suggested revision for merging identical editions

[willaful]

I found this section confusing, so Rivka suggested I reword it and put it up for discussion.

The current version:

If a particular edition is listed twice, it is appropriate to merge the two entries into one. Please do not delete an edition of a book just because it does not have an ISBN. Some older books that members manually add will not have ISBNs. Please check carefully and err on the side of not deleting a book edition.

Note that merging two editions deletes the less popular edition and merges all reviews into the more popular edition. This is different from combining editions, which is where you can mark one version of a book as the same as another.

When you find a duplicate and you know which edition it was meant to be, this is how to merge that duplicate with the actual edition:

My changes:

If a particular edition is listed twice, it is appropriate to merge the two entries into one and delete the least popular entry. Please do not delete an edition of a book just because it does not have an ISBN. Some older books that members manually add will not have ISBNs. Please check carefully and err on the side of not deleting a book edition.

To merge two entries, combine it with the other editions, if it’s not already combined. Click 'delete this book' at the bottom of the edit book page. Note that this only works for books that have been shelved 5 times or less. Books that have been shelved more than five times must be deleted by a (Super Librarian? Is that the official name?)

Merging two editions deletes the less popular edition and merges all reviews into the most popular edition available. This is different from combining editions, which is where you can mark one version of a book as the same as another. <-- this sentence is unclear to me

If you know a duplicate entry is meant to be a specific edition that is not the most popular, this is how to merge it with the actual edition:

[Cait]

It sounds like the confusion is stemming from the combining/merging distinction again: saying "merge the two entries into one and delete the least popular entry" is redundant, since it is the act of deleting one entry which does the merging. Perhaps this would be clearer:

If a particular edition is listed twice, it is appropriate to merge the two entries into one by deleting the least popular entry.

I agree that it would be useful to put something in the manual here about super-librarians (it is indeed the official name!) being needed to delete a book shelved by five people.

Perhaps we should break the whole thing down into steps:

Books are often published in many editions, and these editions are combined together because they are all versions of the same book yet remain different editions. However, if a particular edition is listed twice, it is appropriate to merge the two edition entries into one by deleting the least popular entry. This will move all reviews and book references onto the correct entry for that edition.

Please do not delete an edition of a book just because it does not have an ISBN. Some older books that members manually add will not have ISBNs. Please check carefully and err on the side of not deleting a book edition.

Legitimate duplications of editions are alternate cover editions.

1. If the duplicate entry is a duplicate of the most popular edition or does not have any edition-specific information at all, combine it with the other editions of this book. If the duplicate entry is a duplicate of a specific edition which is not the most popular, separate the duplicate and the specific edition from any other editions and combine them only with each other. (Note: If a duplicate gives some information, take the most popular edition which matches the given information exactly as the specific edition which has been duplicated. Common information given includes format, language, and/or cover art. If there are no editions which are exact duplicates for the information given, stop here and do not delete.)

2. If there is any information on the duplicate entry which is not present on the correct entry, edit the correct entry to add the information. (Again, if there is conflicting information, the editions are probably not duplicates and should not be merged. The only exception to this rule is page numbers: if the correct edition's page numbers appear to be generic from the Amazon/B&N import and the duplicate edition's page numbers were entered manually, the imported page numbers can be assumed to be incorrect and can be overwritten.)

3. If this edition has been shelved four or fewer times, open the duplicate for editing and click 'delete this book' at the bottom of the edit book page. If the edition has been shelved five or more times, copy the URL of the duplicate's book page (not the edit page) to the active "Delete this book" thread in the librarian group with a request for a super-librarian to delete the duplicate; if you separated the specific edition in step 1, include in your request the title of the most popular edition so that the super-librarian can recombine the specific edition with the other editions after merging.

4. If you separated a specific edition in step 1 and merged the duplicate yourself in step 3, recombine the specific edition with the other editions of this book now.

[Carolyn]

willaful wrote: "This is different from combining editions, which is where you can mark one version of a book as the same as another."

Willaful, great idea to rework this.

Cait has some great ideas, one suggestion I have for the wording of how to describe combining would be something like:

This is different from combining editions, which is where you can group different versions of the same book together, but none are deleted from the database.

Might need to be polished up a bit, but just an idea...

[willaful]

Cait, I think it's kind of a jargon issue. When I reread the original manual entry, having actually had the process explained to me and done it, I could see that the information was actually there. However to a newbie who isn't familiar with the terms yet, it was very unclear. When I rewrote it, I was trying to think of a way it would have made sense to me, but I may still not be using the terms completely appropriately.

[Lobstergirl]

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but the term "merge" is confusing because it appears nowhere on the book page or combine page, right? Only the term "combine" appears. I didn't even know what "merge" was before I read the first post above. Is it necessary to use "merge" at all? I still find The Current Version incredibly confusing and frankly it makes little sense to me, as an experienced librarian. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Jenny]

I didn't know what it meant either when I first applied for librarian status. I figured it out through a combination of reading the manual and also the posts in here.

For those who might be confused, "merging" refers to the actions that librarians need to take prior to going in to delete a duplicate book that has reviews attached to it. Since it would benefit the person(s) who reviewed a duplicate to have their reviews switched over to the proper edition (if it can be determined via publisher, date, etc. which edition is the corresponding entry), librarians separate the duplicate entry and the correct entry (together, using the separate tool) before deleting the duplicate. That way, the reviews merge into the correct version of that edition - the entry that was duplicated. Once the reviews have been merged correctly, the remaining entry is recombined with the other editions. If the edition that was duplicated is already the most popular, no separation is needed since the reviews will merge into that edition upon deletion anyway.

[Sandra]

Very well put Jenny.

[Carolyn]

Nice summary Jenny!
So basically, the confusion is because the reviews are being 'merged', but the book is actually being deleted (after the merge action takes place.)

[willaful]

That actually wasn't what confused me. What confused me was there were very specific instructions for the process, but they were secondary instructions. I'm speaking of this:

"When you find a duplicate and you know which edition it was meant to be, this is how to merge that duplicate with the actual edition: "

Followed by step by step instructions.

So I assumed, reasonably I think, that that was the merging process. It turned out that is only the process if you don't want to merge the book with the most popular edition, and in fact it won't work if you're trying to merge the book with the most popular edition. (Because the most popular edition can't be separated.)

The change I proposed was primarily to add the instructions for how to do the merge into the most popular edition. I'm sorry if I made it more confusing by not using the words in their specific meaning.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

willaful wrote: "So I assumed, reasonably I think, that that was the merging process."

Other than the exception you are pointing out (which is an important one), you're right. That is exactly what "merge" means.

[Carolyn]

willaful wrote: "That actually wasn't what confused me. What confused me was there were very specific instructions for the process, but they were secondary instructions..."


Sorry for any confusion willaful. = )

I was working off of this from your OP:
"This is different from combining editions, which is where you can mark one version of a book as the same as another. <-- this sentence is unclear to me."

so, I thought you were looking for clarification of how to describe combining.

Overall, I think the proposed changes are a good idea.

[willaful]

I guess I should have made that more clear -- that sentence was a secondary isue and I thought I might as well throw it in while I was at it. ;-) And it's mainly that, while I think I do understand the difference between combining and merging, I really don't understand what the particular sentence means. It doesn't describe "combining editions" as I understand it.

[willaful]

I'm going to have limited internet access for about a week, so forgive me if I don't respond to this thread right away.