I’m a Top 30 librarian on Goodreads (in the last week).
Have you ever learned something about yourself that made you think—um, whut? Yet at the same, it made complete sense? That’s where my head’s at right now.
Let me back up and explain how I got here.
Growth of a Goodreads Librarian
Goodreads started out as a small project by Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri (now Chandler, as well) as a social book cataloging site. It launched in January 2007.
I joined the site in October 2008. My first librarian edit is on Nov. 6 that same year. I corrected the author’s name for the book Cataloging and Classification: An Introduction; my second edit was to upload a cover of that same book. It’s still the current cover displayed.
Over the last 16 years, I’ve made 118 edits as of this week. This does not seem like a lot, but apparently it’s enough to break me into the top 30.

My main contributions as a Goodreads librarian include:
- Uploading cover images – mostly of books I owned, although I also occasionally seek out covers for other books that needed them when I ran across them.
- Combining editions – The way Goodreads handles different editions of the same book still kind of annoys me, especially for older (pre-ISBN) works. I do what I can to better distinguish editions when appropriate, and combine them if it makes sense to do so.
- Adding Books – Occasionally, I’ve added a book (or edition) where it was not provided. This is because I’m a pedant when marking something that I’ve read; I prefer to select the specific edition that I used.
- Updating Data – The remainder of my edits are things like updating the language, format, publisher, number of pages, and other data as much as possible. This soothes my completionist tendencies.
My editing has not been spread evenly over that 16 years. I’ve gone through spurts and phases of these edits.
For example, in January 2015 I scanned and uploaded images of some volumes of the Virginia Edition of Robert Heinlein’s complete works, along with adding and correcting other information. I finished the project in October that year.
Why the delay? I have no idea.
Community to Consumption

I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for open source and community projects related to books and reading.
As it started out, Goodreads was a great place to spend time. I felt like I was contributing to a worthy effort to catalog books that I cared about, while also making a record of my own reading progress.
Some of those good feelings came from knowing that Goodreads allowed others to use their data through an open API (application programming interface). The combined aspects of community and openness drew me to keep making updates whenever I encountered erroneous or missing information.
Even after Amazon bought Goodreads in 2013, there was still some value to contributing. Even though it basically counted as free labor for the massive retailer, the book data was still available to anyone who wanted (and had the technical skills) to access it.
That all changed in 2020, however, when Amazon shut down access to the open data. (Technically, the disabled API keys that had been dormant for 30 days and ceased issuing new keys, with plans to fully retire the service at a later date. I imagine that date has passed.)
This hasn’t necessarily stopped me from going in and editing, as my current status in the Top 30 indicates. I just don’t feel as good about them as I used to. I no longer make edits for everyone; I make them only for me.
Damn my completionist tendencies!
Goodreads Alternatives
In recent years, alternatives to Goodreads have popped up. I’ve taken a look at some in the past, but none had matured yet to where I felt like it was worth the time and effort to move.
However, someone recently mentioned The StoryGraph to me again recently. I already have a login from when I signed up a little while back. Maybe I’ll give it a shot again.
If you want to connect with me in either place, feel free to send a friend request: