Clarifying the difference in editions

[Kathy KS]

I'd like to have the definition of "edition" clarified in the Librarian's manual . Actually, there needs to be distinctions, I believe. Standard library practice (in the library world) uses "edition", especially for nonfiction, as a way of showing a true difference in a work. In other words, the 4th edition of a book is going to be different from the 1st edition, often in many ways, including information being updated. In the eyes of professional librarians, these are two distinct works... they are NOT the same book because of the changes (some often profound).

I have no trouble with calling various printings of fiction books "editions"; however, I can't find anywhere that actually gives guidance for new versions of nonfiction books. Some seem to be lumped together with all editions combined on the same record, while others have separate entries (which is correct, IMHO). Could we, please , get some clarification? If I read two different, widely separated, editions of a nonfiction work, the information is different and I want to record that. However, since GR defaults to the "most popular", it is difficult to get to the correct edition (in the library sense of the word).

As an example, look at Tracing Your Irish Ancestors. This is a 2nd edition of the work; it's at least in the 5th edition by now, but all are on the same GR record. In my eyes, the 5th editions was NOT originally published in 1992/1993... that was the 1st edition and it was vastly different, because much has changed with technology, etc., in the genealogy world. My fingers itch to separate the editions in this case, but I can't find anything on the matter, specifically. A search including the word "editions" just returns too many, and I can't find any on this issue.

[lethe]

Kathy wrote: "In my eyes, the 5th editions was NOT originally published in 1992/1993... that was the 1st edition and it was vastly different"

In my opinion as a professional librarian, the original date of publication of a work is the date the first edition was published (this is also according to the official cataloguing rules). It does not matter if later editions were revised, enlarged, or whatever. The original publication date is the first edition's, and is usually also stated in later editions.

For example, my 2-volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is the 5th edition published in 2002. The reverse title page states the publication history and it says "First edition 1933".

It is true that, especially since the introduction of RDA, library catalogues do not link different editions of a work together the way Goodreads does. But GR does allow edition-specific information to be given in the edition field, and the wording is taken directly from the edition in question, so I don't see why clarification would be needed.

Searching for a specific edition is best done by ISBN.