The Approve Book Authors link is on the Member Tools page, which is linked from the bottom of any page on the site.  It allows the members to submit a "uniform" version of an author name to be applied to all items in the database that include that author in the author list. 

Our database is compiled elsewhere, and it has various spellings of an author name.  We would prefer that an author's name appear in its full version (without leading first initials, unless that is the only way that an author publishes).  The Search and Book Recommendations both rely on matching spelling of author names, and so these various spellings impede these features.

To use the Author Cleanup feature:

• Click Member Tools at the bottom of the site (you have to be logged in to see this)
• Click Approve Book Authors on the next page
• A screen appears for a specific author, with all the books in the database that include that author in their author lists
• Enter the author's full name (first - middle [if there is one] - last) in the appropriate spaces
• Click Save Author

This will submit that spelling of the author's name to an archive, and when we have enough of these changes, we will implement them in the database.

If a mistake is made, don't worry!  Submissions must be approved by another member independently in order to go into the archive.

If you don't know what to enter (if the author is not familiar to you) you can click Refresh on your browser and a different author screen will come up.