Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Hi all,

Picking up the conversation started here, I'm looking to expand the definition of a series on Goodreads to be more inclusive of non-fiction titles.

I'd appreciate feedback on the following, in particular the non-fiction addition in the proposed updates. One thought is that we should include more information on what a non-fiction series is not.

The current guidelines are:

Imprints and other unrelated collections of works (usually by multiple authors) are not series. They can be grouped with a Listopia list, or the collection/imprint information can be listed in the edition field, but they should not be grouped into a series, or listed on a book's title line.

As a general rule, a book is only part of a series if that designation would apply to all editions of a work. To be a series, books should have characters and/or universes in common. In the case of imprints and other non-series collections, it is common for some of these books to be published under numerous other imprints as well.

For example, SF Masterworks would not be a series, and neither would Harlequin Blaze.

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Proposed changes:

Imprints and other unrelated collections of works (usually by multiple authors) are not series. They can be grouped with a Listopia list, or the collection/imprint information can be listed in the edition field, but they should not be grouped into a series, or listed on a book's title line. As a general rule a book is only part of a series if that designation would apply to all editions of a work.

For fiction titles to be a series, books should have characters and/or universes in common. In the case of imprints and other non-series collections, it is common for some of these books to be published under numerous other imprints as well. For example, SF Masterworks would not be a series, and neither would Harlequin Blaze.

In the case of non-fiction, series include books listed under an overarching title AND with a common theme, for example History Smashers or Guinness World Records.

Thank you for working to update this, Jaclyn.

I could still use some more clarification—I'm not sure "common theme" is specific enough for nonfiction. How specific need that theme be? For example, would either of these qualify as series?

https://utppublishing.com/series/teac...
https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/series/...

They have broad common themes (ethnographic case studies; books about things) but, for Object Lessons at least (I don't think I've read any of the Teaching Culture books), not much else other than publisher (imprint?) to connect them. (E.g., some of the Object Lessons books are set up as microhistories, while others are basically mini-memoir.)

Note that I'm not arguing against series pages for them, just overthinking as usual, and more detail is always helpful!

I feel if there is a number on the cover then it should be a series no matter the content. For the publisher / author to include the number means that they consider the works a series. Their wishes should be tantamount.

As someone that does a lot of series, I agree with Liralen. More details would be helpful.

Here some of the outstanding nonfiction requests. Using these examples, could we get some insight as to whether they would be series and why?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to leave this thread open a little longer while I look through the above links and fine-tune a definition.