Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I've noticed some issues regarding how a book is sorted to a specific author that need to get sorted out.

The Argentinian author Gustavo Abrevaya has had an older book of his translated to English and released in the US for the first time. However, the English translation lists his name as including his middle name: Gustavo Eduardo Abrevaya. As such, a separate author page has been created for this name. After looking at the covers of some of his original Spanish-language editions on Goodreads, some of his books list him on the cover as Gustavo Abrevaya, some list him as Gustavo Eduardo Abrevaya, and at least one lists him as Gustavo E. Abrevaya. There is a separate author page for each version of his name that he's been listed as.

So, my question is: how should this be handled? Do the librarians go about merging all three author pages into one despite the slight variants on his name?

They can be merged under Gustavo Eduardo Abrevaya. Some of the books should have been there already, as that's the name on them.

There are some exceptions, but generally speaking, the most complete version of a name is fine, because (e.g.) books by "Gustavo Eduardo Abrevaya" will still turn up in a search for "Gustavo Abrevaya." (We couldn't merge them all under Gustavo Abrevaya, because a search with his middle name wouldn't turn those books up.)

I've gone ahead and merged them.

I assume The Sanctuary is the translation—what's the original, so they can be combined?

Liralen wrote: "I assume The Sanctuary is the translation—what's the original, so they can be combined?"

The original Spanish version is El criadero.

Also, according to Worldcat the original publication date for the Spanish edition was 2003. Once the new translation is combined, could you please set the OPD?

Done and done.

Liralen wrote: "Done and done."

Thanks so much for your help.

One more question: would it be alright to ask about clearing up name discrepancies regarding a completely different author while this thread is still active?

Sure, go for it. Will cross my fingers that I can answer that too!

So there's an indie horror author named LC von Hessen. The lack of periods after the LC is intentional, and their name appears as such in everything they write. They have a Goodreads author profile, but it includes periods in the initials (L.C.) despite it being a typo. There's a separate author page without the periods, but it's a duplicate page. Would there be a way to merge the two author pages while renaming the Goodreads author profile to LC, or would it have to stay as L.C.?

It would have to stay as L.C., with the periods. It's not a typo but a style choice. Support can (and sometimes will) make exceptions for names, but Goodreads style is to include the periods regardless of how the author styles it on their books (just as GR style is, e.g., to not use "Ph.D." even if the author says "But all my books are published as Smart Person, Ph.D.!").

In this particular case Support, not a librarian, would have to merge the profiles regardless, because L.C. von Hessen is claimed (so librarians can't merge into it) and LC von Hessen has a follower (so a merge is necessary for the claimed profile to get the follower as well as the books).

Liralen wrote: "It would have to stay as L.C., with the periods. It's not a typo but a style choice. Support can (and sometimes will) make exceptions for names, but Goodreads style is to include the periods regard..."

Alright, I'll shoot support an e-mail sometime in the next couple days when I get the chance. Thanks so much for the help.

No problem! Glad to be of use.