Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I had always assumed that a source is required for all data added to Goodreads records. And further assumed that users requesting help in this group should be providing the source.
This assumption has now been questioned and I thought it best to check here before responding https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

If it is the case that the requester does not need to provide a source does that mean data is added without source, or is it the responsibility of the librarian to find a source?
I know that I'm not willing to add data without a source for confirmation, nor am I willing to search for sources - chances are that the requester knows more about the book/author than I do, and sources may be in languages they understand but I don't.

Martin wrote: "I had always assumed that a source is required for all data added to Goodreads records. And further assumed that users requesting help in this group should be providing the source.
This assumption ..."

With page counts, I have always looked up the preferred source myself for dead tree books & Amazon. (I rarely do other ebooks or Audio books) I appreciate members who link to those sources for me, but yes I have always thought it was the librarian's responsibility to make sure the information is accurate.

If there is no confirming source for dead tree books I do ask questions to make sure the members page count doesn't include advertising, blank pages right at the end, etc.

& ultimately a member with a book in hand is considered the best source of all.

Hope this helps. :)

It confuses me - I agree that it is the librarians responsibilty to check data is accurate but I thought that was by reference to the provided source.
You say 'ultimately a member with a book in hand is considered the best source of all', how can that be known as source if the requester does not tell us?

Maybe that isn't the best example, it just happens to be the instance that prompted my question.

However, note that as I am in UK that ASIN does not return a result on Amazon or Audible links. For me to access the data I would need to have known it was an American edition and opened the correct Amazon site to search. (I had actually tried the links from book page before requesting source)

It just seems to me that anyone requesting the addition of information to the database must have a source, it is easy for them to provide their source with request and makes the librarians task much easier and quicker. Before becoming a librarian I always provided my sources and had simply assumed that it was required.