Adding physical books from pre-ISBN era

[ownedbycats]

Over the last few years, I've been adding my collection of books to Calibre. Usually I add them by ISBN and then download the metadata. Now I have a stack of older books without ISBNs. So far I've been doing this process:

• Add a number of empty books with no title or author
• Manually add the title and author to them (as well as empty PAPERBOOK files)
• Downloading metadata in bulk

However I was wondering if there was a more efficient way that I didn't think of.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Over the last few years, I've been adding my collection of books to Calibre. Usually I add them by ISBN and then download the metadata. Now I have a stack of older books without ISBNs. So far I've been doing this process:

• Add a number of empty books with no title or author
• Manually add the title and author to them (as well as empty PAPERBOOK files)
• Downloading metadata in bulk

However I was wondering if there was a more efficient way that I didn't think of.

You got it!

That was what I did back when I first joined MR.
Add from ISBN in batches of 10-12 using a barcode (keyboard) wedge.
I also had my trusty HP4C attached, and would scan the cover when I did not like the current offering Calibre found (MANY of these books had the original covers from the 60's and 70's) SMALL batches allowed you to quickly find and correct download/nothing found issues. IT IS SLOW going and took months for 900 paperbacks, but worth it in quality

[ekbell]

You can enter empty books from a spreadsheet (csv), the system clipboard or a webpage using the Import List plugin.

So when I have a large number of empty books to add, I make a simple CSV spreadsheet with title, author and tags and use Import List. Typing up the spreadsheet is much faster then adding information to multiple empty books in Calibre.

[ownedbycats]

The Import List plugin sounds very helpful. Thank you!