needs to be added.

Working on it.

[lethe]

For not-yet-published books it is better not to fill in the original pub date yet, since the date is liable to change. When the date is corrected later, people often forget to correct the original pub date with it.

ETA For (my) future reference: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Sandra]

Done.

[Jennifer]

Lovely, thanks for the quick resolution!

[annob [on hiatus]]

lethe wrote: "For not-yet-published books it is better not to fill in the original pub date yet, since the date is liable to change. When the date is corrected later, people often forget to correct the original ..."

For once I disagree with your advise, lethe. The Librarian Manual was updated last year with this phrasing regarding the Original Publication Date field:

"Entering this date is important as it helps populate users' stats pages and ensure that relevant books are featured correctly on the New Releases page." (https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...)

Without a future date entered for not-yet-released titles, the Goodreads New Releases page for upcoming months would be blank, as would the monthly New Releases email.