Using Calibre to Manage a Small Library of hard copy books

Social Hermit · 04-08-2021, 06:17 PM

Hi,
I use Calibre for my personal collection of ebooks which is great.
However, I have been asked to manage the small (500 books) library of a community group I volunteer at.
I was wondering if there is any way or plugin that I can use to record who has borrowed the book from the library.
Cheers,
Hermit

theducks · 04-08-2021, 09:23 PM

One of the first uses I made with Calibre was to document my 40 Year Paperback collection.
Create Empty Books

Add :from ISBN for all that had those.
IF they had (978 series) Barcodes, I used a Keyboard Wedge scanner (it emulates Key presses)

OR
If you have a spreadsheet /text list, you can paste a bunch instead.

Do small batches (10-20) so you can easily resolve 'not founds'

The rest (problems or no ISBN), you keyboard

As to tracking Borrowed: Create a Tag-like column and manually log the name/ID
You can search for an ISBN (or other ID), just include the type : and the ID value
eg

Code:

isbn:9780380818617

Bradles · 04-08-2021, 09:26 PM

Why not try TinyCat, a product of the LibraryThing team. It's specifically designed for small libraries, and costs as little as $3/month for small volunteer libraries such as you described.

I'm not affiliated with LibraryThing, but I do use it, and I did write the LibraryThing Match calibre plugin.

04-08-2021, 06:17 PM	#1
Social Hermit Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2021 Device: Android Tablet	Using Calibre to Manage a Small Library of hard copy books Hi, I use Calibre for my personal collection of ebooks which is great. However, I have been asked to manage the small (500 books) library of a community group I volunteer at. I was wondering if there is any way or plugin that I can use to record who has borrowed the book from the library. Cheers, Hermit

04-08-2021, 09:23 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,047 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	One of the first uses I made with Calibre was to document my 40 Year Paperback collection. Create Empty Books Add :from ISBN for all that had those. IF they had (978 series) Barcodes, I used a Keyboard Wedge scanner (it emulates Key presses) OR If you have a spreadsheet /text list, you can paste a bunch instead. Do small batches (10-20) so you can easily resolve 'not founds' The rest (problems or no ISBN), you keyboard As to tracking Borrowed: Create a Tag-like column and manually log the name/ID You can search for an ISBN (or other ID), just include the type : and the ID value eg Code: isbn:9780380818617

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04-08-2021, 09:26 PM	#3
Bradles Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 35586 Join Date: Nov 2020 Location: Perth, Western Australia Device: Apple Books & Kobo Libra H20	Why not try TinyCat, a product of the LibraryThing team. It's specifically designed for small libraries, and costs as little as $3/month for small volunteer libraries such as you described. I'm not affiliated with LibraryThing, but I do use it, and I did write the LibraryThing Match calibre plugin.

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