New librarian Questions

[rivka, Former Moderator]

In that I am currently "drowning" at work -- even more than usual -- yeah, I feel just PEACHY when I'm not there. ;)

[Sandra]

Glad to hear it, I'm currently "drowning" here in Sydney, literally, it's been pretty wet.

Enjoy not being at work :D

[Dayle]

Thanks, Sandra. I had my husband clean up the scan and I will attempt to upload soon (no promises...I'm a bit leery of my abilities!)

[Marilu]

NO idea what to do. I did post in BOOK ISSUES as well, but see there has been a few views, but no response, so I thought I would post here as well.

I was comparing books with a friend when it listed White Hot by Sandra Brown 3 times. Twice it is marked to read, and once it had a 4 star rating. I have not read this book. So I clicked on it, and then edit review. A totally different books by Sandra Brown popped up. Which I have read and rated 4 stars. I scrolled down to look at reviews of it and there are more than one review by the same person, and it is very obvious to me that the books reviewed were neither White Hot or Longtime coming. I looked to the side of the page and by other editions and was shocked to see 230 other editions!! AND they are various editions of various titles!!
I have no idea how to fix this!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76010...

This will obviously take some work in which I am willing to help if someone can tell me what to do!!

[Lisa]

There's a bunch of books that start with Exclusive. If you click the separate link to the bottom right of that bunch you can separate the editions that need to be separated, and leave combined the editions of books that are the same. It shouldn't take that long with the separate tool.

[Marilu]

I don't see a separate tool until after I hit combine up where it shows there are over 200 editions. Is that where I should be starting?

[Marilu]

OK now when I click the link I posted I get taken to a children's book called the Pig's Wedding!

[Lisa]

Yes, but I think Rivka might be working on this. (see the other thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3..., message #2).

[Marilu]

Lisa wrote: "Yes, but I think Rivka might be working on this. (see the other thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3..., message #2)."

thanks!

[Lisa]

Marilu, You click on the separate link that's to the bottom right of any bunch of books that don't belong together. It's fairly obvious what to do when you get to that page. There are buttons and you mark to separate out all of each of the same book and save, and all the editions of that book remain together but separated from the bunch. You need to do that with each individual book so that all editions of them are together but no different books remain incorrectly combined.

[Tyler]

I did not see this in the rules, but how can I add a cover or a placeholder in the case of The Beginning and the End, ISBN 0385264585?

[Cait]

Tyler, you'll have to delete the existing cover (which is coming up empty for me -- I don't think that there's a valid cover image there) and upload the cover art from your computer. (Don't do this if there's an actual image already showing, even if it's different from your cover; if there's a cover showing, you need to follow this process for alternate covers.)

[Tyler]

Thanks. I did exactly that, and the correct cover popped up. It's correct now.

[Cait]

Oh, excellent! Yes, that'll happen when Amazon or BN have the cover available. Glad it worked out!

[Tyler]

Thanks again, Cait -- it looks great now.

[Fontalamh]

As an example, this occurs with other books too, I have a pile!

I want to add ISBN 1842050990 to my books - a search on amazon.com or amazon.co.uk finds it but a search through goodreads does not find it on these sites. It doesn't seem worthwhile to re-create it when it should already be findable.

Amazon does not list an author (he is named on the cover) could this be causing it to be filtered out?

If so how do I get search to find it?

thanks
Rob

PS I noticed yesterday that the goodreads search would jump between different amazon sites and barnes and noble seemingly at random but maybe that's for another day...

[Cait]

Fontalamh wrote: "Amazon does not list an author (he is named on the cover) could this be causing it to be filtered out?"

Yes, that's exactly what the problem is: GR will only import things which have titles and authors, since both of those are required fields in GR. I'm afraid adding the book manually is the only way to do it, in a case where none of the feeder sites have the information correct.

"I noticed yesterday that the goodreads search would jump between different amazon sites and barnes and noble seemingly at random but maybe that's for another day..."

Whether the search runs through B&N or Amazon should depend on whatever you selected in your last search, I think. Within the Amazon search, it'll run through the list of Amazons until it finds one that has the book (or, if it doesn't find the book at all, it'll show the last one it tried).

[Fontalamh]

Cait wrote: "Fontalamh wrote: "Amazon does not list an author (he is named on the cover) could this be causing it to be filtered out?"

Yes, that's exactly what the problem is: GR will only import things which..."
Thanks, I understand now, I shall add manually.

rob

[Fontalamh]

Crikey, I seem to have picked some difficult books to add!
I have added ISBN 1904730221 this is a bilingual guide to mathematic terminology, it is bound tête-bêche. So has two titles, one in English and one in Gàidhlig, neither is more correct, publication information is in both languages inside the relevant cover. Is there a precedent? How it is at the moment seems messy.

There is no principle language for this or many other inter-language dictionaries. Is there a rule - eg is a French-English dictionary mainly in English as the definitions are longer than the words? An English-French dictionary mainly in French? And one that swings both ways is..?

Also this book has a fairly thin card cover and is bound with staples. I'm confused between mass market paperback and paperback. I thought the difference was in marketing rather than format? Are stapled books and glue-bound/stitched books all 'paperbacks'?

I had no idea the questions this would throw up when I started.

thanks

rob

[Fontalamh]

Another question.

Derick Thomson is also known as Ruaraidh MacThòmais.

This is not a pseudonym, he has two names. One in English and one in Gàidhlig. Books he has issued have come out under the different names for different editions.

He's the same person obviously but it doesn't seem possible for GR to recognise this across the two names. What's the answer? I've listed two authors in the dual named book but someone without Gàidhlig is unlikely to recognise they are the same person and in some other cases the name isn't translatable without knowledge of the person. (eg the Gàidhlig "surname" could be the place they were born).

Thanks
Rob

[MissJessie]

You know, you learn something new everyday here. I now know that Gaidhlig is Scottish Gaelic. Life is good.

[Lobstergirl]

Fontalamh wrote: "Crikey, I seem to have picked some difficult books to add!
I have added ISBN 1904730221 this is a bilingual guide to mathematic terminology, it is bound tête-bêche. So has two titles, one in Englis..."

A mass market paperback is a small size, the type that is often sold in drugstores. Often they have a flashier cover, perhaps with embossed lettering, although this isn't true of the older ones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperbac...

A trade paperback is a larger size.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paperbac...

If you're not sure what you have, I'd make it "paperback" rather than "mass market paperback."

Are stapled books and glue-bound/stitched books all 'paperbacks'?

If it has a paper cover, as opposed to a hardback cover, it's a paperback. Being bound with glue or stitching doesn't make it a hardback or a paperback.

[Lobstergirl]

Fontalamh wrote: "Another question.

Derick Thomson is also known as Ruaraidh MacThòmais.

This is not a pseudonym, he has two names. One in English and one in Gàidhlig. Books he has issued have come out under the d..."

You can insert that information in the author details box on the author page.

[Lobstergirl]

A book with a thin card cover and staples, I would call a "paperback."

[Fontalamh]

thanks lobster girl - is there a precedent for the tête-bêche book? I thought of another one and checked it but it isn't symmetrical, it's a compendium of two books and one follows on from the other so there is a clear order.

[Cait]

For tête-bêche books, list both titles in the title field separated by a slash -- you'll have to decide which to list first if there isn't a clear order to them. If they have separate authors, list the primary author as the author of the first title and list the other author secondary. You should put "tête-bêche" in the edition field, and you might want to add a note to the description if the book description doesn't also make it clear. If you have a cover image, it can either be of the cover for the title listed first or it can be both covers side-by-side in the same image.

(This should probably be added to the librarian manual! It's come up before -- there are English-language editions called "Ace Doubles" which are treated this way.)