Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Questions (from Librarians only)
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Requests in different languages [Outdated]
Olga wrote: "Thanks to the joint efforts of the librarians (as well as staff and members of this Group), the "add book" folder is shrinking by a hundred or two every day. (Left to do: 17918 / 598 pages 15 days ..."I can help with Tamil Language requests. I made a thread here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Hi, Vaishnaa! It's Great! Can you help with other Dravidian languages (Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu)? I don’t know how similar they are, only what Wikipedia says.
Hello everyone,I am following this thread as well as the language threads for a while already and am wondering, if it is really necessary to put all open requests to the language threads ...?
I just saw in the German thread (where I'll be happy to help out sometimes if necessary and if I'm capable to), that there were requests which were only added a few day ago to the "add books" folder and where I am pretty sure that experienced librarians could/would also handle these without a profound knowledge of the German language. I thus would suggest that only requests that were not solved for a certain amount of time are also put in these threads. Just my five cents - of course the people who are actively working in the relevant threads need to be happy.
PS: I just read my text again and wanted to add: I think the work you all do in the language threads is very important and helpful!
minzi wrote: "I am following this thread as well as the language threads for a while already and am wondering, if it is really necessary to put all open requests to the language threads ...?."I second this. I took this to be a way to solve the issue of language barrier, but I can't see any language issue with most of the books linked to in the Swedish thread. They're just mostly properly made requests for books in Swedish, which any Librarian should be able to add without any issue.
It seems to me that it's not much an issue of language barrier, but rather Librarians not caring to add books not in your own language.
I think it's also a way for librarians who want to fill requests in their own language(s) to find them without having to look through 500+ pages.
I guess the wishes are different here per librarian. I saw that Olga put in the French thread that she's willing to work on old requests from 2023. On the other side I know that for instance Bruno really looks for all Portuguese requests, like Kim mentions, no matter when the requests were added. I mainly work on the oldest request anyway, but I'm ok with doing more recent Dutch ones, probably a little faster in my native language mainly in validating the data. And in some languages I don't feel very comfortable... even though it might seem simple to a native speaker. So, I'm fine either way I guess.
This language idea came about because librarians want to help with requests in their own language. Given that librarians are volunteers, they do what they want to do. And some want to fulfill requests in a specific language. Searching by language in this group works terribly, and some requests are missing the language name. Some librarians don't want to look at the "Adding books" folder at all. It's more convenient for them to be notified of new posts in their language thread and do only those requests.Other librarians do requests from the end, one by one, some choose selectively. And these language threads does not bother them, they work in parallel. We have a non-librarian who likes to check requests and send them to others to do them (with feedback that yes, it is helpful what are you doing). Another librarian likes to add audiobooks and I send those requests to him. Can I do them? Of course. But I don't like to add Audible and he does. So...
Which requests should be sent to the language thread can only be determined by the librarian fulfilling those requests. The first message that begins with the words “I’m glad to help with...” is magical :) I clarified in my French thread that I am ready to help only with old requests. Precisely because other librarians can easily add books in French and I don’t have enough time to do them all. But I kindly ask to send all requests in Russian to me. Because when other librarians do them, they do a lot of errors due to language barrier (not everyone of course, some did it perfectly before me) and I have to correct them. For example, librarians don’t understand where the first name is and where the last name is. I, on the other hand, have difficulty understanding the order of names in Hungarian books (they usually have surname first).
There is also a point that a native speaker can navigate these books much easier. For example, the requester doesn't provide a link to the source, but there is a publisher name. Yes, we can send a “please send a link” template, but for a librarian who is familiar with publisher, it only takes a few seconds to find this book on the official site. The most important thing is that it is comfortable for the librarian who fulfills these requests.
Olga wrote: "The most important thing is that it is comfortable for the librarian who fulfills these requests. ."I fully agree with that!
Thanks for all your thoughts. I admit that I apparently did not always read the first magical sentence ;-).
These are fair points. I might have taken this first post too literal, and have now updated "my" thread to clarify my personal stance. I too prefer to add books in my language, but I expected to help with what was hard for others, and then felt flooded when any and all Swedish books was linked.
I think I'll also turn off notifications for that thread as well, to make it easier for me to check it when I feel like it, without getting notifications for every post.
Olga wrote: "Hi, Vaishnaa! It's Great! Can you help with other Dravidian languages (Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu)? I don’t know how similar they are, only what Wikipedia says."Olga, I am not fluent in those. But I can certainly help with the basic understanding I have on those. In the meanwhile, let me search for librarians who are much fluent and pursue them to join in this project.
I made these separate threads.
Malayalam: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Telugu: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Kannada: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Sinhalese:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Added Korean and Dravidian threads to the list.These languages are really difficult for those who don't speak them.
I'm trying to contact all active librarians, but it's hard to do with private messages closed and notifications turned off.
Made one for Slovene here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...Bosnian and Croatian here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Opted not to include Serbian as I do not read cyrillic.
Added new language threads to the list. I hope Polish librarians will join. There are a lot of requests in Polish.
Hello,I've noticed there isn't a thread dedicated to Turkish (and Turkic) languages, and I can assist with any requests in Turkish.
As far as I remember, there were some pretty active Turkish librarians I came across and could potentially reach out to.
In the meantime, I went ahead and opened a new thread for this:
Turkish & Turkic Languages Requests
I see that the Czech & Slovak thread has been updated to include Polish =D
Do we have a thread for requests in Icelandic?
Martina wrote: "Do we have a thread for requests in Icelandic?"No, and no similar ones.
Olga wrote: "Martina wrote: "Do we have a thread for requests in Icelandic?"No, and no similar ones."
Too bad - I came across a couple of requests that didn't provide enough info.
Same with requests in Irish.
Was there anyone willing to create a Danish one? There are quite a few =D
There is a librarian who fullfilled requests in Danish and answered in this language, but I don't know how to contact her. I posted comments to Done requests, but it looks like she turned off notifications. And she doesn't accept messages...
Added Macedonian & Serbian thread to the list.Most of all we need Romanian & Hungarian librarians. And Danish / Norwegian / Swedish librarians, since no one fulfills requests in these languages.
It would also be great to have someone who understands Vietnamese and Thai languages. There are not many requests, but without language knowledge they are difficult to fulfill.
If Ukrainian is to be separated in its own thread, I'd keep an eye on it.
Hi, Vira! It's great that you want to help. I'm not sure it makes sense to create a new thread for Ukrainian language. As you can see there are not many requests and all the old ones are already done. Ollie adds most of the Ukrainian books before they even get to this thread. But we would be glad to have your help in the current thread. Or you can simply search by language and add new requests.
Olga wrote: "Ollie adds most of the Ukrainian books before they even get to this thread.."I keep contacts with all main Ukrainian publishers. Most books they add themselves, sometimes ask me for help.
People's requests are usually about some old books, so I'm happy to help here when needed.
Hi! Added to the list. There are not many requests in Georgian, but it's definitely a difficult language for those who do not speak it.
Added to the list. There are a lot of unanswered requests in Romanian. Take your time :)
I've just noticed there's <300 pages left in the Adding New Books folder. Good job y'all! 🙌🏻
Hi librarians, I can help with Vietnamese, Japanese, English books.
Hi Librarians,I can help with German and English
I'm also happy to help with Other languages, if there is sufficient Information to do so (like an amazon link)
Hi, Semilico! You can find the link to German thread and other links in the first post. As for English requests just do any one in the "Adding New Books & Editions" folder.Giang, if you could create a Vietnamese thread (in the Archive folder), that would be very helpful.
Hi, I created a thread for Norwegian language requests here:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Giang wrote: "Hi librarians, I can help with Vietnamese, Japanese, English books."Hi Giang, are you still willing to help out with Vietnamese requests? :-)
A whole bunch of them is still open, not getting any attention due to the language barrier. It would be awesome if you could create a thread for Vietnamese requests so we can start sending them your way (if you're still up for it of course).
Please update the link for the Dutch & Flemish requests to: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...The thread was becoming so long that loading it became slower, so I created a new one.
Also an idea so that it is easier to start helping in existing threads for new librarians or librarians new to this system: Have one thread per language instead of mixing them together. Of course exceptions can be made, but it seems that it is easier for new librarians to help if a thread only has a language that they know. Any opinions?
I updated the links. Unfortunately, I will no longer be able to help with requests.
If anyone with knowledge of French would like to take over the thread, please post here or create a new one.
If there are new librarians who know Cyrillic, then your help is very much needed.
The Finnish/Estonian thread appears to be closed. Is there a new thread(s) for those languages? Estonian request here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Any hungarian librarians yet? I need help finding a hungarian book so that I can add its bulgarian edition. Probably the hungarian book is not on GR either. In bulgarian the book is called Дневник от мазето by Лайош Наги (Lajos Nagy). I believe the original title of the book is Pincenapló but I am not entirely sure. If no one is able to help I guess I'll just add the bulgarian request without combining it to the original work
Martina wrote: "Giang wrote: "Hi librarians, I can help with Vietnamese, Japanese, English books."Hi Giang, are you still willing to help out with Vietnamese requests? :-)
A whole bunch of them is still open, ..."
Hi Martina
Yes, I'll take care of Vietnamese requests.
Olga wrote: "Hi, Semilico! You can find the link to German thread and other links in the first post. As for English requests just do any one in the "Adding New Books & Editions" folder.Giang, if you could cre..."
Hi Olga
I created a topic for Vietnamese language requests here. Could you please help to add it to the list?
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Added the Vietnamese thread to the list.
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In Faroese I saw only one request and read in Wikipedia: "Faroese is a North Germanic language". Never seen a request in Luxembourgish.
Feel free to ask questions in the Librarian folder. Or you can write here where we are discussing requests issues
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...