Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftingGrandma
Is there anyway to have the virtual libraries be made not from searches?
When I heard the name I thought it was going to be another library, where any books could be added. I may be off in my thinking as I am not as technology as most.
I want to have a virtual library where it is made up of books I add to it, like a real library.
I have many tags for collections of books that I would like to make into a library instead. I could have a library for one of every grandchild. The books we read together and ones I think they would like. This is why having them made up of searches is not good.
My youngest boy who is still very young has a lot of kids book, but I can not limit t to just the ones I label as kids, as he is also very interested in dinosaurs and I have a couple of adult science books I read to him.
Another thought, is I am getting even older, I would like to add to all my libraries for all my grandchildren not just what we read now, but ones I think they will like when they are older. That way if I lose all my mind or leave this earth, they can just look into their library and see all I have saved for them and thought they would like.
So help grandma out, is there anyway to make a virtual library based on nothing and just add each book to it as I choose and I am just missing it?
If there is not, could a feature for making libraries like that be made?
|
The virtual library must be based on *something*. It may be as odd as "what I feel like today", but there must have been criteria. You had to have "rules" to choose which library or libraries at the time you "added" the book.
A given book can be in more than one virtual library. Because of this, the notion of "add to library" is not as simple as "put a book in a bag". You might have 10 bags and you want the same book to be in 5 of them. You gave examples of this. "Dinosaurs" might be in the library for a child and for a teen who is interested in earth's epochs. "Science" can be very broad, with different readers interested in different fields.
Calibre's virtual library system lets you deal with both issues - multiple libraries and arbitrary rules. You can set up totally arbitrary criteria for what libraries a book is in. For example, you could create a custom column (acts like tags). For each book, you put into this column the names of the libraries of which the book is a member. Your choice. Your control. Totally arbitrary. You add a book to a library by adding the library name to the column. You remove a book from a library by removing the library name.
Your virtual library searches would be simple. For example, you could make a virtual library called Books for Grandkids. Its search could be "#column:=grandkids". Or whatever scheme makes sense to you.
If you *really* want separate libraries to which you add books, then make separate libraries. Of course, this means that if a book is in more than one library then you must add it as many times as necessary. I think that it is easier to have one library, and a column or columns that express my criteria for what is in a virtual library, but that doesn't mean it is easier for you.