Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Hey, I never new that list exist.

I also put the space count, but usually for names that have at least 2 spaces. I would say that (1) is not very clear to what it refers. I think it should either be the ^ sign or just - 1 space.

I use a method nicked from a few other Librarians of n^ in a note.
e.g. "John 4^ Smith"

For relatively uncommon names (like 3-4 authors with it) I will also add a short description of the others:
e.g.
John 2^ Smith, Philosopher
John 3^ Smith, Mathematician
John 4^ Smith, 17th C

Which helps me later... :)

I would prefer to have the space count in a librarian's note instead of in the author bio; non-librarians would never need that information and might be confused by it. (I don't generally bother anymore since the similar names page lists the number of spaces, but when I do the librarian's note field is what I use.)

I do try to put at least a single biographical sentence in the bio when disambiguating, something that would be meaningful to a non-librarian. I also try to fill out at least one genre field, since that is what shows on the similar names page and also since it's more readable to have "Romance" in the genre section than to write "romance author" in the bio field, I feel.

Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "Hey, I never new that list exist."

That's because it's not in use anymore. You'll only see links to it from old profiles which were disambiguated when it was in use and which haven't been updated since then.

If you click on "similar authors" when you're in edit view you can see this info.
Here are a couple I've disambiguated recently as examples:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/simil...
http://www.goodreads.com/author/simil...

I put the info in librarian notes for the first one as I hadn't realised these other pages were there yet.

Cait wrote: "Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "Hey, I never new that list exist."

That's because it's not in use anymore. You'll only see links to it from old profiles which were disambiguated when it was in use and which haven't been updated since then."

Not to mention a lot of the links on that thread have been re-disambiguated and aren't even close to correct anymore. I would definitely stop linking that thread since it's wildly out of date.



I agree with Cait that any disambiguation information dealing with spaces needs to go in the Librarian's Note and NOT in the description, though I think it can be useful to link to the others in the description in a manner such as:

Joan Smith, Romance
Joan Smith, Non-Fiction


For the Librarian Note I try to do this:

Joan 1^ Smith, Romance
Joan 2^ Smith, Non-Fiction

I think using the n^ notation is more recognizable than (n), since (n) could be interpreted a general ordered list.



Also like Cait said, I try to put something in the genre field and not just in the bio. The genres listed also show up on the Similar Authors page that Antonomasia linked, so it is useful for looking at a list of a million Joan Smiths and picking out the Romance author.

I have a slightly related questions: what sources do you guys use to disambiguate writers?
Sometimes it's quite hard, with all the new authors, especially indie ones and with authors that have covered different domains(fiction, non-fiction, etc)
Thank you!

what sources do you guys use to disambiguate writers?


wiki
author's web sites

Same sources as we use for book data, covers, etc. (No bookseller sites) -- preferably information directly from author or author website, blog or publisher's site.

Some of us librarians may be long time fans of a particular author and have actual books in hand with the back flap, back cover, or extra pages in a book with a good bio of the author.

I also agree w/ Vicky & Cait

"Information dealing with spaces needs to go in the Librarian's Note and NOT in the description."
A simple bio line would be less confusing to non-librarians.

I thought the official policy on disambiguating authors was that we were always supposed to list the authors (with ^ denoting number of spaces) in a librarian note with a genre or other short remark that might help identify author wanted?

I did not know we could skip putting that information in a librarian note when disambiguating an author.     I thought it was the policy (partly garnered through following other discussion threads in this group; particularly when the disambig list was no longer kept up).

(Although sometimes I have not been able to find good info to help write the note when all I have is an author saying "not my book" or "my book credited to wrong author.")

Then a brief little note in bio that "there is more than one author by this name on goodreads" and make sure genre, birthplace/date and any other info you can find are in the profile to help identify the author.

I always thought it was a perfectly okay policy   until   the goodreads author profile got claimed. At that point, you can't see the darn librarian note or the "similar names." I resort to searching for the author name and looking for the entries that don't say "goodreads author" then editing that profile to see "similar names."

I understand and completely agree with letting goodreads authors control their own profiles. I do think when disambiguating authors and correctly crediting books for a goodreads author it's a good idea to let them know which author they are (number of spaces in name and author profiles that books might get confusingly credited) and to suggest that it's okay if they want to make that information clear on their bio.

I would love to see an "authors with similar names" option still visible to click once profile becomes a goodreads author profile.   (Okay, admittedly would need careful wording to not confuse with "similar authors")

Debbie wrote: "I would love to see an "authors with similar names" option still visible to click once profile becomes a goodreads author profile.   (Okay, admittedly would need careful wording to not confuse with..."

Either that or search by author to get you the profiles of all authors with the name, not book results.
Or am I wrong to think there is no other way of finding similar authors in this case?

Not that all similar authors are always listed. If it is something like Mike L. Brown and M.L. Brown or Mr. M Brown they do not get listed in the similar authors. (It is possible that these are not the BEST examples)

Debbie wrote: "I thought the official policy on disambiguating authors was that we were always supposed to list the authors (with ^ denoting number of spaces) in a librarian note with a genre or other short remark that might help identify author wanted?"

As far as I know, there is no official policy on the matter or even really a general consensus outside of what's already in the Librarian Manual.

There are certainly librarians that add that extra information because it is incredibly useful, but none of it is required.

While I agree that "John^^Smith Crime Fiction" should be in the librarians note to identify the author

I disagree with putting any information regarding other authors named John Smith either in the librarian note field or the description of all the John Smith author profiles. The author profile belongs to one John Smith not all of them.

Adding all the ^^^ author names to a librarian notes takes up a lot of space and makes it more difficult to read other librarians notes that also need to be added to the author profile

The wording that should be in the description is documented here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w...

Brenda (b) wrote: "Say I come across the author name "Joe Schmoe author". So I edit it to be "Joe Schmoe". If there's no disambig note in the description then when my edit is merged I don't know that there are numerous Joe Schmoes unless I go to the edit page after the merge is complete."

That's what the short note is for, this one that Paula linked to:
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

(Although it's usually a good idea to click through to the combine page after merging authors anyway, since there may be books from the two profiles which couldn't be combined before, and then the note will be visible there.)

I don't like seeing the list of all the disambig's at top of the author bio description where to see actual bio you have to click "more" and scroll down. The author bio should not be more librarian note visible than the actual bio.

The short note "...there is more than one author..." at top of bio works for me but I would not mind maybe adding an * and at bottom of bio listing the disambig's that might be buried in actual librarian note so they are visible to everyone.

If the notes are visible in author's bio (at a minimum the "there is more than one author" statement so you know to check similar authors or look for a librarian note explaining disambig) when trying to correct or combine author profiles, it's easier to edit author name correctly.

For example, if I came across "Dr.^John^Smith" and "John^Smith" profile bio said "there is more than one author" then instead of editing "Dr.^John^Smith" to be "John^Smith" I might look at the books/bio and combine with "John^^^Smith" instead.

So I agree with Brenda in message 17 that it's handy and makes editing easier to have the disambig info in the bio/description.

In reality, John Smith, Robert Brown and a handful of other helluva-lot-of-'em author names are the extreme disambig examples. Lots of other disambig authors only have 1 to 5 conflicting author names. So not that terrible counting the ^ symbols (I have more trouble counting spaces and usually pull up a book by correct author, edit and copy the author name exactly to put on the merging author profile or individual books).

Non-super librarians don't get to edit, merge or combine goodreads author profiles. So I think the disambig notes are mostly a librarian issue for non-goodreads author profiles--if the author or fans aren't supplying with good author bio info (directly or on author website where we can pull the info), I'm not sure it matters if extra librarian generated information goes in the bio.

At a minimum, "there is more than one ..." note. I find it useful and don't think it would be a problem to add the disambig list. But, because not just a librarian note we see, I think the ^ symbols are the wrong way to go -- instead of putting usual ^ disambig'ed authors, the list should link to the appropriate author profiles. That would be more useful to goodreads members (versus librarians) who accidentally pull up the wrong author page. Most goodreads members could care less if the author has two spaces, three spaces or a hundred spaces disambiguating, they are just looking for the specific author of a book.

Still absolutely should not take up the author bio but rather be a footnote at the bottom of the bio.

That is, I like the idea of "Librarian Note: There is more than one author on goodreads by this name.* ... author bio/description information ... then optionally the footnote listing the authors members may have meant to find.

If policy were changed to optionally have a list of disambig authors showing in the bio/description, I would like to see, instead of formatting (which should be clear to librarians used to dealing with disambig authors):

John^Smith...
John^^Smith...
John^^^Smith...

Should say (clear to members looking at author profile who found the wrong author and are looking for their book's "John Smith":

John Smith...,
John Smith...,
John Smith...

Once an author claims their profile, they can edit the bio to say whatever they like. Then all the disambig notes can become invisible or non-existent--so for goodreads authors all the noting a rather moot point. The assumption being that the goodreads authors will monitor their books, profile, and post here if any issues or problems.

Just trying to pick a balance between what's helpful to librarians editing and not overwhelming author profile with lots of long librarian lists/notes/info. Short "...more than one author..." in the bio plus a librarian note not visible except to librarians and on non-goodreads author profiles is fine--if any more were to be added to the description viewable by everyone, should be useful and non-confusing to everyone and not just for librarians who understand the disambig, ^, etc.

I think the top or bottom arguement stands on why someone is looking at the author profile. Example scenarios

1. A reader is looking at an author page to see if the A. Smith they are looking at is the author they want to read. A disambig list could help as would show that this is the page is for A. 2^ Smith, writer on religion, who is not A. 3^ Smith, writer on atheism.

2. A reader is looking at the profile for A. 2^ Smith knowing that this is definitely the A. Smith they want. This reader usually either wants to see what else A.2^ has written, or to know about the person. For this reader the disambig notice is an annoyance.

This only works for me though if A.3^ is linked from A.2^, not just a note. Knowing that "there are other authors with this name" leaves unanswered how to find those other authors.

I can't think of a way around this conflict without modifications that belong in the Feedback group, so I won't suggest any. UNLESS. Would a spoiler tag work in Author profiles? That could put the info at the top, but simultaneously hide it unless sought? Assuming not!

~~

Agree with Debbie - John 2^ Smith goes in Librarian notes. John Smith, author of Wibble and Wobble series, is far more useful to general readers. However, a 2-3 word description with the 2^, 3^ bit has proved really helpful for me, particularly on some of the Evilly Popular names like John Smith. Saves a LOT of time in the "add a space, try to merge, NO! Back, try with another space, merge, No! Back, try with another..." dance.

+1 Emy; except instead of spoiler tag, if putting the information to help members locate author wanted in the bio, I don't think it needs a spoiler tag. Just put as a footnote after "...more than one..." note or "(see more author possibilities below)" type of thing.

The spoiler tag workable but since it says "spoiler" I'm not sure would be clear.

Policy on how the disambig notes/info get handled on author profiles is a librarian group issue.

(Other stuff is for feedback group; like a spoiler style tag for saying "more authors" versus saying "spoiler", moving the "similar names" option viewable only to librarians/authors editing profile out where any member can access even on goodreads author profiles, or better yet even a field added to author profile where we could note and link to what other authors a member might actually be looking for ... the suggestions were already there at one time (haven't looked in a while)).

Librarians/policy needs standards. But I don't think just the "...there is more than one author..." helps even librarians figure out which author is which. Helps on non-goodreads author profiles provided genres, birthdates, and other bio info shows on each profile. If profiles not very complete or is a goodreads author, the disambig list in the librarian note is a big help.

Neither the brief "more" note in description or the invisible librarian notes are of any use whatsoever to members looking for a particular author.