Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I was looking at the book Violet by Design and when I clicked on the author, it went to the wrong one. Yes, it goes to an author called Melissa Walker, but not the right one. I know the right one because she is on here and the one that it takes me to isn't. Can someone fix it? Because I don't know how.

Well, Bookworm. It says Melissa Walker on the book and it's at World Cat, googlebooks, etc. as Melissa Walker.

Are you saying it's a different name entirely or another Melissa Walker?

If another Melissa Walker, it means the "author" "Melissa Walker" needs to be separated into (at least) 2 separate authors.


Oh, I see what you mean. Violet on the Runway is with the correct Melissa Walker and this one is merged with another Melissa Walker...

Cannot edit data for GR authors so the other Melissa Walker will add a space I guess...



Edit: Other librarians please help. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but nothing is working. Cannot separate. Looks as though a third Violet book might be with the incorrect Melissa Walker as well. Thanks for any help!

Lisa...I think I got them moved right.

There were 2 Violet books under Melissa Walker (1 space), and 1 with Walker (2 spaces). I added another space to those first two.

All 3 Violet books are showing up under the Walker with 2 spaces.

I think that's what needed to be done. I hope?

Isis, it looks like you got it worked out fine.

However, one thing I noticed is that the author's website is melissacwalker.com. I wonder if it would make sense to add the initial (assuming that is where the c comes from) to help avoid the ambiguity? She does not apparently publish with the initial, but there are many cases of authors publishing under different variants of their names but all being grouped together. Since she's a GR author, perhaps someone should ask her? I'd be happy to email her if no one else wants to.

Glad it seems to be worked out okay. Those multiple authors with the same name are pain to figure out.

I saw the initial too when I popped over to her website to check for a booklist. That would help distinguish her from other Melissa Walkers. I guess there's a possibility that someone might get confused if they are looking for that name but see it with a middle initial. Probably something best left up to the author.

Whatever you did thank you. I can't figure out why what I did didn't seem to work. Unless it was a caching issue. I agree: she should add the C. That will help prevent future problems.

Thank you guys so much!

Probably something best left up to the author.

Yes, but it might be good for her to know of the confusion and how her middle initial might prevent some of it.

I agree, definitely something she should be aware of.

Has anyone else sent her a message? If not, I'll do it.

I don't know. I haven't yet. Isis, that would be great if you would. When you do, you can send her a link to this thread. ;-)

It doesn't look like anyone else has contacted her, so I will go ahead and do that, and add a link here :)

Thanks Isis.

There's another case of multiple authors with same name - Robin Wood. One is a female fantasy/spirituality writer, one is a writer of non-fiction about film. I'm familiar with the latter, the former only on finding her books by mistake. The Wood I know wrote: "Hollywood: From Vietnam to Reagan," Sexual Politics in Narrative Cinema," "Hitchcock's Films" and "Hitchcock's Films Revisited" and others. I'm new here and not sure this is exactly how to go about asking for a correction to be made, but there's my request.

Thanks for the heads' up, Patrick.

Robin^Wood: Arts & Photography, Religion & Spirituality
Robin^^Wood: Film

Hi there.
I am a Goodreads author with one published book called Seeking Sara Summers. On my profile page it also says I am the author of Stir of Echo. This is a different Susan Gabriel. I couldn't write erotica if I tried!!

How can I get this other Susan Gabriel's book removed from my profile page?

Susan wrote: "How can I get this other Susan Gabriel's book removed from my profile page? "

With exactly that request here. :) I've moved that book over to Susan^^Gabriel (with two spaces between her first and last names, unlike your name which only has one).

If you like, you can add this text to your author bio to let people know that you may not be the erotica writer they're looking for:
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

There's another case of same name, two authors: Iain M. Banks, novelist and sf writer, and Iain M. Banks, archaeologist and television presenter. I haven't been librarianing here very long and I am reluctant to bite off a mouthful like this for fear of leaving some part undone. Can I just add it to your already-full plate?

I started on the Banks's. It looks like there may be a 3rd one in there who does photography.

I couldn't find any evidence that the archeologist ever used his middle initial, so I left the sf novelist as Iain M. Banks, changed to archeologist to Iain^Banks and created an Iain^^Banks for the photographer.

Thanks Michael, that's perfect. See, this is exactly why I didn't want to try it on my own.