calibre for eBooks. What for printed books?

asogn · 02-22-2011, 05:45 AM

Hi
I am currently using calibre for keeping track of my ebooks.
However, I have a couple of thousand printed books and need to find something that can keep track of those also. And that supports ISBN lookups.

The best would have been to have only one piece of software that does all of it.

I can't seem to figure out if I can use calibre for this also.
Neither can I find any software that are able to provide me with ease of use for controlling printed book and at the same time able to do the things that I mostly do with Calibre (converting, indexing and pushing to my kindle)

Any suggestions?

Cheers

kiwidude · 02-22-2011, 05:57 AM

I've seen plenty of people use Calibre for keeping track of printed books on these forums, myself included.

Just use the "Add empty book" menu option in the Add button dropdown menu if you want to add them one by one, or get all the ISBNs and use the Add from ISBN feature.

Then do the usual download of your metadata, and if you so wish tag the book to indicate you own it or custom columns etc.

user_none · 02-22-2011, 07:04 AM

You can keep your print and ebooks separate by either using tags (print, ebook). Or you can filter out books that don't have any ebook files by searching with "formats:true". "formats:false" will show all books without ebook files attached.

Lady Fitzgerald · 02-22-2011, 07:47 AM

As others have suggested, I feel it would be best if you kept dead tree books you have added to calibre in the same library as your e-books. That way, you wouldn't have to search two libraries to see if you have a certain book. You could also make a custom column for Formats to determine if a book is an e-book or not. Empty books will be blank in the format column. Pity there isn't an easy option (if there is one at all) to add a format to an empty book, especially a new one (such as DTB for Dead Tree Book or AUB for Audio Book).

sdow1 · 02-22-2011, 08:02 AM

If you have a mac, Delicious Library is a pretty good option - you can actually use the camera on your computer to scan in the barcodes of the books.

Manichean · 02-22-2011, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by user_none

Or you can filter out books that don't have any ebook files by searching with "formats:true". "formats:false" will show all books without ebook files attached.

You mistyped somewhere in that sentence: "formats:true" finds entries with formats attached, and "formats:false" finds entries with no formats attached.

theducks · 02-22-2011, 10:10 AM

A while back, I requested, and Kovid added the option in 'Add by ISBN' to auto-(adds to other allowed) tag: I use <In paper Library>. (976 entries of which I now have 624 in e-form)

I add small batches (10-15 books) so I can check for 'failed to add's ' (some of my books are so old, the ISBN is not found, listed or did not have one. ever) and fix or set aside for later resolution.
A (USB-keyboard wedge) barcode scanner is a boon to this task as I suspect MR folk have more than 1 bookcase

MSWallack · 02-22-2011, 11:01 AM

Without taking any thunder away from Calibre, I use BookCAT to catalog my physical book library. I've tried lots of different book catalog programs (and CD catalog programs, too) over the years, but the depth of features and customization abilities in BookCAT are far superior to everything else that I've found. BookCAT can handle eBooks but that is not its focus; stick to Calibre for eBooks.

Worldwalker · 02-22-2011, 11:30 AM

There are enough people using calibre for pbooks that I wonder if it might need a pbook format, instead of just "empty", for easier tracking? It would have to be excluded from conversion and transfer, of course, but I'd love to be able to look at a book listing and see that I have it in, say, pdf, epub, and paper. There are a dozen or so bookcases full of books just in this one room, and one of these days I really have to get organizing. As others have said, it would be nice to be able to have all my books listed in one place, and not have to duplicate effort for those I have in several forms.

kovidgoyal · 02-22-2011, 11:32 AM

Just create a file called dummy.paper on your computer and add it to a paper book record.

lila55 · 02-22-2011, 11:36 AM

I have a Mac and use Bookpedia for listing my paper books.

02-22-2011, 05:45 AM	#1
asogn Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: kindle	calibre for eBooks. What for printed books? Hi I am currently using calibre for keeping track of my ebooks. However, I have a couple of thousand printed books and need to find something that can keep track of those also. And that supports ISBN lookups. The best would have been to have only one piece of software that does all of it. I can't seem to figure out if I can use calibre for this also. Neither can I find any software that are able to provide me with ease of use for controlling printed book and at the same time able to do the things that I mostly do with Calibre (converting, indexing and pushing to my kindle) Any suggestions? Cheers

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02-22-2011, 05:57 AM	#2
kiwidude Calibre Plugins Developer Posts: 4,636 Karma: 2162064 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Oasis	I've seen plenty of people use Calibre for keeping track of printed books on these forums, myself included. Just use the "Add empty book" menu option in the Add button dropdown menu if you want to add them one by one, or get all the ISBNs and use the Add from ISBN feature. Then do the usual download of your metadata, and if you so wish tag the book to indicate you own it or custom columns etc.

02-22-2011, 07:04 AM	#3
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,488 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	You can keep your print and ebooks separate by either using tags (print, ebook). Or you can filter out books that don't have any ebook files by searching with "formats:true". "formats:false" will show all books without ebook files attached.

02-22-2011, 07:47 AM	#4
Lady Fitzgerald Wizard Posts: 2,013 Karma: 251649 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA, Earth Device: JetBook Lite (away from home) + 1 spare, 32" TV (at home)	As others have suggested, I feel it would be best if you kept dead tree books you have added to calibre in the same library as your e-books. That way, you wouldn't have to search two libraries to see if you have a certain book. You could also make a custom column for Formats to determine if a book is an e-book or not. Empty books will be blank in the format column. Pity there isn't an easy option (if there is one at all) to add a format to an empty book, especially a new one (such as DTB for Dead Tree Book or AUB for Audio Book).

02-22-2011, 08:02 AM	#5
sdow1 Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: new york city Device: nook, ipad	If you have a mac, Delicious Library is a pretty good option - you can actually use the camera on your computer to scan in the barcodes of the books.

02-22-2011, 10:10 AM	#7
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,799 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	A while back, I requested, and Kovid added the option in 'Add by ISBN' to auto-(adds to other allowed) tag: I use <In paper Library>. (976 entries of which I now have 624 in e-form) I add small batches (10-15 books) so I can check for 'failed to add's ' (some of my books are so old, the ISBN is not found, listed or did not have one. ever) and fix or set aside for later resolution. A (USB-keyboard wedge) barcode scanner is a boon to this task as I suspect MR folk have more than 1 bookcase

02-22-2011, 11:01 AM	#8
MSWallack Right, Except When Wrong Posts: 353 Karma: 3968525 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Indianapolis Device: Kindle Oasis 3 (sometimes iPad Mini).	Without taking any thunder away from Calibre, I use BookCAT to catalog my physical book library. I've tried lots of different book catalog programs (and CD catalog programs, too) over the years, but the depth of features and customization abilities in BookCAT are far superior to everything else that I've found. BookCAT can handle eBooks but that is not its focus; stick to Calibre for eBooks.

02-22-2011, 11:30 AM	#9
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	There are enough people using calibre for pbooks that I wonder if it might need a pbook format, instead of just "empty", for easier tracking? It would have to be excluded from conversion and transfer, of course, but I'd love to be able to look at a book listing and see that I have it in, say, pdf, epub, and paper. There are a dozen or so bookcases full of books just in this one room, and one of these days I really have to get organizing. As others have said, it would be nice to be able to have all my books listed in one place, and not have to duplicate effort for those I have in several forms.

02-22-2011, 11:32 AM	#10
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Just create a file called dummy.paper on your computer and add it to a paper book record.

02-22-2011, 11:36 AM	#11
lila55 Fanatic Posts: 595 Karma: 456534 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Device: PocketBook 360° , iPhone 5, PRS-650, Sony PRS-T2, Sony PRS-T3, Tolino	I have a Mac and use Bookpedia for listing my paper books.

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