Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Questions (from Librarians only)
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Requests in different languages [Outdated]
As some people who added a request have waited a long time for a reply from a librarian, I think it's good to give them quite some time as well. I use 3 months, enough time, even when someone is on a long holiday =D I don't know if there is a policy/practice about this. Might be worth a new topic.This is my standard reply:
Marking this topic as done; no response after a reply by a librarian for more than 3 months. Please feel welcome to add a new request, if you'd still like this book to be added. Please following the guidelines: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Good thinking. I can create a thread for the Swedish one when I'm back at a computer (I want ro make sure I read all the rules/routines properly).In the meantime, there's also a active folder in the Swedish goodreads group for this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Edit: My thread for Swedish requests: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I think 3 months is a lot. When we're talking about old requests that have been abandoned for many months, there's little chance that OP will want to do any extra work: look for the source, scan the cover. They're already abandoned by default.I have notifications turned on. So I close these abandoned old posts, but with a notification. If a person appears, I will answer him.
For new request we can discuss the time. I would say a week for a response. Either the person reads the guidelines and correct the request, or he/she just wrote and doesn't care.
I copied the standard answers from Jaclyn:Archiving older, complete requests. This book is here:
Archiving due to non-response. Please feel welcome to add a new request if you'd still like this book to be added.
Archiving due to lack of info. Please feel welcome to add a new request if you'd still like this book to be added.
When there is no information in the request:
Please follow the guidelines: How to request a book to be added to Goodreads.
What a great idea! I'm not a librarian yet, but I can assist with the links in my language.
Thanks!
Mod
Thanks for these Olga. I would recommend at least a month before archiving for all posts. 😊
To clarify even more; do you mean that we should give them at least one month to respond after a librarian (assistant) has asked a question, for instance for more info? Now I see someone asking a question and someone else closing it within a week. For me that feels too fast. Especially as they might have been waiting for more than 6 moths.
*months (on my mobile, so can't edit my message)
Mod
Yes, I mean give the member at least a month to reply to a question from a Librarian. Some people have long to-do lists and might take a while to reply 😊
I've made a page for Mandarin Chinese: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...My Mandarin is nowhere near as good as my Japanese, but I should be able to help with some requests, and maybe some others will come help.
I think "Mandarin Chinese" is confusing. Chinese dialects differ mainly in spoken language. All requests that I saw are in Simplified Chinese. Goodreads doesn’t even distinguish between Simplified and Traditional (which is very strange and wrong in my opinion). Just "Chinese".
Of course! If any of them can create a similar thread, we will be sending requests there. They don't have to socialize in our group if they don't want to. Will you ask?
Hmm.. I looked at this group, it looks like they are active and open to new requests. Can we send Arab requesters to their group?
Well spotted K1! Asking is always a possibility right? Just to see what happens. Would be nice if requesters don't first have to submit it here and then resubmit it in another group. It sounds like a great plan B though
It seems to me that many of them don't know English.
Hi Olga, about the Mandarin Chinese thing, books do exist in other Chinese dialects so I wanted to specify because I can only do Mandarin. I've seen requests posted that say "Mandarin Chinese", but if Goodreads doesn't allow for any of the other dialects that could be a problem, since like I said, there are some books published in those. It is more normal for written language to be Mandarin, but it's not always.
EDIT: Here, for example, is a requeset for a Cantonese book: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
EDIT EDIT: And this one, where the requester specifically asked for Cantonese, but it couldn't be provided: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Hi, Jordan! I looked at the list of languages on GR more closely, don’t know what criteria they used to choose languages. There are several dead languages and at the same time there is no division into some languages in which modern books are written.This unanswered request looks like all the data is there, ISBN, the source. I think we can add this by copy/paste (and select language "Chinese").
K1 wrote: "I just don't know why some submit them in the English/overall group."This is the official librarian group. Any other group that does librarian things is just created by users.
And I assume most will do good work, we should be aware that unofficial groups increase the risk policies are not followed. Either because librarians are missing the information shared here. Or users/authors think they can find there people willing not to follow the rules. The same way there are situations where people try to get things done against policy by directly contacting individual librarians.
K1 wrote: "there is an Arab Librarian group. Should we ask them for volunteers?"Great! Well, I've send a message in that group; see messages #18-21: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
And this is a new thread in that group for Arabic requests, just like we're doing here. We can try and see if it works: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
(reminder: to be able to post there, you need to join the group first)
Linde, I'll go with Renske. I don't think this is the right way to do it. Sending requests from the official group to an unofficial one is wrong. For the reasons Renske said.The help of Arab librarians is very needed, but only those who follow the policy. And it’s hard for me to imagine that a good librarian never asks questions in this group. At least to ask about some policy updates. And I looked last completed requests. I don’t think that adding books without ISBN and where the source is telegram is in line with the policy.
It would be better if one of the Arab librarians comes here and creates a thread in our group. Then at least some communication with him is possible. He will not have to monitor all requests, he'll only receive notifications in his thread. And at least we can ask him to Mark requests as Done.
Ok, so I also agree with Renske. I do not think that I'm doing what she's describing, as I'm not sending the users to that group. I'm bringing the librarians who know Arabic to the Goodreads Librarian Group. So this is the other way around. I understand w.r.t. Telegram. Just like we're communicating here, I don't think that's impossible there either. And coincidentally I've asked him to do 'Mark requests as Done' just now. But he may be willing to create a thread here too. It's the same idea really. Shall I ask him if he's willing to do that?
An Arabic thread now exists here in the Archived folder =D
@Linde, I can help with the Marathi and Hindi language. I have created the thread for the same.https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
@Shubhangi , it's great! I added the Hindi/Marathi thread to the list.
I have found few open requests for Filipino language. We need one thread for the same.https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Hello everyone! I can help with Italian and German requests, do i just add two new topics to "Archived" ?
Laam, yes, it would be Great! Create similiar threads to the Archive folder and send the links here, I'll add them to the list.Note. There are a lot of requests in these languages. Are you sure you can help with both languages? :)
Olga wrote: "Laam, yes, it would be Great! Create similiar threads to the Archive folder and send the links here, I'll add them to the list.Note. There are a lot of requests in these languages. Are you sure yo..."
I should probably start with Italian first you think? Let's see how it goes and what it means, here the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Then potentially if we find someone who else can help with German I could monitor that too
Added Italian thread to the list. There are old requests in Italian that were skipped by other librarians due to language barrier.
Justė wrote: "Created a topic for Lithuanian Requests: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."Great!! Thank you.
@Olga, I can't remember where you asked the question. Flemish is indeed also almost the same as Dutch. We can pick up those requests as well in the Dutch thread.
Added Afrikaans, Flemish to Dutch, Gallician to Portuguese, Catalan, Asturian to Spanish. Found a request in Faroese language, googled that this is old Germanic spoken language.
I have added a thread for requests about books in Estonian, Finnish and Danish.https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Diana, I think it would be better to separate the languages. Finnish+Estonian and Danish separately. We have Swedish librarians and I think they will be able to help with Danish requests (they didn't answered yet). Could you make a separate thread for Danish?
Removed Danish, kept Estonian and Finnish :).
Added Estonian/Finnish to the thread. I'll send you old requests now.
Diana wrote: "Removed Danish, kept Estonian and Finnish :)."As a Finn, I would strongly suggest that you separate Estonian and Finnish. Although the languages may sound similar to somebody who doesn't speak them, they are in fact two quite different languages. I definitely don't understand Estonian.
Hi, Camilla! It's up for a librarian which languages he/she wants to help with. Until recently, we had a common thread for Persian and Arabic (these are completely different languages). Then a new librarian joined us and the threads split. It would be great if you can help with Finnish requests, there are a lot of them. You can skip requests in Estonian. And in fact, there aren't many Estonian requests, I think there is no point in creating a separate thread for this.
I could give the German requests a try, but be aware that I became a GR librarian only recently and it may take me a little longer to add books. Still learning 😊Btw, Faroese is nothing like German (I certainly cannot read it). I read on Wikipedia that Icelandic is similar as well as Norwegian (at least in writing).
I could, however, help with Luxembourgish, if there ever are any requests in that language.
Camilla, I totally agree with you, but the idea here is not to group languages according to their similarities but rather create threads where fellow-librarians can post requests they don't feel comfortable filling due to language barrier.That being said, it is nice to see a Finn here. Maybe I could change my thread to only Estonian now and you can add thread about Finnish? (I am filling requests in multiple questions anyway, so if you want requests in your mother tongue for yourself, then surely you can have them :))
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17920 / 598 pages5280 / 177 pages) Many old requests there have already been completed (added by bot, staff or librarian who didn't post the link), and we just need to write "The book is here: #link" and Mark as Done. EDIT: If in some old request some librarian asked for more information / gave a link to the guidelines, and there was no answer for more than a month, such a request can be sent to the Archive folder.Part of the unfulfilled requests is related to language barrier. And at the same time, we have librarians who are ready to help with these languages, but they/we cannot find these requests among thousands of others.
If you are willing to help with some language, please create a thread in the Archive folder, where other librarians dealing with unfulfilled requests will be able to send links. This way you will be notified of new messages. If you can help with the language and someone has already created a thread for this language, please join. If you are interested in fulfilling any other type of requests (for example, comics) please write here too.
Here are the links:
Dutch & Flemish languages +Afrikaans
German language (=Deutsch) +Luxembourgish
Swedish language
Finnish & Estonian languages
Norwegian language
Looking for librarians: Danish, Swedich, Hungarian (=Magyar)
French language
on pause, looking for a librarian
Spanish language +Catalan +Asturian
Portuguese language +Gallician (=Galego) +Mirandese
Italian language
Romanian language
Greek language
Russian & Ukrainian & Belarusian languages
Bulgarian language
Macedonian & Serbian language (=Srpski)
Czech & Slovak & Polish languages
Croatian & Bosnian languages
Slovenian language
Lithuanian & Latvian language
Hebrew language
Persian & Urdu languages
Arabic language
Malay & Indonesian languages
Japanese language
Chinese language
Korean language
Vietnamese language
Hindi & Marathi languages
Bengali language
Kannada language
Malayalam language
Tamil language
Telugu language
Sinhalese language
Turkish language +Azerbaijani
Georgian language
Audible editions
Fanfics & Archive of Our Own