Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

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Archived > (DONE) add the descript, please

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message 1: by Toni (new)

Toni | 323 comments Hello,

please add the descripte:

Die süditalienische Ebene von Foggia ist im Januar 1945 das Zentrum der Alliierten Luftstreitkräfte. Plötzlich einsetzender Schneefall bedeckt den Ort mit einer unheimlichen Stille. Der Krieg scheint auszusetzen. Hoffnung bereitet sich aus. Der Gefreite Joe Hammond überlebt den Schnee nicht. Für ihn ist der Krieg zu Ende.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...


Thanks :)


message 2: by Sally (new)

Sally | 337 comments Hello!

The only (approved) place I could find any description of this book at all was on Book Depository, and it's different from the one provided: https://www.bookdepository.com/Die-fa... Is your description from the back of an actual copy of the book, a library, etc.? Because if so, I'll add that version. Otherwise, I'll put the Book Depository one.


message 3: by Toni (last edited Oct 09, 2022 02:57AM) (new)

Toni | 323 comments Hello Sally,

I typed the description of the book from the back.

hope this can help.

Many thanks for your effort


message 4: by Sally (new)

Sally | 337 comments Perfect, thanks! Description added.
If, in the future, there are more descriptions you want added and you take them directly from the cover of a physical copy of the book, please indicate so alongside the description text. It will make the process quicker.

Have a nice day!


Elizabeth (Alaska) Sally wrote: "The only (approved) place I could find any description of this book at all was on Book Depository..."

The library manual includes the use of various sources, including You may also write your own description

It does not say anything about "approved" sources. Has the policy changed?


message 6: by Sally (new)

Sally | 337 comments As far as I'm aware, the description is part of the book data and, as such, it has acceptable and not-acceptable sources where it can be taken from: https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

I believe that the "you may also write your own description" is mostly for those books that have none (in the sense that there is nothing written in the back), in the same way photos/scans of the covers can be provided by the users when there isn't any other acceptable source available.


Elizabeth (Alaska) Here is the librarian manual about book descriptions. Nowhere does it say there are "approved" sources. It even includes the possible use of wikipedia, which is not an approved source for other types of book data.

https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...


message 8: by Sally (new)

Sally | 337 comments As I understand it, there's no need to reiterate again acceptable and not acceptable sources in each and every one of the specific articles regarding book data (for example, they don't appear either in the number of pages one https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...) because the general article saying which are the acceptable sources appears before any of these. Wikipedia isn't listed as a not acceptable source in the link I put, in any case, although I believe it's usefulness is limited to things like descriptions, that don't rely on or aren't tied to a specific edition.

Again, that's how I've understood the manual, because of the way it is presented (from general articles to more specific ones). I don't have any problem changing how I deal with descriptions if my interpretation of the manual is wrong, but, in any case, this would be a discussion more suited for either the policies or the questions folder.


message 9: by rivka, Former Moderator (new)

rivka | 45177 comments Mod
It is always fine to write a book description based on your own knowledge of the book, as long as it is a description, not a review. And the description from the back of the book (usually provided by a user with the book in their possession), is also fine -- again, unless that includes review snippets, which would need to be omitted.


message 10: by Sally (new)

Sally | 337 comments Thanks for the clarification. I'll have that in mind for any future requests.


Elizabeth (Alaska) Thanks, Rivka. I thought it unnecessary to query a request about the source of a proferred description as long as the description is a summary and does not include review material.

Imported descriptions often *do* include review material and I have no problem deleting that portion of an already existing description.


message 12: by Toni (new)

Toni | 323 comments Hello Sally, thanks.

I'm sorry that I may have caused a discussion. I copied the description from the book. There is no recession or anything like that here. Just what was on the back of the book.

I'm sorry your help in this conversation ended. And thanks again for that

Best wishes Toni


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