Add Books - no other members!

I've noticed this for the last couple of weeks, but now I'm pretty sure that it has to be a bug - I'm not *that* rarefied in my reading tastes!

When I add books with the Add Books page, the little info boxes in the Recently Added table all show 'No other members' for the last 13 books I added.

Hiya Kay, I've been through the most recent three pages' worth of your entries and combined any orphaned works with the main work so your members with books info should be more accurate now.

I was doing some at the same time, so it's gone down from 62 unique works to about 40. There have been some problems recently with works becoming separated when you edit them, so that may have been the cause of some of your problems.

Many of the books that I add also show "No other members". Is that because I've edited the record? Because I think it said I was the only owner of the book before I edited it :(

Unfortunately, I can't stop editing my books. I have to add edition statements, extent, dimensions, series statements, etc.

2-3 > Helpful as you've been, I don't think you understand the original poster's problem:

Books show "no other members" immediately upon being added to your library. Before any edits can even be made. I've noticed this for the past couple of weeks, myself. By the time I go in to edit the book, the "Members" field is now up-to-date. It's not an editing issue. Something in the add books functionalty is failing to return the proper number of members who have the book.

I've seen this too, for quite a while. It may just be the system catching up to the new record - but it didn't behave this way formerly.

Actually, I thought it had been getting a bit better in the last few days.

This has been a problem for a few weeks now and has been mentioned in several threads, but I'm with MarthaJeanne, I think it's been a bit improved again lately.

I thought Tim said that it was a timing issue in that if the function the database query to return the number of other members with the book didn't return fast enough the software just sticks a zero in there. If you then look at the book in your catalog you will see that there are in fact other copies in LT. Because of site slowness issues this seems to be happening more often.

>9 jjwilson61:
I sometimes run into the issue where the number on the "Add books" page is zero (or another number smaller than the real number) but when you go to the work there are other members. (Which is what I think you are describing.)

But there is ALSO an issue with your copy separating when you edit a field - going to your catalogue still shows you as the only owner and you have to combine them again.

This has been happening to me lately - - I've added several works that say I'm the only member, but when I go to the work there are other members.

I just added Rain of Gold by Villasenor and it showed I was the only member, but there are actually 246 other members.

Is this something I can/should fix myself? If so, I need DETAILED instructions, because I couldn't figure it out when I went to the author's page.

When I go to your library there are only a few works where you are currently listed as the only author. There are a few different reasons WHY this can happen but in terms of FIXING it:

The two main places to try to combine your "orphan" copies with others of the same work are the "Editions" page (both of your work and the work you think it should be combined with) and the author "combine/separate" page -

For instance:
On Your Work Tijuana Straits's edition page:
http://www.librarything.com/work/6837531/editions/
you can see (at least until someone combines it) that there is another work called Tijuana Straits: A Novel that it can be combined with.

If you go the the Kem Nunn "combine/separate" page you can scroll down and see your work and the work with 41 copies that could be combined there -
http://www.librarything.com/combine.php?author=nunnkem

If you have any more questions feel free to visit the Combiner's group here:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/combiners

NOTE TO COMBINERS - this has been left uncombined as a demonstration for the poster in message #11

#12

Thank you for your help, PortiaLong. I was able to combine a couple of works.

Happy New Years to you. I'm off to celebrate!

I'm not convinced this is a combining issue. Every book I've added today has 0 members. I just added Larry's Party, and once again, zero members. No options on different editions or anything. Only one choice of cover. However, if I search Larry's Party, there is a another version with 800+ members, tags, reviews, etc. When I click "add this book to your library," I go to a blank screen.

The other day I added a book with zero members and today it showed in my library with the correct amount. I'm mostly ignoring this problem, but it's annoying.

>14 Nickelini:

I just combined half a dozen orphans of Larry's Party, and the "master page" with 891 members sharing this work now shows you as a recent member owner of this work. Check it, and post again if it's not working for you.

p.s. there's been a bug lately that doesn't combine newly entered or edited works properly.

Aloha,
Carol

Thanks!

I was just trying to add some Anne Morice books that are in the system, but when I tried to add them this is what I got (e.g.)

Death and the Dutiful Daughter by Anne Morice
No other members; Tags: None

Actually 3 members have this book. I have been having this problem for some weeks when trying to update my series holdings.

I think that took care of it. I combined everything that needed it on the author page.

I've found in 'The Case of the 0 Members' that clicking a couple of times on the 0 will usually change the count to 1 making the book 'visible' to Editions and on the author page.

To follow up on this:
benuathanasia invited the combiners to have a go at their library in this thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/52577

When I combine in someone else's library I first sort by #shared to get all the singletons at the top and then click through authors to look for obvious combinations. I did this and noticed that THEIR singleton copies where not showing up. I clicked through on their titles and many (most? - at least 5) showed a 0 members - clicking on it several times gave it a 1 and then you could just hit editions and combine. These do NOT appear to be books that were just added.

I am thinking that this behavior is contributing to recent lack of auto-combining!

Here is an example of a 0 work in benuathanasia's library:
http://www.librarything.com/work/7203914/book/40078653

I will stop combining here temporarily in case this gives a clue...

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/benuathanasia

The rest of her library is here:

May also be related to the bug of multiple copies showing on the author page but not on the combine/separate page - See Mornings on Horseback on this author page:
http://www.librarything.com/author/mcculloughdavid&all=books

When you click on the singletons it shows 1 copy but no members - click on the 1 does not convert it to 0.

>21 PortiaLong:
I've been running into these 1 copy but no members singletons quite often recently. I've assumed that they'll be fixed during a major database maintenance run ... but should I post a link to them when I encounter them?

I tried adding more Anne Morice this morning and after 2 successful adds it reverted to the 'no other members' problen outlined in post 17...

Okay, so I've added my next book, The General by CS Forester, and LT imagines I am the only author, which of course is not true. I want to change the cover to one of the choices on the real page . . . so what do I do to align my 0 book with the others? Is this zero member thing going to be par for the course now?

>24 Nickelini:
To fix your copy -
Go to your copy.
Click on the 0 until it turns into a 1.
Click the editions link.
See if it offers you something to combine with.
Verify that it is the correct work.
Combine.

I think that this is a newish bug and that it is good to have some examples to point out to TPTB but you should feel free to correctly combine works in your own library. My personal opinion of course.

PS. The link I provided in msg 20 is no longer a valid example - I'm sure I can dig up some more if necessary.

>25 PortiaLong:
The members link number showing up as 0 bug has been happening for months if not longer.

edited for clarity

>26 DaynaRT:
You are probably correct.

I have seen it before with regard to works that have been combined/separated/recombined etc. (I always assumed it was a caching error). But I, personally, have not seen it before on works that had been added without any "combining" work done on them. (i.e. I have never seen this on a work that I have added even if LT doesn't think that any other members own it - it always showed me a "1" and my name under members).

It's happened to me several times with new adds, using various sources (Amazon, LoC, etc). I haven't seen it after an edit; that's when I see the orphaning that still says 1 member.

I noticed this last week also with two books I added. One being Emma by Jane Austen. Now the edition was an old one (I bought it used) and it was British (even though I'm In Canada) but really no other users? I deleted it and readded an newer edition and then just changed the cover to the one that matched my edition. Which shows that if someone uploaded my cover, someone else must own the book, no? I know it shouldn't but it sort of freaks me out thinking that out of all the members I could have a book that no one else does.
(the other was Locked Rooms a Mary Russell mystery)

edited to add the second book that came in 0 members

Sydamy - I've done a bit of combining in your library. Your one singleton is gone, and several others have gained a friend or several.

Combining is better than entering the wrong edition, and there are several of us willing to help out if you don't care to do it yourself. If your book has an ISBN entered, it is usually possible to do it from the editions page of the work. (Just be sure that the works recommended really are the same.)

I've been following this thread for awhile now, and I'm curious, has Tim said anything about this recently? It does indeed seem like an actual *bug*, not just regular combining issues.... Is this something that is on the radar to be dealt with? (asking because I don't see him posting in this thread)

MarthaJeanne - why thank you very much! I'm not to savvy on the whole combining thing, (not even really sure what it is or why it's neeeded) so stay I stay clear. Is there a quick and easy tutorial?

> 31 Hi Heather - The most recent thread I've seen where Tim has made comments about combining and "singleton" problems (there have been a few issues that fall into this group and some might be related) was a few days ago in the Recommend Site Improvements group. The topic name mentions "combining problems solved," but the latter part of the thread includes examples from people saying "This thing is still happening ..."

The short answer is, yes, it has been on his radar recently. ;-)

32> Actually, if you go to an author and click the Combine/Separate link on the bar just above the books list, there's an explanation of 'why and what' on the right-hand side of the page. How is more complicated, mostly because there are so many ways to do it. I frequently work from that Combine/Separate page; you can also go to the Editions page of a particular book and see if it shows any good Potential Combinations (note that some of them are just plain _wrong_, do read them carefully to see if they really are the same book).

The short answer for 'what is combining' is, LT can tell if a book exists in more than one form. The hardback and paperback of the same story are one 'work'; so are translations (though that can get complicated sometimes with different volume splits); so are reprints or reissues of a book. All the Tom Sawyers are one work, though there are literally hundreds of editions/forms/versions. The only things you have to be careful of are combined editions (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" are NOT the same work. Also sometimes publishers reuse ISBNs and the Potential Combinations come up with some...interesting...possibilities...

So if you have a hardback, illustrated, elegant copy of Tom Sawyer and I have a Penguin Classics paperback copy, and they're properly combined, LT will tell us that we share a book. It's very helpful!

So, basically, it's working correctly now. But some past books (about 10%) aren't correctly numbered, so they aren't in the spot they need to be when another edition comes along.

I'm working on it. It takes some serious database reanalysis. It's running all the time now.

> 25: Thank you! I have had this happen to me several times lately and didn't know how to fix it.