internetarchive / internetarchive/openlibrary

Editions sometimes have authors field

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Affects: Data Lead: @cdrini Module: Import Needs: Feedback Priority: 4 Type: Bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Editions sometimes have `authors` fields which can (sometimes) fall out of sync with the authors field of the work.

Questions:
- Should editions have an `authors` field? [This edition](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25934687M.json) does not, but [this one](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL17631357M/Living_with_Leviathan?v=9) did; [this one](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4297066M/Public_expenditure_trends.) still does
- If an edition does have an `authors` field, does editing the work's `authors` update the edition's `authors` field?

### Relevant url?
e.g. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL17631357M/Living_with_Leviathan?v=9

### Stakeholders
@LeadSongDog

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Compare the edition records at the linked Open Library URLs with their corresponding work author data, then trace how edition and work records are edited. Resolve whether editions should retain an authors field and what synchronization behavior is required; done means the policy and resulting behavior are unambiguous.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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