Thanks for the responses.
@manichean: re calibredb list, the command line calibredb list options provide more flexibility than the gui catalog csv export options. With calibredb list I'd still need to send the output to a file then import it into excel. As you said, maybe a VB script could grab output of calibredb list automatically. I'm looking at the ODBC possibilites because that seems much more flexible if I can put it together and make it work.
@chaley & Maggie-Me, google is indeed my friend. The link M-M provided was good, it pointed further. Apparently there is only one ODBC Driver developer for SQLite, Christian Werner (
http://www.ch-werner.de/sqliteodbc/). He hosts versions for Windows, Linux, and OS X. I installed to OS X and found a vital configuration app was missing from the package. Sent email to him explaining problem, just got response. Said he didn't have a Mac so couldn't help, "Can you build the driver from the source code?" I don't know, I haven't built from source code in 20 years. I guess that's the next step.
Putting together pieces of this SQL-query-to-calibredb-to-spreadsheet puzzle:
1. I have MS Excel with VB scripting and macro recording (if necessary).
2. I have MS Query which can front-end the outgoing SQL queries, and put returning data into a spreadsheet, which seems like a better way than using a zillion formulas in spreadsheet cells to grab the data.
3. I don't yet have a functioning ODBC driver (the intermediary between front-end query and back-end data handled by SQLite in calibre).
4. All the pieces will need configuration to work together, except maybe SQLite in calibre which I hope would just provide data sedately when asked politely.
For now, Item 3 appears to be the major piece of the puzzle that needs work.