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Questions (not edit requests) > [COMPLETE] Is it possible to un-delete a book?

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message 1: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments So this is kind of an odd one.

I've been told by librarians that Goodreads policy re: Alternate Cover Editions is that the ISBN should be moved to the most recent edition. However, because librarians cannot move ISBN numbers, one must contact Goodreads staff to make this change.

I recently e-mailed staff asking for this procedure to be done with a recent edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Rather than simply removing the ISBN from the old edition and moving it to the more recent one, the staff member deleted the more recent edition entirely, claiming that it was added in error and should not have been added to Goodreads despite the fact that all of its information was correct. Instead they created a new page for that edition with a bunch of incorrect information.

Since this change was completely unnecessary (and in violation of Goodreads policy), is there any possible way to undo this change and bring the old edition that people had shelved back?


message 2: by Scott (new)

Scott | 8710 comments No, it is not possible.

Creating an alternate cover edition moves the ISBN (or ASIN) automatically, so there is no need to involve support in such cases.


message 3: by Scott (new)

Scott | 8710 comments I see that an edition has been marked invalid a few hours ago by staff. This can be reversed, but not by librarians. If that is the edition you mean, you can try contacting support again and hope to get someone else.


message 4: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Scott wrote: "I see that an edition has been marked invalid a few hours ago by staff. This can be reversed, but not by librarians. If that is the edition you mean, you can try contacting support again and hope t..."

Yeah, that's the one. I replied in the email from staff about it being marked invalid, but no response so far. Going to send another email tomorrow morning.


message 5: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Scott wrote: "No, it is not possible.

Creating an alternate cover edition moves the ISBN (or ASIN) automatically, so there is no need to involve support in such cases."


So for clarification's sake, I can ask a staff member to mark the old edition as an ACE of the newer edition, and the ISBNs will automatically be moved from the old one to the new one?


message 6: by Scott (new)

Scott | 8710 comments Any librarian can create an alternate cover edition. If the primary author is a Goodreads Author, he or she can also do it.


message 7: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Scott wrote: "Any librarian can create an alternate cover edition. If the primary author is a Goodreads Author, he or she can also do it."

And the ISBN will move automatically?


message 8: by Scott (new)

Scott | 8710 comments Yes.


message 9: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Scott wrote: "Yes."

Thanks for all your help.


message 10: by Dobby (new)

Dobby (dobby0390) | 7859 comments Drace, when you write to Support about this, put ATTN: Jaclyn in the subject line.


message 11: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Just to provide an update: the person who responded to my email yesterday is defending marking the old edition as invalid as "it was added incorrectly to Goodreads and not marked as an ACE". Not sure why they thought that deleting and re-adding it from scratch rather than just marking it as an ACE was the right procedure.

I've sent a second email with ATTN: Jaclyn in the subject line. Hopefully she can correct this.


message 12: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Wanted to provide an update to this. Jaclyn still hasn't responded to my second e-mail to support about this. I understand why since I'm sure staff has a lot on their plates, but the issue of the old edition being invalidated and needing to be re-added still stands.

Are there any staff members who hang out in the forums that I might be able to get help from? Or should I send another e-mail to staff and hope someone who understands the mistake that was made responds?


Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂  | 2302 comments Drace wrote: "Wanted to provide an update to this. Jaclyn still hasn't responded to my second e-mail to support about this. I understand why since I'm sure staff has a lot on their plates, but the issue of the o..."

You could try adding Attention Jaclyn to the heading of this thread.


message 14: by Dobby (new)

Dobby (dobby0390) | 7859 comments Excellent suggestion, Carol.


message 15: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Done. Hopefully it gets her attention.


message 16: by Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ (last edited May 07, 2023 01:15PM) (new)

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂  | 2302 comments Drace wrote: "Done. Hopefully it gets her attention."

Thats ok. Be aware that it is still the weekend in South Africa (where Jaclyn lives)

Edited: typo.


message 17: by Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager (new)

Jaclyn (jaclyn_w) | 6004 comments Mod
Hello hello! Drace, I'll go find your email and reply there before the end of the week.


message 18: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Jaclyn wrote: "Hello hello! Drace, I'll go find your email and reply there before the end of the week."

I've been away from my computer so I haven't been able to respond, but thanks for taking the time to reply. Any updates on getting this particular issue fixed?


message 19: by Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager (new)

Jaclyn (jaclyn_w) | 6004 comments Mod
Hi Drace! Sorry for the delay - I started working on this and then came down with a cold. 🤒

This should all be correct and you can view the book here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...


message 20: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Jaclyn wrote: "Hi Drace! Sorry for the delay - I started working on this and then came down with a cold. 🤒

This should all be correct and you can view the book here:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3......"


Everything seems to be in order. Thanks so much for correcting the issues!


message 21: by Drace (new)

Drace (dracenines) | 7416 comments Corinne wrote: "Hi Drace, can you pretty please tone this down and replace the capital letters with lower case in the subject, especially since it's been completed."

Switched the "Attn: Jaclyn" bit to lowercase. I usually make "complete"/"incomplete" uppercase in my threads just to make it easier to see their status amongst other threads, but if I really need to make that lowercase in this thread title I'll do so.


Elizabeth (Alaska) Corinne wrote: "#11 here asks us to avoid: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

if something is complete i don't know that attention..."


So when someone marks a thread DONE that's wrong?


Elizabeth (Alaska) Corinne wrote: "*back reads* nope. good. i didn't say anything was wrong."

Then what was the point of your post #23?


message 24: by Jaclyn, Librarian Program Manager (new)

Jaclyn (jaclyn_w) | 6004 comments Mod
Thanks for confirming Drace! 😊

And thanks Corinne, definitely best to keep most of the title lowercase / sentence case. 'Done' or 'complete' are fine in caps.

Closing thread.


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