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Librarians-Deletion.adoc

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Non-Book entries

Table of Contents

Goal

OpenLibrary shall contain all the published books of humankind available to everyone in the world with excellent metadata.

Problem

Many catalogs we import from are meant for retailers and thus also contain data about non-book merchandise that they sell. Furthermore, some imports contain wrong data (for example, setting the publisher as an author).

Common example of non-books are:

  • Marketing material like wholesaler multipacks, dump bins, prepacks, retail displays

  • Toys, games, cards[1]

  • Video of any format

  • Audio recordings of theatrical, TV, or radio performances[2]

  • Recorded music[1]

  • Greeting cards, note cards, writing paper, notebooks and other stationery

  • Office supplies

  • Calendars, journals, blank books[3]

  • Loose pages

  • Video games[1]

  • Brochures

  • Annual reports

  • Posters

  • Stand-alone software[1]

  • Textiles

  • Printed advertisements

Solution

Non-Book and Non-Author entries can be deleted.

Procedure

The deletion process depends on your status: Visitor, Patron, Librarian or Lead Librarian.

Visitors and Patrons

Please report non-book and non-author entries through the [contact form](https://openlibrary.org/contact?path=%2F).

Non-Authors

We need the author profile ID. The profile ID starts with OL followed by numbers and ends with an A.

Non-Books

We need the work’s name and the work’s ID. The work ID starts with OL followed by numbers and ends with W.

(You can simply copy the link to the profile, it contains the ID).

Librarians

Librarians can report non-book and non-author entries either on the Slack channel #open-librarians-g or through the [contact form](https://openlibrary.org/contact?path=%2F), just like a Visitor or Patron.

Lead Librarians

Only Lead Librarians can delete entries from the database. Items should be thoroughly vetted before deletion.

🔥
 Deleted items may cause errors if accessed by API.

Is it an invalid entry?

Check whether an entry is truly invalid according to our content guidelines for valid books.

Can it be linked to a valid entry?

Sometimes, invalid entries can be clearly connected to a specific work, which most commonly happens with marketing materials (for example, a floor display with several copies of a book). In this case, the invalid entry should be merged with the valid work and only the invalid editions are deleted. If an invalid entry is just loosely connected to a work (for example, a toy based on a character from a book), it should be deleted.

Deletion

If an entry is truly invalid and cannot be linked to a valid work, simply click on the big, orange framed Delete Record button on the upper right corner of the Edit page.

1. Unless as part of a book. In this case, only the bundle of book and non-book is entered into OpenLibrary. The non-book does not get a separate entry.
2. Unless they include the full text of the written work.
3. Unless they a) contain significant editorial or visual content or b) are available as scanned items on archive.org. They can be good resources for visual design.