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Ask Slashdot: High-Tech Ways To Manage a Home Library?
DeptofDepartments writes "With Kindles and ebooks on everyone's lips (sc. hands) nowadays, this might come as a surprise to some, but besides being a techie, I have also amassed quite a collection of actual books (mostly hardcover and first editions) in my personal library. I have always been reluctant to lend them out and the collection has grown so large now that it has become difficult to keep track of all of them. This is why I am looking for a modern solution to implement some professional-yet-still-home-sized library management. Ideally, this should include some cool features like RFID tags or NFC for keeping track of the books, finding and checking them out quickly, if I decide to lend one." For more on what DeptofDepartments is looking for, read on below.
DeptofDepartments continues: "One problem seems to be the short lifetime of RFID tags (only 5-10 years). Given that many books will probably only be read or checked out once or twice in this period at best, the administrative effort seems very large. I have also been largely unsuccessful in finding tags or solutions that go beyond the cheap 5 to 20 item 'starter kits', yet still remain affordable and below the industrial scale.
Also, what would be suitable and affordable readers/writers for the tags in this context?
Finally, as many of the books are old folios or fairly precious first editions, everything must be non-destructive and should be removable without damage to the books if need be.
(Note: Scanning ISBNs with a hand-held barcode scanner is not an option, as many books are old (pre-ISBN) or special editions).
Software-wise, I would like to have a nice and modern-looking, easy-to-use software that can interface with the hardware side as described above. I do not necessarily need multi-user or networking capabilities at this point.
I hope the CSI (Combined Slashdot Intelligence) has some helpful ideas and pointers for me on this!"
Also, what would be suitable and affordable readers/writers for the tags in this context?
Finally, as many of the books are old folios or fairly precious first editions, everything must be non-destructive and should be removable without damage to the books if need be.
(Note: Scanning ISBNs with a hand-held barcode scanner is not an option, as many books are old (pre-ISBN) or special editions).
Software-wise, I would like to have a nice and modern-looking, easy-to-use software that can interface with the hardware side as described above. I do not necessarily need multi-user or networking capabilities at this point.
I hope the CSI (Combined Slashdot Intelligence) has some helpful ideas and pointers for me on this!"
Organize your books using Dewey, make or buy slip covers, and while you are physically labelling them enter information in a card catalogue database.
If you're going to keep books as a labour of love you can make time to catalogue them.
I have no experience in this area, so this is purely how I would approach the problem from a blank slate.
I would go with good ol` fashion "bunch o` lines" bar codes. Easy to make yourself, should be easy to attach to a book (or not, maybe just have it loose between the cover and first page), lots of cheap readers and most just emulate a keyboard so easy to interface with.
From there I'd probably throw together a little home brew. What you are asking for does not really sound complicated, the software side sounds like a weekend project for just the basic requirements. Even if you just do it as a basic web app. Be sure to add a title based search for if the barcode gets lost, so the bar code just becomes a convinience and not a requirement to use,
Put them in alphabetical order. Use a ledger to record lending.
You're welcome.
I would reccomend taking a polaroid of the person you are loaning the book to and then leaving the picture on the shelf in the place reserved for the book. Other viable database options include a chalkboard log of the Dewey Decimel numbers or scanning each book to a tape drive for safe keeping.
Simplest solution - use the ISBNs - plenty of bar code scanning apps exist to scan these in... For books without the ISBNs - create your own QR codes to catalog/scan them all...
legacy.audacious-software.com/products/books/
I've used this for years. Hold the book up to the camera to ID it. Easiest way to do this is via ISBN -- you can always create your own barcodes for the books that don't have them, and affix these somehow (I affix inside with acid-free glue, this may be sacrilegious to some). Otherwise, you can use an image recognition module. Contains complete check in/out functionality and is open source.
I've been thinking that there should be some way to add a plugin for Calibre that can do all of this too, but Books already does everything I want.
It's one of these:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/9/
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
I have about 6000 books. Some of them are quite old (passing the century mark). Many of them (about 1400 that I know of) lack bar codes or ISBNs.
I've been down this road before.
After a few fancy tries, I got lazy and loaded an android app called Book Catalog on an old phone. It does everything I need, though I wish it had a way of syncing databases across multiple devices. I manually enter those I can't scan. I don't bother with bar codes. I identify by name, author, date, and location (shelf, room). I keep the books in order on the shelves. I pay attention when re-shelving them. A little bit of self discipline goes a LONG way.
In all honesty I haven't got everything catalogged yet, but I'm in the...checking...2788 range. I enter anything new I pick up (both so I don't get further behind and to avoid duplication) and scan/enter a few books at a time whenever I'm in an OCD mood.
This is my suggestion as well. It's actually Delicious Library 2 by now. You can search by name, ISBN number, scanning the barcode, etc. You can also store books, CDs, DVDs, games, physical devices, etc.
My company home page
I use Shelves for Android to keep track of all my Books, DVD, Games, what not.
It has functions for loaning out materials and uses the barcode scanner software you install on your phone or tablet device.
Shelves at Google Play
Perhaps Bill Adama had it right - give books to people, never lend them. Then you can't get upset if they never make it back to you.
Man, I'm still not sure how e-books caught on so hard, and why people keep singing the demise of the printed book.
Personally, I've tried using a few friends' e-readers, and can't stand it. Too rigit, irritatingly slow page flips (although I'm sure this can easily be remedied with a better e-reader), and too delicate. And by delicate, I mean that I wouldn't be able to do NEARLY as much to an e-reader as I can with a paperback.
Read in the bathtub without worry of losing more than about $12 and the time Amazon takes to ship? Check
Lob it across the bathroom away from the bathtub when I'm done reading for the time? Check
Hurl it down the hallway towards a pile of things I'm gathering for whatever outing? Check
Read it at the beach without the slightest care about sand or moisture? Check
Leave it in the car in the middle of winter? Sure!
Leave it anywhere remotely close to a window in the middle of winter? No problem!
- note: I'm not sure how good e-readers stand up to cold, but up here in Canada it can be -50 out at times, and in the old apartment I'm stuck in for the moment, near the windows it's not all that too terrible much far off from that. I don't trust leaving anything electronic near the windows of this place in winter.
Smudge marks? None
Batteries? None
And I dunno... there's just something relaxing about just handling a nice paperback novel.
Best way to add books is to type in the ISBN, then the website searches online databases, to include Amazon.
You can also add tags to your books, like fiction, non-fiction, read, not read, etc.
Every book I read this year gets a "2012" tag, so I'll always know how many books I read in a given year.
He who laughs last is at 300 baud.
"Read in the bathtub without worry of losing more than about $12 and the time Amazon takes to ship? Check"
Only if you buy cheap paperbacks. I buy leather bound signed 1st editions. A couple of my books are worth more than a 64gig new ipad.
I buy books to read.
Cheap paperbacks work just fine for that purpose.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The software I use is done by a Dutch company called Collectorz (Yes, it sounds VERY reputable). It's one of the few bits of software I've genuinely felt worth purchasing for the value. It does pretty much everything you are looking at, cleanly and effectively. It allows you to export databases in a variety of formats, and has a matching app for android and apple products.
It does the classic things like search Amazon for books, either by ISBN or author/title, but it can also hit the Library of Congress as well as several other major national libaries (I know it does the UK as well as Canada). Multiple hits on a single ISBN/title let you select which you import in, and there's a wide selection of data tags you can use, as well as several user defined fields
One thing you may find useful is that the book assigns, in addition to everything else, a unique ID number to each book, which can be used in lieu of a barcode or more cumbersome ID method.
"(Note: Scanning ISBNs with a hand-held barcode scanner is not an option, as many books are old (pre-ISBN) or special editions)."
I recently scanned all my books (~250) into a Goodreads account using an Android app. Only a couple of dozen or so didn't have ISBNs. And for those I just typed in the name and it was able to find the book. I believe there is also an option for adding a book if Goodreads can't find it.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
You can put the ebook reader into a ziploc bag if you really want to read in the tub.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I did the inventory of my 500+ book collection here and while it took a few days, the upkeep is minimal, and gcstar allows me to also keep track of people I lend the book to. The interface is awful, but it does connect to Amazon and so on to get book details, including cover pictures, if you have an ISBN. If you don't, then it's likely that Amazon doesn't carry it and you'll have to enter the details by hand anyways, but that's still fairly easy.
I do not label the books with stickers, RFID or bar codes of any kind. I simply rely on the book name for reference, and since I have very few duplicate books, this usually works. Duplicates can usually be told apart by printing dates or something similar. The library itself is physically arranged by loosely defined categories - I did *not* bother with Dewey.
I have written a complete article about this that may be useful to you. You may also want to contribute to that wiki page which compares different software offering.
Semantics is the gravity of abstraction
we were still using cue cats!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Catalog all your books? nope.
Buy a book on the fly from almost anywhere? nope.
Easily share a book and automatically get it back? nope
Easily look up a new word? nope
Fact check from anywhere? nope.
Check a book out for the library without going to the library? nope.
All the books weight the same? nope.
Immediately share a clever passage or turn of phrase? nope
Adjust the font size? nope
Book get smudge marks. No only do they get smudge marks, they are difficult to impossible to remove.
Yeah, boo hoo if you don't take precautions you might drop it into the bath tub. Or you could put it in plastic, or into a case, or, you know, stop reading while soaking in your own filth and take a shower. Then sit by the fire with all your books and pick and choose.
Oh, I drop my Kindle into the tub. Damn that was stupid of me. I guess I;ll just have to read from my computer, or phone until I get 79 dollars.
Once you drop you paperback into the water, you'r done reading.
I get it. I thought the same thing, then I get my wife a kindle. Cause there are a shit ton of free romances.
The I used it and , man unless it's a nice hard cover or signed, I don't even want a hard print book.
"And I dunno... there's just something relaxing about just handling a nice paperback novel."
Yes, it's you emotional attachment to the idea of how someone should read a book.
There are people who enjoy reading, and there are people who read to own books.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Got an iPhone? There's a personal inventory app called MyStuff2 ($5.00) that I use for a whole lot of things, and it already comes with "Books" as a category. When you're adding items, it can use the camera for a barcode scanner and look up your titles on Amazon; it then automatically populates fields like title, author, publisher, genre, page count, edition, ISBN, publication date, and cover photo. For books that don't have a barcode, you can manually type the ISBN. Or you can enter all the data manually.
Once an item is in the database, there are action codes you can select. Item Lent is built in by default, and records the current date. It's up to you to type in the name and info of the borrower. When you view a loaned item, there's a convenient "return item" button to tap.
You can browse the list of all items in an action state, such as "lent" or "returned".
The program is very flexible. You can modify the database schema, adding other data you might find useful, like price, vendor, condition, notes, or what have you. You can modify the actions as well. For example, I modified the "lent to" field of the Loan Item activity to be an address book contact field instead of a typed name. So when I look at the loaned item list, I can tap on an item, tap on the contact, then tap dial to call them.
The app supports importing and exporting data a few different ways (CSV, Excel, PDF, HTML) so you can work with it on a separate machine. It can use all kinds of tools to back up the databases, including Box, Dropbox, iCloud, or you can FTP it to your own systems. And it's always with you, which is great if you're just out and about and happen into a book store.
I also have other categories of stuff in the database. I keep data about all of our home appliances and electronics in there, with information about warranties, repair history, replacement parts, and maintenance schedules.
I originally bought it to keep track of our orchid collection, but it's proven very useful for all kinds of home inventory needs. Best $5.00 app I ever bought.
http://www.maddysoft.com/iphone/mystuff/
John
Marry a librarian, and just leave your books around. A system will develop.
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