Book Status System and Invalid Shorts

[Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager]

Hi Librarians!

In response to this thread, and after discussions with the Goodreads team. we're refining how to handle invalid shorts which are part of a greater anthology.

Going forward we ask that you mark these as 'Invalid'. Previous process was to merge these into the greater work of the anthology.

The reasons for this change are as follows:

1. A member's review of a short story does not necessarily translate to the anthology, which means the rating and review can be misattributed when merging.

2. In the article Librarian Manual: Combining, merging and separating editions, merging is described as "combining two editions that are actually duplicates", therefore this change brings our actions in line with this policy.

3. The Help article, which links out from the banner on invalid book pages, names "A short story (or short stories) which have only been published in an anthology or magazine" as an invalid book item. This again brings the new process in line with policy.

Thanks for reading, and for all the effort you put into making our catalog so useful to our fellow readers.