Library Management

[dsvick]

I've had my reader now for almost a year and am getting to the point where my simplistic method of managing my library is no longer cutting it. I wanted to see how others a handling things and what thoughts there are out there.

First some background, I've got a Sony PRS-900, I'm using Calibre and the Sony reader software to manage my collections. What I want to be able to do is use tags to maintain the collections that the books appear in, one of the more important ones is a "not read" tag I use to keep my TBR list. I do almost all of this through Calibre, the only thing I use the Sony software for is the actual ordering of the TBR list. Another important feature is being able to put the books into a series and assign a book number - I use Calibre for this as well.

My biggest problem is that as I read a book sometimes I'll delete it from the reader sometimes not, either way I no longer want it to show up in the TBR list. I only connect my reader to Calibre once a month or so and when I do I like to be able to update the tags for the books I've read to remove the "not read" tag and add a rating for the book. Then, if I've kept the book on the reader I want to update the reader as well with the new info for the book. As well as copying any newly acquired books to the reader at the same time.

My problem is that, since I only do this once a month, it gets difficult to remember what books I've done with each book. For instance is a book in Calibre but not in the reader because it is a new book that I've not read yet, or did I read it a month or so ago and removed it from the reader?

Some of this is failure on my to simply remember what I've done, part of it is the Sony software not allowing me to edit the tags/collections of the books on the reader, and part of it is I wish there was an actual synchronization feature in Calibre. I could be wrong on any of those though....

How do you manage your collections and syncing between your reader and management software? I know there are some of you out there with truly large collections, so any thoughts would be great!

thanks

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Since I load an SD card on my computer instead of loading directly to my device, I have a custom column that I made in calibre that tells me if the book is in my reader or not. I delete books in the reader as I read them so when I go to reload the card, I just check the on reader column with what's left on the card. If it's not on the card, I remove the indicator from the on device column. I also update the unread column.

I also put no more than a couple dozen books on my reader at a time. It makes managing them easier, the reboots needed when I change batteries are shorter, and a couple dozen books on my reader will last me for weeks, if not months, since I don't read it at home (I use my computer, usually in conjunction with my 32" TV screen)

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Since I load an SD card on my computer instead of loading directly to my device, I have a custom column that I made in calibre that tells me if the book is in my reader or not. I delete books in the reader as I read them so when I go to reload the card, I just check the on reader column with what's left on the card. If it's not on the card, I remove the indicator from the on device column. I also update the unread column.

I also put no more than a couple dozen books on my reader at a time. It makes managing them easier, the reboots needed when I change batteries are shorter, and a couple dozen books on my reader will last me for weeks, if not months, since I don't read it at home (I use my computer, usually in conjunction with my 32" TV screen)

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I never really considered simply having less books on the reader. That would work great I think. I'll have to toss it back and forth or maybe try it for a month or two and see how it works.

Thanks again!