Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
Policies & Practices
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ebook Page Numbers
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Sandra, I hate to say it but it's very likely those particular librarians don't read these message posts, or the librarian manual either. If it's being done by a very few librarians, maybe you can message the mods here about it, and maybe those librarians can be messaged or, if they're accepting messages, perhaps you could pm them.
I'm not going to say who did the last one but I see them on the top list not that far from myself. So I'm hoping they do see it. If it continues I will end up messaging them. Thanks Lisa.
It seems to me that using the number of pages from the PDF wouldn't be accurate if the ebook is in an epub format. Unlike the old pdb formatted ebooks, epub books have a set number of pages. Unfortunately, the publishers aren't really good at listing the number of pages in their details. They usually use the number of pages from the hardback version. Wouldn't the ISBN be different for a PDF version than an epub version? I would think that if your ISBN matches, then you use the number of pages in the edition you have. It just like different editions of print books. Message 6 on this thread, http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3..., has a really good discussion of how page numbering for ebooks works.
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Sometimes, but not always. Personally, I never remove page numbers from any book (ebook or not). If I have a more accurate number, I change it. Bot otherwise, I leave it alone.
Sandi, for the purposes of this discussion we are only talking PDF's. I don't own any epub versions.But the point really is, why would you remove page numbers and leave a 0?
And thanks Rivka ;)
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I agree with this. Even audiobooks, where they really don't have page numbers (except when someone has added number of hours, as per established policy) -- unless I can find the correct number, I leave it be.
Every eboook I've read I've had to put in the page numbers for almost because they always read 0. So I always open the book on my Nook and then if it says it has 679 pages that's what I put in the slot for page numbers.
These were ebooks I had already put the page numbers on and librarians had edited them to be 0.
I have seen ebooks with 0 pages listed, but I thought those were bad imported data -- I've never checked to see where it came from, because "0 pages" is useless for GR's use of page numbers. When I see 0 in the pages field I often remove it entirely, in fact, since it seems deceptive to leave it there. (That's the only time I'll remove page numbers.)
Since in my experience, Ebooks tend to have the same ISBN no matter which format they're in (not all, but the majority), I think we need to come up with an official policy of how to determine page numbers. It's confusing to have people switching books between epub or PDF. I think, for ebooks who have the same ISBN, we should decide which format to look for for page numbers - PDF or epub.
Sandra, just because you have PDF doesn't make them the correct page numbers.BUT as long as there is a page number in the slot I'm happy. I recognize there are different page numbers for formats and if there's something preexisting I just use the percentage feature.
I've seen zero on bad imports, but without having the ebook I just delete the zero.
I missed the part about zero pages. I thought the zeroes were from the imports. I know a lot of the ebooks I download don't have page number information in the details. You have to open the book to see how many pages it has.
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rivka wrote: "Zero doesn't show up on the book's page (just the edit page), I think -- is that not so?"No. The book page says that the ebook has 0 pages.
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Jessica wrote: "Sandra, just because you have PDF doesn't make them the correct page numbers.BUT as long as there is a page number in the slot I'm happy. I recognize there are different page numbers for format..."
In past discussions it was agreed that PDF page numbers were accurate enough for Goodreads, because the page numbers didn't alter, no matter what product was used to view them.
As to zero page number imports, I've often seen them and if I have that book then I edit it to the correct number.
In future I'll be looking to see if the book already had a number and was edited to zero, and then undoing it, if so.
Sandra wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Sandra, just because you have PDF doesn't make them the correct page numbers.BUT as long as there is a page number in the slot I'm happy. I recognize there are different page numb..."
ePubs are the same way. Like I said before though, I don't particularly care as long as it has a number.
I've only seen it with what are clearly bad imports, but I'll double check next time in case it has been changed to zero.
In the last week I have had to replace at least half a dozen page numbers for some of my ebooks. My page numbers are for PDF files and are the correct page numbers.
But some of our members are arbitrailly removing them in the mistaken belief that ebooks don't have a recognised numbering system.