Annotate Librarian Guide

2.2.1 Which ISBN goes on a new book?

The book record doubles as its default edition, the version a reader sees before they pick a specific one. So the ISBN you enter should be the main, most widely available edition of the work (for an English-titled book, the common English paperback), not the ISBN of whatever specific or foreign-language copy you happen to be holding.

Do not copy the ISBN of a French paperback and add it as a new book. That creates a duplicate work. The French copy is an edition of the existing English-titled book, added with its Language set to French.

2.5.1 Choosing the Winner

When merging duplicate books, choose the book that is the strongest record to keep. Consider:

• Which book has more editions
• Whether it is the English version
• Whether it has already been worked on by a librarian
• Whether it has more complete information, including series information
• General common sense: choose the record that is more complete and useful

2.5.2 Previewing a Merge

Always use the "Preview merge" feature before completing a merge.

Click Merge once to open the preview. The preview will show you what data will be moved and whether any reviews will be deleted. You can then proceed with or cancel the merge.

Reviews are only deleted if a user has reviewed both books being merged. In that case, the review on the losing book is removed because duplicate reviews cannot exist for the same book.

Note: If the preview shows that one or more reviews will be deleted, do not merge the books. Instead, record the books in the Librarian Organisation sheet under Merge would delete review.

3.3.1 Imprint vs. Publisher

When both an imprint and a parent publisher are available, use the imprint as the publisher.

If you cannot find reliable publisher information online, check major bookstores, as they often include publisher details in their book information.

4.1.1 Language Formatting

Always enter the language name in lowercase.

Correct examples:

• english
• japanese
• brazilian portuguese

Do not use abbreviations (e.g. eng, fr, jpn), incorrect capitalisation or multiple languages.

4.1.2 Language-Specific Diacritics

When checking or adding books, be aware that the portal may not always distinguish between letters with and without diacritics. This can cause books to appear as separate entries or make existing books harder to find.

For example, in Spanish, make sure to check both forms when searching:

• a / á, e / é, i / í, o / ó, u / ú
• n / ñ
• u / ü

Similarly, other languages may use diacritics that are important to the correct spelling. For example, German uses ä, ö, ü, and ß.

Always double-check your search using the correct spelling and, if necessary, the version without diacritics to avoid creating duplicate entries.

4.1.3 Philippine Languages

Books written in Filipino/Tagalog should always be tagged as filipino, not tagalog.

For other Philippine languages, use the language names defined by the ISO 639 standard. The Wikipedia list of Philippine languages can also be used as a supplementary reference when needed.

Some of the most common language names are:

4.1.4 Portuguese vs Brazilian Portuguese

Although Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are varieties of the same language, they should be treated as separate languages in the database.

Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese differ in spelling, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, verb conjugation, punctuation conventions, and, in some cases, the meanings of words. Because of these differences, publishers often release separate editions for the Brazilian and European Portuguese markets, with different translations, titles, spelling conventions, release dates and other localised adaptations.

When adding or editing a book, always tag the language according to the edition:

• brazilian portuguese for editions published for the Brazilian market.
• portuguese for editions published for Portugal.

Keeping these categories separate makes it easier for users to find the exact edition they are looking for and helps maintain a consistent, organised database.

Note: While other Portuguese-speaking countries may have their own regional variations, creating separate categories for every country would be difficult to maintain consistently. The main distinction for cataloguing purposes should therefore remain between Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese.

4.1.5 Multilingual Editions

Some books, particularly poetry collections and translated works, include both the original text and its translation.

In these cases, tag the book with the language it has been translated into, rather than the language of the original text.

The title and/or synopsis will usually indicate that the original text is included, while readers are most likely searching for the language they can read.

4.1.6 Romanisation

When adding books or authors whose names use a non-Latin writing system without an official English or romanised spelling, use the standard romanisation system for that language.

Examples include:

• Revised Romanization for Korean
• Hepburn for Japanese
• DIN 31635 for Arabic

For these books, format the metadata as follows:

• Title: Native script (Romanisation)
• Author: Romanised name only

Example: 채식주의자 (Chaeshikjuuija) by Han Gang

Note: These romanisation rules apply to general books and authors. Manga and web novels may follow different naming and title conventions. For these types of books, please refer to the Manga Guide for the correct approach.

4.1.7 Kindle Editions

Kindle editions are ebooks. When adding a Kindle edition, make sure it is recorded as an ebook format.

4.1.8 Unknown Binding

If the binding of an edition is unknown, select Hardcover as the binding and add a note in the Librarian Note field stating that the binding is unknown.

4.1.9 Audiobooks

For audiobooks, Book Type and Format are used differently depending on whether the audiobook is the main edition of the book.

• If the audiobook is the main/only edition of the book, select Audiobook as the Book Type and Audiobook as the Format.
• If the audiobook is an edition of an existing main book, select Audiobook as the Format only.

4.1.10 Original Date of Publication

The original date of publication refers to the year when a book was first published as a complete book, regardless of its original language.

If a book was initially published in serial form, do not use the year the serialisation began. Instead, use the year the complete book was first published.

For serialised series, use the publication year of the specific volume, not the year when the first chapter of the volume or the overall series was serialised.

Remember: The original publication date should represent the first release of the complete book or volume, not the beginning of its serialisation or the release date of a translation.

4.1.11 Editors and Contributors

For books where one or more editors are responsible for compiling or overseeing the work (such as anthologies, essay collections, poetry collections and many textbooks):

• Enter the editor(s) in the Author field.
• Add the individual writers or contributors as Contributors.

This follows the standard used by most major book platforms and helps accurately represent the role of each person involved in the work.

4.1.12 Contributors

Different types of contributors should be entered in the appropriate contributor field:

• Contributor - Authors or other people who contributed to the content of the book but are not listed as the main author.
• Introduction - People who wrote an introduction, foreword, or similar introductory material.
• Translator - People who translated the work.
• Illustrator - People who provided illustrations or artwork.
• Narrator - People who narrated an audiobook.

4.1.13 Self-Published Books

If a book is self-published or independently published, and the author is not publishing under the name of an established publishing company, enter Self Published in the Publisher field.

If the author publishes the book under their own name, enter the author's name as the publisher. Do not use Self Published when the author's name is available as the publisher.

4.1.14 Fanfiction

Fanfiction of any kind should not be added to the database. If you come across fanfiction in the database, please report it to the Lead Librarians so it can be removed.

4.1.15 Study Guides and Companion Books

Study guides, annotated editions and companion books (such as SparkNotes editions) should be added as separate books, not as editions of the original work.

These publications often contain significantly different content and should be treated as their own entries.

4.1.16 ISBN Formatting

For Annotate, always use ISBN-13 when available. Do not include hyphens, spaces or dashes in the ISBN.

4.1.17 Audiodramas

For categorisation purposes, all audiodramas should be classified as audiobooks.

4.1.18 Comics vs Manga Titles

Comic books do not necessarily follow the same title rules as mangas.

For collected comic volumes, use the format: Title, Vol. 1
For single issue comics, use the format: Title #1

Always differentiate between individual issues and collected volumes, as they represent different types of publications.

4.1.19 Adding Editions

When adding a new book with multiple editions, you do not need to add every edition immediately.

As a general rule, adding the following editions is sufficient:

• Paperback
• Hardcover
• Ebook
• Audiobook

Additional editions can be added later if requested by users.

4.1.20 Building the Database Through Editions

While we currently use OpenLibrary as a source for building the database, it will eventually become obsolete.

When correcting information from an OpenLibrary edition, if you have the time, consider adding an edition that matches the corrected book information. This helps build a more accurate database and reduces reliance on external sources in the future.

4.1.21 Unable to Use Custom Edited Editions as Featured Editions

Due to OpenLibrary limitations, we are currently unable to have custom-edited editions as the featured edition of a book (the book showing up when a user searches for it in app).

Because of this, it is important to keep all editions as complete and accurate as possible. Once OpenLibrary is no longer used as the primary source, this limitation will no longer apply.

4.1.22 Handling Completed Tickets

You do not need to send a reply every time you complete a user's request.

• If the request required a different solution than the user suggested (for example, adding a new edition instead of editing an existing one), leave a short message explaining what was done and why.

4.1.23 Handling User Tickets for Specific Book Editions

When a user requests that a specific edition of a book be added or edited, always verify that you are working on the correct edition.

• If the user provides an ISBN:

  Use the provided ISBN to locate the exact edition before making any changes. This ensures that you're editing or adding the correct format and edition requested by the user.

• If the user does not provide an ISBN:

  Do not guess which edition they mean. Instead, reply to the user and ask them to provide the ISBN of the edition they want you to add or edit. This helps avoid making changes to the wrong book.

4.2.1 General Guidelines

You can only select genres from our approved genre list.

In the future, we may introduce a tag system for subgenres and more specific classifications. Until then, you can only use the approved genres.

4.2.2 Fiction and Nonfiction

Every book in the database must be assigned either Fiction or Nonfiction.

These act as the primary genres and should always be included. They appear first in the genre list, while all other genres are displayed alphabetically.

4.2.3 History vs Historical

Be careful not to confuse the History and Historical genres.

• History is for nonfiction books about historical events, people or time periods.
• Historical is for fiction set in a historical time period.

4.2.4 Choosing the Correct Genres

If you are unsure which genres to assign, use the following sources in order of priority:

1. StoryGraph - Preferred source, as their genres are based on publisher-provided information.
2. Goodreads - Generally reliable, although genres are user crowd-sourced.
3. Publisher website - Use the publisher's categorisation when additional confirmation is needed.

When in doubt, ask! If you're still unsure which genres to select, ask another librarian for a second opinion. We'd rather discuss a book than categorise it incorrectly.

4.3.1 One-Way Links

A one-way link is used when books published under an alias should appear under the author's primary name, but books published under the primary name should not appear under the alias.

This is most commonly used for pseudonyms.

Example: Marissa Meyer → Amerie

Marissa Meyer is the primary author name, while Amerie is an alias she has published under. Books published under Amerie should have Marissa Meyer listed as the author alias.

This means:

• Books published as Amerie will also appear on Marissa Meyer's author page.
• Books published as Marissa Meyer will not appear on Amerie's author page.

This approach should be used whenever the alias represents a separate publishing identity that readers would not normally expect to contain the author's entire bibliography.

4.3.2 Two-Way Links

A two-way link is used when an author is openly known to publish under two different versions of their name, and readers would reasonably expect to find the complete bibliography under either name.

In these cases, books published under either name should appear on both author pages.

Note: The Author field should always contain the name that appears on the cover of the book. The Author Alias field is only used to create the desired connection between author profiles in the app.

6.1.1 Prequels

Prequels should be numbered before the first main book in the series.

Example:

Using #0.5 makes it clear that the book should be read before Book 1 while keeping the main series numbering intact.

6.1.2 Split Translations

Sometimes a translation divides a single book into multiple volumes, even though the original edition was published as one book.

Example:

In these cases:

• Add each translated volume as its own book.
• Link all books to the same series.
• Number the split volumes as #1a, #1b, etc.
• Mark the split volumes as hidden in the series list. (If Shrimp can make this work!)

6.1.3 Split Physical Editions

Some publishers divide a single novel into two physical books without changing the story. These should be handled the same way as split translations.

As with split translations:

• Add each physical volume as its own book.
• Link them to the same series.
• Number them #3a and #3b.

6.3.1 Raws

If the book is in Chinese (raw), it should be titled as:

• Title: Chinese title (Pinyin)
• Author: Chinese author name
• Alias: Romanised author name
• Language: chinese

6.3.2 Physical Editions (Raws)

For physical editions of raws:

• Title: Chinese title
• Author: Chinese author name
• Alias: Romanised author name
• Series: Series title
• Language: simplified chinese / traditional chinese

Note: Simplified Chinese editions are different from Traditional Chinese editions. They have different publishers, ISBNs, titles and laws. It's better to indicate this because it is also listed on official bookstore listings.

6.3.3 Fan Translations (Not MTL!)

Only use authorised fan translations! An authorised fan translation means:

• The translation was completed by a human translator (not a machine translation).
• The translator has received permission by the author to translate and share the work.

For fan translations:

• Title: Chinese title + English (Just follow the fan translation title format)
• Author: Romanised author name
• Alias: Chinese name
• Language: english
• Contributor: Translator(s)
• Publisher: Translator's website

6.3.4 Official Translations

For official translations:

• Title: English title (follow the publisher format)
• Author: Romanised author name
• Alias: Chinese name
• Language: english
• Contributor: Translator(s)

6.3.5 Additional Notes

The romanised names for Chinese authors are used in the English publishing industry. This helps readers differentiate the English translated works from raws.

Merging: Don't merge the official translation to the raws if the official translation will be split into multiple volumes.