Ownership Icons

These things -



The colored checkmarks etc. Could you implement a hierarchy for these not just merely the last instance of them? The two that show up as Read but Unowned are for times when I borrowed an audiobook from the library after purchasing physical copies. I cataloged that edition as a RBU and entered reading dates, etc. If I didn't know this series as well as I do, a first glance would indicate that I don't own copies of two books and I might think I need to get them. This display is not a correct representation of my catalog. Pretty please?

There is a hierarchy. It's just not the one you would prefer.

This wiki page does not show the current icons, but the content is still accurate. https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Checkmarks

Yeah, that's true. Is it useful the way it is for people? Trying to think...it's early! LOL

I guess it is okay for me, since I don't add a different edition that I read if I already own the physical book. After all the collection is "read but unowned", and LT is taking that at the work level, not the book level. But I see your dilemma, and would be okay with the your library checkmark being above a read but unowned checkmark.

I think I would prefer Your library to outrank Read but unowned also.

I've long idly wondered why Wishlist and Read But Unowned outrank Your Library. It doesn't affect me as I don't use either of the two, but it seems illogical, particularly for RBU. If I had one copy of Work X on my shelves, and another in RBU, say because it's a different translation I'd like to review separately, surely the former is the more important fact?

I agree, Your Library should trump others.

I think Wish List should trump all others: if it’s in my wish list, regardless of whether I own a copy or read a borrowed copy, I want to know that. As I use collections, “Read But Unowned” and “Your Library” are mutually exclusive, so I don’t care which outranks the other.

>8 Charon07:

Agreed. I am fine with giving Wishlist top rank for the reason you give.

Well I can't say that's logical for me, and I'm not sure all folks would want to be shown they wish for a book when they own a copy. Yes, owning a specific copy might be something you want to call out, but for me not buying duplicates is more important as is filling holes in series, for which anything but a green checkmark won't be helpful.

>10 Bookmarque: Sounds like something that should be customisable at user level. I'm with you on this one; if I own a copy of a series work, I don't want to purchase it again (unless I'm replacing a well-read print copy with an electronic copy). So the fact I own a work trumps 'Wishlist' and 'Read but Unowned'. A simple menu at account level asking you to rank series checkmarks would help.

A real unicorn would be a different icon for print and electronic (and ranking those as well)! That could be quite neat - a book icon for print copies, an ebook icon for an electronic copy, and a headphone icon for audiobooks.

The medium-oriented icons sounds dandy. Just dandy.

>10 Bookmarque: If you don't wish for another copy of the book, why is it on the wishlist? I don't think changing the priority is worthwhile for a problem that can be fixed by keeping your wishlist up-to-date. I do have books on my wishlist for cases where I want a specific edition I don't have, even though I own a different edition, and would want to see the wishlist mark override the Your Library mark.

I think prioritizing My Library over Read not Owned makes sense, though.

My guess is these checkmarks are the way they are because there are still some people who put everything in Your Library and thus making Your Library top priority would make the other marks useless to them. But I don't think it's a big enough use case to justify.

>13 melannen: Normally I don't, but was echoing what Charo07 said in post 8. That person seems to have copies owned and copies in wishlist - maybe a first edition or an annotated version, something like that. Who knows, but you get it as you said in your post. Valid though I don't think it helps most people to have collections other than My Library supersede that one which most of us use for books we own.

>11 Maddz:

I (mis)use the icons for print and electronic - the paper books go in Your Library, so are green, electronic ones go in a custom collection, so are grey.

For what it’s worth, there was discussion when the checkmarks were introduced. See, for instance, these two threads, and these two messages in particular:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/81530#1708838
https://www.librarything.com/topic/81814#1710932

Not that one can’t request a change in the ranking, but I thought some history might be interesting.

And lots of other people have requested it:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/353243#

(there's a link to 3 more threads there)

>10 Bookmarque: Well I can't say that's logical for me, and I'm not sure all folks would want to be shown they wish for a book when they own a copy. Yes, owning a specific copy might be something you want to call out, but for me not buying duplicates is more important as is filling holes in series, for which anything but a green checkmark won't be helpful.

Personally, I think it makes more sense for users who do not want to buy copies of books they already have to remove those items from their wishlist, rather than for those people to decide unilaterally that 'my library' should always trump 'wishlist'. If I have a book, but it's in poor shape, so I add it to the wishlist, it's more important to me to see that it's on the wishlist and I'm looking for another copy than for me to just see that I already have it. It doesn't make sense to me that I should have to remove the item I own from my library, just so that wishlist shows up on the top.

I think 'my library' should trump 'read but unowned', but in the mean time, I do think that removing a book one owns from the 'unowned' list would eliminate this problem.

Obviously we all use the icons differently so it would be nice to (and it has been requested) if the hierarchy was customisable. Lots of things on the new Work pages are customisable ... so maybe it's in the works? You know, in two weeks time.

>18 GraceCollection: Well, there's always the suitable tag route. I have a book tagged REPLACE (and there's others I need to add that to because of their condition or poor translation), but I don't use the wishlist function - to my mind, that's for books I don't own or are forthcoming that I want to buy. In any case, that wishlist is held on Kobo as that's where I purchase from; I really don't see the point of maintaining two lists.

"As I use collections, “Read But Unowned” and “Your Library” are mutually exclusive" Put me in that camp as well. I just griped about this in the Bug Collectors' Group, and was referred to this thread. Personal customization would be swell! I'm a belts and suspenders kinda gal, so I do use tags and collections in a somewhat redundant fashion. But wherever I'm looking that reflects my data, I'd love it if it made sense to my sense of organization. ("Don't ask, don't get", to quote Thomas Cromwell of Wolf Hall.)