Edition style guidelines

Title

Enter the title exactly as it appears on the book in Title Case. Title case requires all words in the title to be capitalized, with the exception of words like conjunctions, articles, and prepositions.

If the title differs on different parts of the book (e.g. cover, spine, copyright page) use the most visually obvious title. Use the Notes section to mention any important differences.

Subtitles should be added to this field using a colon as a separator (e.g. Title: Subtitle).

For more in-depth capitalization guidelines, head over to English capitalization guidelines or the equivalent page for the language of the title.

Author Credit

Author credits should generally follow the actual credit used on the cover, including the join phrases. Artist credits are not considered titles, so the join phrases should be capitalized as normally written in the language they're in. If the release has no join phrase for multiple collaborating authors, but just lists them all separated by whitespace, use the default join phrases (an ampersand between the last two authors, and a comma between the others).

Edition Group

Works

The Work is the composition, or creative piece of text published in the physical object (e.g. the novel, short story, poem, article, or other creative work). In order to list the Works inside this Edition, use the relationship editor. In the 'Other Entity' field, search for the existing Work entity (or create it first); you can click on the button to the right of this search field to open it in a new tab and ensure you selected the correct Work. Then in the 'Relationship' dropdown select the relationship of type "Edition contains Work". Finally, click the '+ Add' button. Repeat as many times as necessary to add each work appearing in the Edition. This can include for example prefaces and forewords, which need to be created as separate Works.

ISBNs and other identifying codes

We strongly recommend adding every identifying code on the book to your submission as this is the best differentiator for physical items. To do so, use the identifier editor ('Add identifier') and select the type of identifier (ISBN, Barcode, etc.) Here you can also link to other databases and websites using the appropriate identifier, or by pasting the full URL from the website in question. For example, you can paste the entire URL https://openlibrary.org/works/OL515051W and the editor will automatically select the identifier type OpenLibrary and the identifier OL515051W.

Release Date

Dates should be added in the format YYYY, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD.

Try to be as precise as possible. If the exact date is unknown just the year is sufficient.

If more than one date appears on the book, please ensure you choose the latest as the publication date and include the earlier ones in annotations.

Language

The language(s) used for the contents of the book. If the book is in multiple languages, you can add multiple languages.

Format

This describes the physical form of the book (e.g. paperback, hardback, journal, e-book, etc.)

The same work in different formats should be entered into the database as separate items.

Use the Notes field to add more descriptions for unique items if needed.

Status

Page Count

Use the page number printed on the last page of the book.

This might not be the same as the physical number of pages, which might include unnumbered pages at the beginning or end of the book.

Physical attributes

Enter the physical attributes (dimensions, weight) of the book.

Width refers to the length of the cover from left to right. Height refers to the length of the book from the top to the bottom of the cover. Depth refers to how thick the book is; this should be measured by the width of the spine. Enter the weight of the book to one decimal place (if needed).

Annotation

Use this free text field to add any additional details about the book that don't fit in any of the above fields. This includes distinguishing features of the book, or secondary sources consulted for the submission.

Don't use this field for data that belongs in another field.

Please do not include subjective opinions, reviews, promotional language or hype, or condition notes.