Request for Ideas: Multi-user updates

[mc3]

Hi Folks. I'm new here, but I've been forcing calibre to do unnatural acts for quite a while.

Quandary #1. I live in the U.S., my best friend in the U.K. We are both fanatics about accurate metadata and would like to "co-manage" a library. I've added columns to allow tracking of which files are being managed by whom; but given that Calibre keeps everything in a single Sqlite file, that wont do much.

The "ideal approach" would be a "transaction log" that would allow us to cross-load each others updates. But I dont see a feature like that here (or its well hidden).

Ideas?
mike

[kovidgoyal]

split your calibre library into two libraries.

[kiwidude]

As Kovid says, you will not be able to have a single library, as it calibre cannot have multiple users at the same time for the GUI.

I have a not dissimilar setup, except the family I share with are vampires and don't do metadata cleanup in return

The key feature to use is Save to Disk as your sharing mechanism. So as one if you completes a set of books, you export from calibre using this feature to a shared network sub folder. This will by default export the formats, cover and metadata file for each book. The other person then uses the Add books from folder, one book per sub folder option to import them into their library. I suggest they move the books out of the shared folder first, so you import just that batch only once.

With two of you doing cleanup, you will probably want to have two shared folders, that act as output for person A and input for Person B and vice versa. You will want to make sure you have exactly the same calibre schema so any custom column data gets imported. You will also want to setup Automerge to overwrite books, in case the other person sends an updated version.

Then the final issue becomes how to partition work in progress books from finished ones, so you don't end up with a bunch of duplicates. For instance if you both started with the same messy library copy, and cleaned up different authors and imported each others work you could get a bit of a mess.

The answer to that depends on your starting point. If the books are already in calibre, I would have two libraries each. One is the raw mess as a working library, the other is your lovely clean library. So the workflow is you tell the other person what author you will work on, you cleanup the data and book in your working library, use Copy to library option to put in your own clean library, then Save to Disk to put in the folder for the other person. Their workflow is to delete any books for that author from their working library (optional), switch to their clean library, and Add as described above. That way at any point you both have a clean library you can open contains your perfect books and you both have the raw books.

Alternatively you could try to do the cleanup in a single library each, with a custom column and the restrictions drop down. You just need to make sure you delete books for the author before you import from the other person to prevent a mess of duplicates due to title and author variations.
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[Danskeron]

Thank you!!!
I was just beginning to wonder about this. I'm trying to set up some books for my parents, both of whom are tech challenged (they will be becoming my calibre vampires - a small price to pay for raising me). I don't want to overwhelm them with my library, they are casual readers at best, so I only want to give them 100 books each to start, but I was dreading needing to re-write the metadata once I have added the selected books into their library.
Between this knowledge and the two kindles I purchased last week with the deal at walmart (from a heads up I found in this forum), I might yet be able to pry the physical books out of their hands. I just have to finish quilting their kindle sleeves and mothers/fathers day is checked off the list.

[kiwidude]

That's exactly what I do (my parents) for the same reasons. Of course you could just email them the books if you wanted to avoid the calibre complications. My Mum won't touch a computer unless someone has it all set up for her and down to a few simple clicks/key presses. My Dad is more adventurous but still not always technically inclined enough to get there on his own. So while I was visiting I installed calibre with an initial setup and showed him the basics.

Now he does all the book importing from a dropbox folder I top up for them from time to time with just the MOBI versions. I helped him setup some custom columns to track which books he and Mum have read. He started off with one library and using user categories to divide books for Mum and him, but since then decided that he just wanted separate libraries for each of them which is what he has now. The Kindles are setup with the Kindle Collections plugin (being the Kindle 3 Keyboard versions), and he does the loading onto the Kindles for both of them. We setup a specially named "_Reading" collection that they put books into as they read them, and a "_Read" collection for when they finish until they next get back to the computer, record it in there and remove it from the Kindle. Mum even printed out and laminated a card she tucks into her Kindle cover behind the Kindle giving her the instructions on how to add a book to the _Reading collection and a few other basic things to help her out with the device (she is not very patient with technology without some simple instructions to hand).

Both of them are total addicts now, take their Kindles everywhere and haven't gone to the physical library since they got them. And Mum has recently apparently started looking at the books in calibre every now and then to see all the covers and descriptions which she enjoys. I would like to setup a web server for them so she could just use a web browser to do her casual browsing rather than battling with Dad to get time on the main PC, but it might be easier to setup one for myself here and let her browse that over the internet. We shall see...

They have convinced a number of their friends to get Kindles now too so it has definitely been one of my more successful experiments. Good luck!