Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I understand that first cover retains the ISBN, so that if another cover is found, an ACE is created.

I have occasionally found editions with no cover. Looking at Amazon I find a cover, but with a later edition publication date. These are the same title and would fit the ACE rules if a cover existed for the first edition.

It seems odd to create an ACE when no cover originally existed, but there is a change in publication information. I have been simply uploading the found cover and leaving the pub date, but this doesn't feel quite right. How best to resolve this issue?

Elizabeth, most people do exactly the same thing, especially when it is an ebook edition of some kind.

The one I came across most recently was a hardcover with a 1977 pub date, but the cover I found was for a 2003 edition. The nearly-30 years and a physical copy is what prompted the question. I suppose I could add a librarian note so that if a cover were found for the 1977, the information would be readily available and could be updated.

In fact, I think I'll go back and do that. At least a librarian could then make a more-informed decision.

No matter what, the cover should match the rest of the book record. If the cover is from 2003, then the publication info should be for the 2003 edition.

It is my understanding that cover takes precedence over almost everything else. So if a book record exists on Goodreads with the right ISBN, the wrong pub date, and no cover, you can upload the new cover and THEN should alter the publication data accordingly. This is, I think, completely OK for editions that have NOT been shelved by anyone.

I wouldn't mind some approval from Rivka on this policy for editions that HAVE been shelved by people, however.

Z-squared wrote: "It is my understanding that cover takes precedence over almost everything else."

Well, not over ISBN/ASIN, certainly.

I agree that if an edition has been shelved by zero users and has never had a cover, it should be ok to change the pub date and so on to match the cover you just added. However, please don't do this if even one user has shelved it.

Thanks for the clarification Rivka :)

Thanks, also, Rivka. I verified that the coverless edition had no shelvings and changed the pub date to match that of the cover.