Looking for an E-book Indexing / Inventory / Cataloging Program

[FixB]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

That error is almost certainly cause by an incorrect key

My fault : I misundertood the key with the isbn number
Everything is working fine : I enjoy more and more using libprs!

Thanks !

[raist1976]

there's also listal.com, web2.0 community driven site, not only books, but fully free...

[JSWolf]

BUMP!

[kovidgoyal]

http://www.librarything.com/

[Sparrow]

Personally I just use an Excel spreadsheet; with columns for title, author, subject, format and location.

[cozworth]

I have given this some thought myself lately because my files are a disaster. My business background is in database management so I am actually embarassed when friends see my computer right now.....

I know for certain the MS Access has a template for books. In adddition, even really old versions of Goldmine would work as well and provide easy reference between author and title - showing relationships without having to create them yourself. I am not quite as fond of the reporting functions but I really don't plan on running any reports...just keeping things in order. One of the things I really like about goldmine is the ultra simple way to link the file to the record.

However, these would have to be managed from the desk or laptop...I don't think I would ever be happy with a "Pocket" versions of these databases.

If neither of these sounds good just start with a simple spreadsheet. At least when you find a program the data will be in order.

I hope that helps. If anyone hears of something that is more portable I would also like to hear of it!

Good luck!

[aabeg100]

I have over 5000 ebooks, novels, comics and scanned ebooks in my collection with a part of them on my harddisk and part of them on my external storage HDD. I also have a collection of over 50 books on my USB that I connect to my iLiad to read.

My biggest concern in using an ebook library was the time and effort it would require to add information about the books and then formatting them.

I found a software called "my ebook library" on the net. It is a beautiful software. The most interesting thing is that you identify the directories where your ebooks are saved and it will automatically add them to your library. If the book has the ISBN in the file name, the software can go online and get the complete information about the book including front cover shot, authors name, date of publishing and complete title and update the library automatically.

If the ISBN number is not in the file name the software allows you to open the file and select the ISBN number and then it will bring all the information from the net.

The website for the software is

http://www.myebooklibrary.co.uk

download, install and enjoy.

Asim Baig

[andyafro]

Best way is just to catalog it first by author then into genre, it does take a while to get into order ( and make sure you defrag and back up often as swapping so many folders about on same drive will eventually collapse it) but while your doing it your own brain makes mental notes as to where everything is.

I'm not gonna lie it starts of easy a few genre's (sci-fi / horror ect) but before you know it it gets complicated because you adding stuff to it every day. And to lose it (i have once) or for your hd to break or die is hard because of the effort you put into your library.

[goodfriend]

I have one .
Merry Christmas!!!

[cozworth]

Stop thinking about ebooks! You are limiting your possibilities by a lot.

Think DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT! Any program that can do this will do what you need. I work for a huge insurance company that has operations in all 50 states and many other countries. Because of legal mumbo jumbo we have to store many different copies of the same (almost the same) document in a manner that we can look it up easily. Sometimes they are in closed formats, editable formats, graphics, text only, draft, approved by legal, new editions, saved in English, German, French. Legal for New York, Legal for Texas, Legal in Michigan...you get the idea. It presents the same problem that we all have with our ebooks in their many formats.

Any basic database that allows you to make fundamental changes to field names (so you can name them intelligently - author, publish date, etc...) as well as link to a document will do the job better than 90% of what has been mentioned.

The database becomes your directory!

You can link one book to as many copies (formats) as you want, even if they are in completly different areas. The ebooks don't even have to be well organized - although I recommend it - because their location is no longer important. Just open the database, click on the title, then go to the link for what you need.

If you have access to any databse right now just look at what it does. You might see Name, Company, Address, Job title, photo - but if the field names can be edited it really says Title, Author, Genre, Publish Date and link to ebook.

You probably have what you need right now. Even better - you already know how to use it.

Good Luck!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by cozworth

Stop thinking about ebooks! You are limiting your possibilities by a lot.

Think DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT!

<...>

Any basic database that allows you to make fundamental changes to field names (so you can name them intelligently - author, publish date, etc...) as well as link to a document will do the job better than 90% of what has been mentioned.

The database becomes your directory!

I concur, save for one small problem: assuming you've designed a database schema that tracks what you want and the relationships between those items, how do you get the data into the database?

The advantage to programs like the one recommended earlier is that they try to do that for you, scanning selected locations and importing files of the specified types.

And solutions like Readerware for paper volumes do things like interface to bar code scanners, so you can scan the code and have the database search various internet sites to fill in the information on titles you've scanned.

I have thousands of electronic titles in one form or another, and probably as many paper books. There is no way I will attempt to manually enter the data for each title, one at a time. Without an automated way of getting as much data into the database as possible, I'm not going to attempt a custom solution. I'd still be doing data entry a year from now.
______
Dennis

[cozworth]

If you have thousands of titles now and don't want to do any manual input than I hope you already have some of the info stored into some sort of organized fashion.

An Excel spreadsheet will take care of most of what you would need. However, the choice of your database will determine if you have to do any additional work. Every database I have worked with has a feature to inport a spreadsheet.

However, if you don't have even that much - well....you waited too long to start now!

Well, no, not really.

I have tried using search programs to fill certain info but they leave a lot to be desired. For example...if you want to know what publishing house put out a certain book, that info will always be available online. I tend to leave fields like that blank in historical data. I just load the info when it is easy for me at a later date - or not at all. But - when I loaded a book into my hardrive and what changes were made to the format etc...that is info that I would have to enter myself. for the purpose of knowing what I have and what I can do with it , it is far more important to me. I just make sure I enter complete data on new entries as I get them.

The other issue is that search/pick data is not always correct. While I would likely be inclined to use such a function if I were in your position, I would be cautious about accepting the data provided as gospel.

If you have 5000 titles...one way or the other...you have a job ahead of you.

Just keep in mind that as negative as this post may sound I am really just envious or your library!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by cozworth

If you have thousands of titles now and don't want to do any manual input than I hope you already have some of the info stored into some sort of organized fashion.

I accept that some manual input will be required, but I don't want it to be all manual input. Frankly, the benefits of having the database would not be equal to the work needed to create it.

And I'm reasonably organized. Paper books are shelved by type, and by author within type for fiction, and other ways for non-fiction. There is some adjustment caused by format: the same shelves don't hold paperbacks, hardbacks, and "coffee table" volumes. Shelving is by size, first.

eBooks are organized in a similar fashion, with a hierarchal directory structure for categories. I'm doing some cleanup and rearrangement to make it a bit easier to locate specific stuff.

An Excel spreadsheet will take care of most of what you would need. However, the choice of your database will determine if you have to do any additional work. Every database I have worked with has a feature to inport a spreadsheet.

I have Excel here, as well as Access, Postgresql, Interbase, and several other things. Creating a database to rice, slice, and dice the data as desired would be the least of the problems.

However, if you don't have even that much - well....you waited too long to start now!

I have the software and the requisite knowledge. What I lack is time and energy.

Well, no, not really.

I have tried using search programs to fill certain info but they leave a lot to be desired. For example...if you want to know what publishing house put out a certain book, that info will always be available online. I tend to leave fields like that blank in historical data. I just load the info when it is easy for me at a later date - or not at all. But - when I loaded a book into my hardrive and what changes were made to the format etc...that is info that I would have to enter myself. for the purpose of knowing what I have and what I can do with it , it is far more important to me. I just make sure I enter complete data on new entries as I get them.

Oh, certainly. There will be data that will be blank, either because I haven't needed to track it down, or because it may not exist.

The other issue is that search/pick data is not always correct. While I would likely be inclined to use such a function if I were in your position, I would be cautious about accepting the data provided as gospel.

I don't accept any data as gospel. But I'm willing to accept some inaccuracies, to be handled on an exception basis. Essentially, if I find out it's wrong, I'll correct it. If I never learn it's wrong, I won't care, because it means no occasion arose to demonstrate it was wrong.

If you have 5000 titles...one way or the other...you have a job ahead of you.

Just keep in mind that as negative as this post may sound I am really just envious or your library!

I began collecting books back before personal databases on PCs were even a gleam in anyone's eye, and I have a fair bit of stuff that predates barcodes.

eBooks are a more recent phenomena.

I just did a head count: I have an ebooks directory, containing fiction, non-fiction, and reference titles, and a Docs directory containing a variety of computer technical documentation.

The ebooks directory is 5.49 GB in size, with 25,021 files in 1,776 directories, and the Docs directory is 4.12 GB in size, with 102,234 files in 2,298 folders.

Number of files does not equal number of ebooks: my preferred ebook format is HTML, and many volumes consist of a number of HTML files and associated image files.

But it's still a fair number of books, stories, and articles.
______
Dennis

[RWood]

I just finished cataloging 7,984 music albums (from CDs, Lps, 45s, 78s, and reel-to-reel tapes -- now stored in the basement.) The ebooks should be a snap after that.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by RWood

I just finished cataloging 7,984 music albums (from CDs, Lps, 45s, 78s, and reel-to-reel tapes -- now stored in the basement.) The ebooks should be a snap after that.

What data are you collecting?

I have about 1,500 vinyl LPs, but I'd want not only artist, album title, and label, but producer, engineer, song titles, session musicians, cover artist/designer, etc,, etc.

Again, getting the data into the database would be the killer.
______
Dennis