What are the rules for additional content in books?

[Irene]

Hello!
Apologies, I didn't know how to sum up my question in the title very well.

But basically, I've noticed that many classic books have hundreds (or even thousands) of editions combined together in one listing despite the content varying by a large amount. For example, an edition containing just the bare-bones book is considered the same book but different edition of the Norton critical edition that has hundreds of pages of extra content, such as annotated text, analysis, criticism, historical context, etc. I know that if an edition contains a whole other book, then it would be shelved as a separate book entirely, but what are the rules for:
- bonus chapters/content/epilogues
- short stories that have never been published on their own
- essays/criticism written by other people
- new forewords by other authors

Is it a grey area? Or is it based on whether that extra content has ever been published on its own?

Thank you in advance for any clarification on this topic!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

All of those should be combined, I believe. I don't know of any reason why they would/should not, nor why anyone would want them to be separate.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "All of those should be combined"

Correct. Differences can be noted in each edition's description field.

[Irene]

I see, I've been told by multiple librarians (including one that separated some editions) that the editions of Heart of Darkness that contain the Congo Diary (approx 14 pages of notes that have never been published on their own) cannot be combined with other editions of Heart of Darkness. I've posted about it at least 3-4 times over the past couple of years and always got a no.

I asked for several editions including these 3 below to be combined, and was told again, today, that it's not possible:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

Any idea why some librarians say it's not allowed?

And thank you for the quick response, I really appreciate it!

[Emily]

Irene wrote: "I asked for these editions to be combined, and was told again, today, that it's not possible:."

I don't see where anyone mentioned today that it was not possible. In fact a librarian tried to combine them and mentioned it was timing out.

[Irene]

As far as I can tell, this edition (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...) is the exact same book as the one in the first link above but I was told it cannot be combined.

[Irene]

Emily wrote: "Irene wrote: "I asked for these editions to be combined, and was told again, today, that it's not possible:."

I don't see where anyone mentioned today that it was not possible. In fact a librarian..."

Are you referring to the person who said "I have fixed the titles, but editions with the Congo Diary should actually be separate from those with just Heart of Darkness" ? He mentioned it timing out, but did not indicate that he was going to combine them since he disagreed with me about what the congo diary was.

But I was referring more to the posts from a couple years ago, I'll try to find links to them.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Librarians are volunteers. Sometimes incorrect decisions are made. I'm pretty sure in years past, I thought these were separate books rather than the Congo Diary being what it is. We learn, we improve. Librarian notes make a contribution to the overall quality of the catalog.

[Irene]

Here is one of the posts:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I think I'm just confused because I've posted about this several times and was hoping to be able to refer to a rule in the group when making the request since I don't understand why I am told no every time.

[Irene]

Is the best solution to make a new post if I'm told no about a request that isn't prohibited by the rules? I don't want to argue with anyone and tell people they're wrong since obviously librarians know more than I do about what's allowed, but it's frustrating when I've been trying to get these editions combined since 2019 :(

[Emily]

Irene wrote: "Are you referring to the person who said "I have fixed the titles, but editions with the Congo Diary should actually be separate from those with just Heart of Darkness" ? He mentioned it timing out, but did not indicate that he was going to combine them since he disagreed with me about what the congo diary was.."

Obviously most of us were under the impression it was a separate book, so we would have said they should be separate. He tried to combine them after you clarified what the Congo Diary was. No one was disagreeing after the clarification. That is what this group is for, to make the database accurate. We are all trying to help.
People don't have a timeline on when they can get back to something.
I have just tried myself and my computer just hangs up.
I'm sure some other people will try later. It can take time, and sometimes it depends on the speed and capacity of one's computer.

[Scott]

When this discussion was in its earlier stages, the Congo Diary did sound like it was a separate work to me. Now that you have elaborated more upon its nature, I am feeling that it is indeed more of a "supplement," and that the works should all be combined.

[Emily]

Irene wrote: "Is the best solution to make a new post if I'm told no about a request that isn't prohibited by the rules? I don't want to argue with anyone and tell people they're wrong since obviously librarians..."

I would stick to one thread, and just bump every 24 hours and people can try again if no one gets to it.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Combining works from initial post in this thread. Also, have entered a librarian note with link.

EDIT: Please note, this is a large work and combining can take awhile.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Combine is done. If there are other stray editions, feel free to make another request.

[Irene]

Elizabeth, I was never told by anyone that the reason it couldn't be combined was because they thought the Congo Diary was its own book, so I had no reason to think that was the reason. It was not "obvious" to me, a non-librarian who didn't even know you couldn't combine editions with two separate books until very recently.

I was only told that the editions couldn't be combined because they contained the Congo Diary and that experienced librarians had made that decision. I did not understand what the reason for that was, and when I responded with a long post comparing the editions, I didn't get a response. This is probably my 5th post asking about why it's not allowed (again, no one ever mentioned that it was because they thought the Congo Diary was a book), and this is the first time I'm hearing that it was a librarian error rather than that my request was not something allowed.

At any rate, thank you for combining them. Please understand my frustration from this being the 4th year I've tried to get this approved. And please don't think that I knew the "obvious" reason and was acting like I didn't all these years - I really did not know why my request was being denied, which is why I kept asking.

And @Scott, honestly had no idea that you were agreeing with me because you said "Seems like it's more than just a few pages of glossary" and then "It is timing out for me". I guess I missed that somewhere between the lines that you had agreed with me. This is what happens when English isn't your first or even second language, I guess.