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BetterRed · 08-07-2016, 07:19 PM

@petzi - As previously mentioned I use similar 'tagging' strategies to those used by Joanna. However, my experience with amalgamating physical libraries is the converse of Joanna's - it drove me nuts

That's not to say a single library approach wont work for you.

I had three physical 'permanent' libraries - _Main, _Media and _Journals, each of which had:

3 common custom columns, and up to 11 library specific custom columns,
4 - 8 virtual libraries (17 in all) with little commonality in their search expressions,
3 - 5 views (13 in all) with no commonality in column selection, left2right column order, and column sort sequence.

When I amalgamated them I found it necessary to:

introduce 3 additional VLs 'All Main', 'All Media' and 'All Journals',
partition the Virtual Library and View names with prefixes - '[B]' for _Main, '[M]' for _Media and '[J]' for _Journals

I persevered with a single amalgamated library for about a month, but I found it too cumbersome. So I went back to the same three physical libraries. If I could have had three Super Libraries containing the requisite Virtual Libraries and View Sets it might have worked out

Another factor is that I have a some 'subsidiary' libraries (_Intake, _Test and _Workshop), which I would never combine with one another, or with the 'permanent' libraries. And I tend to spend more time in them (using the Library Manager), than I do in the 'permanent' libraries.

Note 1: I run a server task against each 'permanent' library that I access via three pinned tabs in a dedicated browser. This provides 'read only' access to libraries other than the one I have open in the Library Manager.
Note 2: I don't use calibre's search facilities a lot, other than via things like Similar Books. However, I make frequent use of external search tools (such as X1 and Windows Search - they're similar to Spotlight) and the Drop Search Results (DSR) PI to create Reading Lists, add 'short term project' tags etc.

I prefer this approach because I can widen the search to include multiple calibre libraries, email, blog and commentary posts etc etc.

At one time I shoehorned search result lists into calibre using the Import List PI, but then DaltonST created the DSR PI, which by comparison is a walk in the park.

I'm not sure if DSR works on OSX.

BR

08-07-2016, 07:19 PM	#24
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,862 Karma: 30277270 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@petzi - As previously mentioned I use similar 'tagging' strategies to those used by Joanna. However, my experience with amalgamating physical libraries is the converse of Joanna's - it drove me nuts That's not to say a single library approach wont work for you. I had three physical 'permanent' libraries - _Main, _Media and _Journals, each of which had: 3 common custom columns, and up to 11 library specific custom columns, 4 - 8 virtual libraries (17 in all) with little commonality in their search expressions, 3 - 5 views (13 in all) with no commonality in column selection, left2right column order, and column sort sequence. When I amalgamated them I found it necessary to: introduce 3 additional VLs 'All Main', 'All Media' and 'All Journals', partition the Virtual Library and View names with prefixes - '[B]' for _Main, '[M]' for _Media and '[J]' for _Journals I persevered with a single amalgamated library for about a month, but I found it too cumbersome. So I went back to the same three physical libraries. If I could have had three Super Libraries containing the requisite Virtual Libraries and View Sets it might have worked out Another factor is that I have a some 'subsidiary' libraries (_Intake, _Test and _Workshop), which I would never combine with one another, or with the 'permanent' libraries. And I tend to spend more time in them (using the Library Manager), than I do in the 'permanent' libraries. Note 1: I run a server task against each 'permanent' library that I access via three pinned tabs in a dedicated browser. This provides 'read only' access to libraries other than the one I have open in the Library Manager. Note 2: I don't use calibre's search facilities a lot, other than via things like Similar Books. However, I make frequent use of external search tools (such as X1 and Windows Search - they're similar to Spotlight) and the Drop Search Results (DSR) PI to create Reading Lists, add 'short term project' tags etc. I prefer this approach because I can widen the search to include multiple calibre libraries, email, blog and commentary posts etc etc. At one time I shoehorned search result lists into calibre using the Import List PI, but then DaltonST created the DSR PI, which by comparison is a walk in the park. I'm not sure if DSR works on OSX. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 08-07-2016 at 07:47 PM. Reason: clarity