Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Questions (from Librarians only)
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replacing wrong covers
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Doubravka wrote: "So my question is: is it allowed to replace a cover that unquestionably doesn't belong to a certain edition (because it is in a different language, of a different book entirely etc.)?"If you are 100% positive you certainly can, but make sure you leave a note in the changelog.
I have marked as invalid a few of the Amazon bots' efforts where the cover/title weren't the same, so that is another option.
I would first check why this cover was added (in the Logs).If the book was added or changed by bot, it's ok to correct the bot's error.
Sometimes it happens that a book was added without ISBN, with the correct data and cover, but the bot added the wrong ISBN. In this case I'd ask support to move ISBN.
Or it may have been added by a user a few years ago. Especially if it's a non-English book without ISBN. If this book has reviews, I would check which book they rated, sometimes it's better to correct the data rather than the cover.
P.S. I see you are from the Czech Republic. Have you seen this thread?https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
We already have two librarians who help with Czech, Slovak, Polish requests, but it would be great if a native speaker could join in. There are a lof of requests.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I always check the changelog before making any changes of course. I asked the question because the diction of the Manual made me believe it is not allowed to change a cover for whatever reason ever. But then I saw requests being made for doing so, marked as done. Such as replacing a blurred cover with one of a better quality for another instance. So just to be sure: that is allowed?Olga wrote: "P.S. I see you are from the Czech Republic. Have you seen this thread?"
I read the thread and will check the Czech requests thread from time to time (won't follow it because the notifications would kill me) and try to help. But I don't promise anything, I'm always really anxious I might do something wrong and in trying to fullfill requests that anxiety would be doubled.
As far as I understand the Manual, we shouldn't change covers from one to another (like when a book comes out with the same ISBN but a different cover - it must be ACE). You can see requests from authors who don't like their old cover and want to change it to a new one. This is not allowed.Replacing a blurry cover with a better one is not changing it. This is.. an improvement, I think. And in many cases this is the correction of errors made by the bot (replacing the backcover, illustration, rough cover, images with the words "it is not a real cover"). Often it is enough to undo a couple changes made by bot when the correct cover of good quality appears.
Or I replaced covers with bookseller watermarks added by users with covers from the publisher. This is a fix for something that shouldn't have been on Goodreads in the first place.
I was told that in such cases it is important to leave a comment in the "change comment" field.
Thank you very much for clarifying this point!
So for clarification: We can delete a blurry, low resolution or watermarked cover and upload a good image of the same cover right?
Amirmasoud wrote: "So for clarification: We can delete a blurry, low resolution or watermarked cover and upload a good image of the same cover right?"Yes, especially a watermarked cover as that shouldn't be on Goodreads. But you must explain what you have done in the changelog.
Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "Amirmasoud wrote: "So for clarification: We can delete a blurry, low resolution or watermarked cover and upload a good image of the same cover right?"Yes, especially a watermarked cover as that s..."
Thank you!
Hello again.I tried to delete a low quality cover and upload a better one, I don't know what I did wrong, but now I have to editions! I can't merge them because it says a superlibrarian is needed since it has a lot of reviews (zero in fact!)
Please tell me what I did wrong, and what I can do. The same thing has happened for another book too.
Please provide the links
In both cases you created ACE (Alternative cover editions). You didn't delete and reupload covers. #14 The book was shelved 6 times, so you need a superlibrarian to merge these editions.
We create ACE in cases when the book with the same ISBN was republished with a new cover.
See - https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...
I checked the Logs. You deleted low quality cover and upload a better one on Jul, 16. Absolutely correct. Then on Jul, 17 you created ACE with the same cover, as a result of which ISBN was moved to a new edition.
Oh thank you! I try to do better in the future.
Amirmasoud, you can send these links to the "Requests for Superlibrarians" folder to merge the editions.
Hi, adding more question to this thread, as I had the same doubts and still not clear about what to do. In case I have a book without ISBN (old edition) where the title and information clearly don't match the cover, as it is in a different language. It has been shelved many times, and according to the changelog it was combined many times.
Do I then change all the information so it would match the cover, since it is forbidden to change the cover?
Example here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Yes. Users (not librarians) when added books quite often translated the title into English (incorrectly). And it looks like the Russian description was set by default.
So my question is: is it allowed to replace a cover that unquestionably doesn't belong to a certain edition (because it is in a different language, of a different book entirely etc.)?