Managing a book collection

[paulfiera]

I'm now close to 1.000 books - I know this is most surely a small collection compared to the veterans here - but I'd like to make my collection more manageable.

Right now I've split the collection in 2 libraries

• - Library A: Books I'm currently reading and those to be read next (about 50)
• - Library B: The rest of the books.

How do you manage your book collection? Do you have several libraries? All in one library?

Many thanks

[itimpi]

Rather than having multiple libraries, why not simply add a tag to those to be read. Saves you having to move books between libraries. You can then save the serach to filter by this tag as a "Saved Search" to make it easy to switch between the view of the full view and just that of the TOREAD one.

If you apply such a saved search as a "restriction" (combo box just to the left of the Search input box) then it allows you to treat the results as a virtual library with all the normal operations available.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Right now I've split the collection in 2 libraries

• - Library A: Books I'm currently reading and those to be read next (about 50)
• - Library B: The rest of the books.

How do you manage your book collection? Do you have several libraries? All in one library?

I have one library and use tags, saved searches and restrictions when needed to cover things you have mentioned.

[paulfiera]

Many thanks, guys. Never thought of saved searches.

One thing. Will having one huge library in stead of two small ones impact calibre's performance?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Many thanks, guys. Never thought of saved searches.

One thing. Will having one huge library in stead of two small ones impact calibre's performance?

Not noticeably. Recently there have been many improvements in database performance. I have a 4350 book library and calibre's performance has been getting better every week.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Many thanks, guys. Never thought of saved searches.

One thing. Will having one huge library in stead of two small ones impact calibre's performance?

Depends on what you mean by huge and on what sort of computer you have.

Many people have libraries in excess of 20,000 books and make do quite well.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by chaley

Depends on what you mean by huge and on what sort of computer you have.

Many people have libraries in excess of 20,000 books and make do quite well.

I hope to reach the 20.000 mark some day but right now I'm at about 1.000.

The box where I'm currently using calibre is a dual core Core 2 Duo with 2 gigs RAM. I access it via RDP.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

I hope to reach the 20.000 mark some day but right now I'm at about 1.000.

The box where I'm currently using calibre is a dual core Core 2 Duo with 2 gigs RAM. I access it via RDP.

That machine should do fine.

What is using calibre with RDP like? Do you see significant paint delays or other weirdnesses? Are you using RDP over a LAN, or over the internet?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

The box where I'm currently using calibre is a dual core Core 2 Duo with 2 gigs RAM. I access it via RDP.

I too have a Core 2 Dou and I went to Preferences - Behavior and changed Job priority from normal to low to ensure any long conversions don't hinder calibre's responsiveness.

[jackie_w]

I've done exactly the same as itimpi for my 'Novels to be read soon' list.

I have 2 libraries - Novels and Reference (Art, Craft, Hobbies, Computer manuals). I decided to split off the Reference books for 3 reasons:

• - many more tags required and a completely different set to the Novels library.
• - my Reference books are all PDF, CHM or CBZ and generally unsuitable for any of my current readers (too large, need colour)
• - difference in which metadata columns are most important for the library view window, e.g. Author, Series most important for Novels, but Tags most important for Reference.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by chaley

That machine should do fine.

What is using calibre with RDP like? Do you see significant paint delays or other weirdnesses? Are you using RDP over a LAN, or over the internet?

RDP over LAN. Performance is OK. No problems there, but you can notice repaints especially in the viewer and strange formatting artifacts. See the attachment in this thread.

Also, Page flip works more like "Page slide".

I only use the viewer to check the results of book conversions, so it's not a show stopper.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

Also, Page flip works more like "Page slide".

I only use the viewer to check the results of book conversions, so it's not a show stopper.

You can turn off the page flip animation in the viewer's preferences.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

I too have a Core 2 Dou and I went to Preferences - Behavior and changed Job priority from normal to low to ensure any long conversions don't hinder calibre's responsiveness.

That sounds like a good idea.

So, how would you guys use tags and saved searches in my example? Add a custom tag, f. eks. Current Books or similar, do a search on that tag and save it?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by paulfiera

So, how would you guys use tags and saved searches in my example? Add a custom tag, f. eks. Current Books or similar, do a search on that tag and save it?

Depends on whether books can be only in one 'library' or can be in both.

If only one, then I would create an enumeration-type custom column containing the 'library' the book is to be put in. If both, then either a column containing 'lib1', lib2', 'both', or two columns that select the library.

You also need to decide whether the column contains content descriptions that are selected by the saved searches, or whether (as above) the column directly indicates which library.

I tend toward content-driven tags, then use saved searches to control what I see. For example, I have a column where I keep my reading queue. One value indicates that I want the book on my reader. Other values are priorities. I have another similar column for my wife, who has her own reader. Any given book could be in zero, one, or both of these lists.

In the end, it will come down to how you want to organize and see your data.

[paulfiera]

Originally Posted by chaley

I tend toward content-driven tags, then use saved searches to control what I see. For example, I have a column where I keep my reading queue. One value indicates that I want the book on my reader. Other values are priorities. I have another similar column for my wife, who has her own reader. Any given book could be in zero, one, or both of these lists.

I think that's what I'm looking for. I've only used calibre for about a month and I'm still learning it. There are so many options and tweaks...

How could I implement

• a column for my reading queue
• a similar column for my wife's reading queue - she also has her own reader