Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Sometimes I enter into a topic and the problem is already solved, I think all the librarians may waste time entering and checking.

I always find that happening to me too! I never get to fix anything because of that!

So maybe it should be some system like any librarian can edit the title with "(done)" or a button that shows "done"?

you should make this a poll to have it get more attention!

I am constantly running into problems with that. I think it would be great if there was some way to mark a topic as done.

Personally I don't think it is a waste of time to check out a topic whether the issue has been fixed or not. On a lot of occassions there has been a discussion that I have learned from.

The topics are organised in a way that allows users to add an issue quickly and for similar issues to be grouped together. The majority of Librarians will add a comment once they fix an issue

Paula wrote: "Personally I don't think it is a waste of time to check out a topic whether the issue has been fixed or not. On a lot of occassions there has been a discussion that I have learned from."

Learning is never waste of time, don't get me wrong. I just think it could be helpful in situations when we want just to fix something.

Maybe we could use a special Librarian FAQ, pinned to the top of the librarian group. It could list common questions and the summary answers, with hyperlinks to discussion threads and the manual where the answer was determined/finalized.

Jen wrote: "you should make this a poll to have it get more attention!"

Really not necessary or helpful. Poll deleted.

I agree with Paula -- reading "fixed" problems is at least as helpful as unfixed ones. If people really think this is a significant issue, I can create a new folder called "book issues - fixed" or somesuch. So far, I am unconvinced.

I'm perfectly happy to post/pin an FAQ (although I'm not sure how it would be all that distinct from the manual), but someone else (preferably, more than one) would have to write it.

rivka wrote: "Jen wrote: "you should make this a poll to have it get more attention!"

Really not necessary or helpful. Poll deleted.
"

I am sorry for creating the poll, I just wanted to give people a way to tell if it's for them a significant issue... The voting is a system the democracy works with. So far two persons expessed here their need of an item which could help to mark resolved problems.

I personnally think a folder you suggested could be a great option!

I am with rivka. I don't see how another folder documenting that a issue was fixed would help - My reading of this is that the poster wants each request for help to be in a separate post which would be edited by the person fixing/the poster to say fixed. Rather like the way the "What is that book" group do - by moving posts to a fixed folder. So that they do not have to bother clicking on folders to see if there is any work

TINTMYLF - I like the FAQ option I would prefer the info/FAQ to be added to the Librarians manual - I have a "issues" with information being kept in different places ( call it a QA/RA back ground:)

Paula, yes, the poster should mark for example editing the title. The problem is that in most cases this doesn't happen. :(

Charmteaser wrote: "Paula, yes, the poster should mark for example editing the title. The problem is that in most cases this doesn't happen. :("

That's because most of us are not convinced that it is necessary.

And a poll does little to address that; people's comments are far more helpful.

I like having threads stay "open": for one thing, it encourages librarians to keep abreast of what others are doing, and for another, it allows people with requests to come in and reuse threads for similar issues, so that there are fewer threads overall.

Good points, Cait and Abigail.

You'd eliminate a lot of "opening a thread for nothing" by keeping similar issues within one thread. Like the thread for requesting a book be deleted by a superuser or the disambiguation list. The opposite habit of making a new thread for each page number request, or cover change request, creates a lot of those extra posts.

With one thread per "issue" you can scan to see that things have been fixed quickly, and you also can catch any relevant discussion beyond the basic "please fix this" and "done".

Personally, I think we learn from the conversations in the threads on each issue - why was something wrong, and what should be/was done to fix it. Even as a fairly experienced librarian, I get 'aha' moments from reading the threads, whether or not I do the fix.

I like the system as it is because it's easier to navigate through fewer threads, and because it encourages those posting here for a 'fix' by providing a clearly labeled thread to put the type of fix request into.

Charmteaser said: "Learning is never waste of time, don't get me wrong. I just think it could be helpful in situations when we want just to fix something."

Charmteaser, there are plenty of things out there still needing to be fixed - head to the Sisyphus list, or just use the comment box to look up instances of Dr.-etc.-Mr.-Mrs.-RN-CPA-Rev and so on (open each in another tab/window to work on.) If you want other ideas on how to find stuff to fix, PM me and I'll give you another list. = )

I didn't want any separated list or something like that, I just wanted a "sign" to mark fixed problems because personnally I don't think we learn so much from posts like "please delete this cover" or "please merge this two editions". There is another option: each person who creates a new thread can edit the title with "done", as I did once-the moderator of this group could add a request for this in a topic "before you post something"... And obviously there is some more experienced librarians than me (icecheeks411, Jen) who expressed their need for the item I proposed. However if it is so dificult and sofisticated problem I think I will just adapt to the system.
And yes, I'll appreciate a PM from you. :)

I don't see many people remembering to come back to specific posts to say it's "done" - whether they post a problem once in awhile or all the time, it's just not something most people would worry about. I think it's more important to go on to the next problem - especially since the way it's been has been working fine for so long.