Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Mod
I've also noticed, while adding first pub dates, that the page numbers are all off, but since I have the books in front of me, I've just been changing them as I go. :)
One thing to keep in mind when the page number counts seem high: we count the introductory pages in the total page count. So a book that starts with pages i through x and ends on page 350 actually has 360 pages counting the 10 (Roman numeral 'x') introductory pages.(Or at least that's what we were doing when I started as a librarian; I haven't checked for updates to this recently.)
This can be particularly significant, as some works have over 100 Roman-numeraled pages.
Mod
We don't. And I don't think that was ever agreed-upon policy, although it was under discussion at some point.
But there was just a recent comment (from Rivka or Vicky, I think) that in a book that is numbered twice (e.g., 1-311 and 1-415) we add them up and mark the total (e.g., 726). What's the difference? I have books where more pages have Roman numerals than Arabic. In an average novel it doesn't make much difference, but outside the realm of popular fiction this can make a huge difference.I note, in case another librarian comes along, that contrary to what I had thought, the Librarian Manual does say:
The number of pages should include the relevant text of the book -- glossaries, appendices, author's notes, etc should be included in the page count if they are labeled with regular numbers, but not if they are labeled by Roman Numerals.I get that we wouldn't want to insist on consistency, and as noted in many cases it makes little difference, but in many other cases the size of the book is markedly impacted by this exclusion, and in terms of user statistics and progress updates it would leave out about 20% of my own reading, as a ballpark figure.
Mod
Was this a set of two books sold together? Otherwise I can't see why we'd do that.
I believe that was the example given: two books republished as an omnibus, but still numbered separately. But to give another more concrete example (since for the life of me I cannot find the thread I just read this in today), http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21... numbers each chapter starting at 1. Annoying, even to me, but true, and at 1110 pages simply using the last Arabic number on the last page would be wildly inaccurate, like by an order of magnitude.
Mod
I have been using the actual number at the bottom of the last page that is numbered (or plus one if the last page is not numbered). This means I generally do not include author info, Roman numbered pages, etc., but I do include bibliography, index, etc. These were the rules I read in the manual. Also, I suspect the wrong page numbers are taken from other editions.
Mod
Lori, that sounds right to me.
Example - Byzantium: The Early Centuries, John Julius Norwich (the html linking doesn't seem to be working) has 415 pages listed. My book ends at page 407. Page 1 is the title page.
Thanks for your help! I haven't done too much library stuff before this whole Amazon thing, but I'm trying to do my bit.