Using Calibre to Catalogue?

Jayko · 01-03-2010, 11:41 PM

I'm loving using Calibre to manage my e-library and had a thought on using Calibre for something it obviously wasn't intended for...

I have a reasonable sized collection of physical books and plan on continuing to buy some, especially the graphic novels sort as I prefer the physical editions to .CBRs. I noticed that I can edit metadata for .txt documents. Would there be a downside to creating .txt documents for physical books and simply editing the metadata to use Calibre to catalogue my physical books in addition to managing the e-books? It's quite easy use a "Shelf" tag to denote they're not actually e-books right in the current UI.

Obviously I wouldn't be able to upload them to my Kindle 2 and would entail lots of labor on my part to get caught up on my existing collection. Before I start this process, I just want to make sure that the metadata for said bogus .txt documents will be maintained in the metadata database and will transfer to a new computer as long as the bogus .txts are moved with the library on a computer swap or swap OSs.

Anyone shooting holes in this idea, pointing me to a thread where it has already been discussed, or contributing any other kind of feedback would be much appreciated!

-Jay

itimpi · 01-04-2010, 01:09 AM

You do not have to add bogus .txt files. If you click on the down arrow mext to the "Add Books" icon you will see there is an option to add empty book entries with no attached ebook file.

That is how I manage my own paper books, adding a "PAPER" tag so I can filter them out as required. If you later get a electronic copy of a book you can still add it via the Edit metadta dialog. I also add handling books I would like in the same way, in this case using a tag of "WISHLIST"

01-03-2010, 11:41 PM	#1
Jayko Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Using Calibre to Catalogue? I'm loving using Calibre to manage my e-library and had a thought on using Calibre for something it obviously wasn't intended for... I have a reasonable sized collection of physical books and plan on continuing to buy some, especially the graphic novels sort as I prefer the physical editions to .CBRs. I noticed that I can edit metadata for .txt documents. Would there be a downside to creating .txt documents for physical books and simply editing the metadata to use Calibre to catalogue my physical books in addition to managing the e-books? It's quite easy use a "Shelf" tag to denote they're not actually e-books right in the current UI. Obviously I wouldn't be able to upload them to my Kindle 2 and would entail lots of labor on my part to get caught up on my existing collection. Before I start this process, I just want to make sure that the metadata for said bogus .txt documents will be maintained in the metadata database and will transfer to a new computer as long as the bogus .txts are moved with the library on a computer swap or swap OSs. Anyone shooting holes in this idea, pointing me to a thread where it has already been discussed, or contributing any other kind of feedback would be much appreciated! -Jay

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01-04-2010, 01:09 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	You do not have to add bogus .txt files. If you click on the down arrow mext to the "Add Books" icon you will see there is an option to add empty book entries with no attached ebook file. That is how I manage my own paper books, adding a "PAPER" tag so I can filter them out as required. If you later get a electronic copy of a book you can still add it via the Edit metadta dialog. I also add handling books I would like in the same way, in this case using a tag of "WISHLIST"

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