Workbench...I didn't touch it!

I saw a link where I could add one of my books to the workbench. I didn't dare touch it, certain that it was over my head. I don't think it is "my" workbench. Looks like it's related to combining...

I think I understand the concept of combing, as per previous help here and this link https://www.librarything.com/concepts#works.

Wiki discusses the "workbench" here https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Book_combining as part of the combining process but it wasn't quite clear to me. I also know that there is the combiners group that will take care of everything for us (thank heaven) so likely it's one of the things I'll never need to use myself.

I just thought it would be good to understand the process better. And then probably bug you guys with follow up questions. Sounds fun, right? 😁

Your workbench is your own, and adding something to it won't harm anything. You are right, though, it is used for combining!

Think of it like a physical workbench in a woodshop: the works you put on the workbench are all right there at your fingertips, so that when you start trying to combine the ones which need to be combined, you don't have to find them again.

It creates a short list, one that is unique to you (hence 'your' workbench). Adding things to the list doesn't actually do anything in terms of combining. (In fact, if you plan to never combine anything, you could use the workbench as a wishlist or TBR or whatever you wanted.) It truly doesn't harm anything. If you 'open' your workbench you can view that list, hit the wastebasket icon to remove a single work from the workbench (this also does no harm; it doesn't delete the work from your library or from the site or anything, only your workbench, like putting a tool away on a shelf), hit the 'clear' button to remove everything from your workbench (which also will do no harm, unless you were trying to build a wishlist — then, oops, it's gone), or hit 'combine works' — which also does no harm! It will take you to the combination page (which is where you might potentially cause harm if you muck about without know what you're doing) but hitting the 'combine works' button just takes you to the place where you do combinations, it will not just automatically combine everything on the list together.

>2 GraceCollection: Well, I was just tad wrong about the workbench, just a tad! ha

Since I can do no harm on the workbench, I'll give it a try. I have an idea of something that I need to do in my library and it might be helpful.

Thank you.

>3 DebiCates:

Since I can do no harm on the workbench, I'll give it a try

You can do harm on the workbench, if you do the wrong combination. Yes, there are some places to catch an error, but do be careful!

The Workbench was a genius feature addition. Before we got it, combinations mostly happened on the Author page; which meant tracking down all copies and individually adding correct author names beforehand. It was laborious.

>5 2wonderY: I'll second that.

>4 lilithcat: Thank you for the warning. I was going to stay clear of combining. I still don't feel comfortable with that. Probably because i know it affects others.

>5 2wonderY: Ditto ! I used to be able to type the special combine URL without thinking, I had to use it so much before the workbench. (it's what the button on the combine page does, but if you can't get the works onto a single combine page...)

I love that I can throw a dozen different things I found using a site search onto the workbench, and then (carefully!) sort them out without having to go back to the search a dozen times.

And that the workbench makes combining easier but that's not it's only function - it's great for any ongoing project that you don't want to keep in tabs, to be able to quickly find and jump between the work pages. (I just wish it weren't at the very bottom of the page on mobile, because that's a lot of scrolling sometimes, when using lots of browser tabs is also less convenient.)

>8 keristars: Yes. And those Work pages get longer and longer!

>1 DebiCates: Would you like to try a workbench combination?

Searching for Ruth Goodman titles, I see there are at least two varying entries for the book
Full Steam Ahead: How the Railways Made Britain

Why don’t you do the search and add them to your workbench and combine them?

>10 2wonderY: Yowza, do you think I'm ready for that? If you think it would be a good exercise, I will. But after this work thing (the other kind of work, ha) I have going on is done, maybe this weekend or next weekend. Lately, my brain is on 11% every workday evening.

You probably will recognize when an author or title is wrong while searching for works. Getting you to combine works is putting you to work to make the site better. 😀

When you are ready...

When your day job is not consuming so much of your resources. Sorry about that, I know the feeling.

>11 DebiCates: Just to clarify, actually combining the works is a two-step processes. After some have been added to the workbench, clicking 'combine' merely opens the page with works on the bench listed and then you choose which ones to actually combine. So it's not easy to accidentally combine something merely because it's on the workbench. Also, when you select works to combine, there will be warnings if authors are not the same, disambiguation notice if any, and series info

>13 SandraArdnas: Good to know. I'd like to help and so all the help I can get to not flub it up is great.

Thank you All!

I'm sure to be back after I've tried it. Hope it's to announce I've succeeded. ha

>14 DebiCates: and if you ever mess up and do not know how to fix it, come over to the Combiners group and post in the latest help thread - someone will help and will explain what went wrong and how to fix it next time. :)

>15 AnnieMod: Cool. Nice to know there are people to help....lots of people on LT in fact. Thanks Annie! I will.