Managing reading queue and read books

paulfiera · 05-07-2011, 01:08 PM

I know this question has been posted several times but I don't seem to find a definite answer.

We are 3 users at home: my wife, my daughter and me.

I need to set up my calibre library so we can have the following categories:

My wife's reading queue
My wife's read books
My daughter's reading queue
My daughter's read books
My personal reading queue
My personal read books

Worth mentioning that the same book can be in the different categories at the same time. For instance, a book that my wife has tagged as read but is on my daughter's reading queue but at the same time in none of my categories...or viceversa - they love fantasy books while I'm more a James Ellroy kind of type

When I was the only calibre library user - for a very short time until my family members discovered the joys of ebooks - I used to have a custom boolean column with YES/NO, then I had a star rating system but none of these approaches seem to cut it.

I've read some of you use tags for this categorizing but I can't seem to find a satisfying solution to my issue.

What do you think would be the best approach?

Many thanks

PF

user_none · 05-07-2011, 02:57 PM

Custom column for each person.

Lady Fitzgerald · 05-07-2011, 03:28 PM

As user_none said, create a custom column for each person. It can be as simple as a yes/no column named READ. Unlike most people, I prefer a bass ackwards approach. I made a star rating type column named UNREAD. No stars means the book has been read. One star means unread. Two stars means the book is on my reading list. I use three stars for the next few books I plan on reading, such as books in a series I'm working on. Four stars is for the book I'm currently working on. I can tell the status of a book at a glance this way.

ficbot · 05-07-2011, 03:38 PM

Tag plus a saved search. So, if you tag your daughter's unread books as 'Daughter-new' or something, you can set up a saved search for this tag. When she logs on, all she has to do is select her saved search from the drop-down and see all her books.

paulfiera · 05-08-2011, 03:14 AM

Many thanks, guys.

I'll probably go with a custom boolean column per user.

Gary_M_Mugford · 05-08-2011, 06:07 AM

I've worked out a system that works for me. Maybe you can adjust/improve. I have a Hotness column, a Status column and a Genre column. Hotness (H on screen), is a numeric column with 1 being the value for wanting to read it NOW! 2 is for the next book in series that I follow and 3 is non-books, such as news articles, short story collections, etc. I used to have a 9 default Hotness rating, but leaving it blank for books you get from where ever, but don't immediately plan to put on the Kindle, can have a blank hotness rating. If I think something with a higher hotness rating than 1 will get lost in the shuffle (a next volume of a series, for example). I will delete the book off the device in calibre, change the hotness setting, and re-send. Mostly, however, I seem to be able to forego this step. Afterall, I was really hot to trot over the earlier book in the series.

I use the Status column (S) to indicate whether the book is on my kindle (3), to be exported to my kindle on the next update (X), read (R) or is a problem (P). The P's are almost always Doc's that I haven't printed to HTML yet. The genre column is a reduction of the tags column to a series of two letters per tag. I use very few generic tags, but if you are a heavy tags user, then create a genre column directly and use it for short-form values like My, SF, Sp, Ro, etc.

On update Saturday, I sort the database by Hotness reversed, then by Status. It's easy to find the various sections when the Kindle is plugged in. A 3 status with no On Device setting is a book that I've read and deleted from the Kindle. I change the status to R and then rate the book. X status books are sent to the Kindle, and then the X is mass changed to a 3. That's it for the calibre handling of the operation. Note, you can assign status's for multiple readers, if you choose. I'd still keep it as one letter, by YMMV.

On the Kindle, I sort by title and I get all of the hottest books up front. Then they are segmented by the genre tag. So, I will see [1My] for a bunch of titles, [1NF] for a couple more, then the [1SF], etc. I usually have about three pages of 'hot' titles. After the hot ones come follow-up books in series, books I 'think' I want to read, but don't excite me and new authors I'm going to try out ... when I get the itch to experiment or want to read what everybody else seems to be reading. While I have a LOT of books in Calibre, I try to keep the selection actually on the reader down in the sub-100 area. That ALWAYS leaves me with enough choice.

When I finish reading a book, it's HOME, select Most Recent, Left and delete the book. Then I select By Title and instantly I have a 2-3 page list of what I am interested in, sorted by genre. And I try to switch genre with each book, unless I've got a trilogy going that's all hot for me. chrome://informenter/skin/marker.png

Other people use collections and my system, while easy to adapt to multiple people, is single reader-focused. But I find that the time spent clicking on the Kindle is incredibly short. And thus, I get more reading done.

Which, afterall, is the goal of any organizational system.

05-07-2011, 01:08 PM	#1
paulfiera Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 3102 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: EU Device: Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Libra H20	Managing reading queue and read books I know this question has been posted several times but I don't seem to find a definite answer. We are 3 users at home: my wife, my daughter and me. I need to set up my calibre library so we can have the following categories: My wife's reading queue My wife's read books My daughter's reading queue My daughter's read books My personal reading queue My personal read books Worth mentioning that the same book can be in the different categories at the same time. For instance, a book that my wife has tagged as read but is on my daughter's reading queue but at the same time in none of my categories...or viceversa - they love fantasy books while I'm more a James Ellroy kind of type When I was the only calibre library user - for a very short time until my family members discovered the joys of ebooks - I used to have a custom boolean column with YES/NO, then I had a star rating system but none of these approaches seem to cut it. I've read some of you use tags for this categorizing but I can't seem to find a satisfying solution to my issue. What do you think would be the best approach? Many thanks PF

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05-07-2011, 02:57 PM	#2
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,488 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	Custom column for each person.

05-07-2011, 03:28 PM	#3
Lady Fitzgerald Wizard Posts: 2,013 Karma: 251649 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA, Earth Device: JetBook Lite (away from home) + 1 spare, 32" TV (at home)	As user_none said, create a custom column for each person. It can be as simple as a yes/no column named READ. Unlike most people, I prefer a bass ackwards approach. I made a star rating type column named UNREAD. No stars means the book has been read. One star means unread. Two stars means the book is on my reading list. I use three stars for the next few books I plan on reading, such as books in a series I'm working on. Four stars is for the book I'm currently working on. I can tell the status of a book at a glance this way.

05-07-2011, 03:38 PM	#4
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Tag plus a saved search. So, if you tag your daughter's unread books as 'Daughter-new' or something, you can set up a saved search for this tag. When she logs on, all she has to do is select her saved search from the drop-down and see all her books.

05-08-2011, 03:14 AM	#5
paulfiera Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 3102 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: EU Device: Kobo Aura ONE, Kobo Libra H20	Many thanks, guys. I'll probably go with a custom boolean column per user.

05-08-2011, 06:07 AM	#6
Gary_M_Mugford Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 299 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Brampton ON Device: Kobo, Kindle3	I've worked out a system that works for me. Maybe you can adjust/improve. I have a Hotness column, a Status column and a Genre column. Hotness (H on screen), is a numeric column with 1 being the value for wanting to read it NOW! 2 is for the next book in series that I follow and 3 is non-books, such as news articles, short story collections, etc. I used to have a 9 default Hotness rating, but leaving it blank for books you get from where ever, but don't immediately plan to put on the Kindle, can have a blank hotness rating. If I think something with a higher hotness rating than 1 will get lost in the shuffle (a next volume of a series, for example). I will delete the book off the device in calibre, change the hotness setting, and re-send. Mostly, however, I seem to be able to forego this step. Afterall, I was really hot to trot over the earlier book in the series. I use the Status column (S) to indicate whether the book is on my kindle (3), to be exported to my kindle on the next update (X), read (R) or is a problem (P). The P's are almost always Doc's that I haven't printed to HTML yet. The genre column is a reduction of the tags column to a series of two letters per tag. I use very few generic tags, but if you are a heavy tags user, then create a genre column directly and use it for short-form values like My, SF, Sp, Ro, etc. On update Saturday, I sort the database by Hotness reversed, then by Status. It's easy to find the various sections when the Kindle is plugged in. A 3 status with no On Device setting is a book that I've read and deleted from the Kindle. I change the status to R and then rate the book. X status books are sent to the Kindle, and then the X is mass changed to a 3. That's it for the calibre handling of the operation. Note, you can assign status's for multiple readers, if you choose. I'd still keep it as one letter, by YMMV. On the Kindle, I sort by title and I get all of the hottest books up front. Then they are segmented by the genre tag. So, I will see [1My] for a bunch of titles, [1NF] for a couple more, then the [1SF], etc. I usually have about three pages of 'hot' titles. After the hot ones come follow-up books in series, books I 'think' I want to read, but don't excite me and new authors I'm going to try out ... when I get the itch to experiment or want to read what everybody else seems to be reading. While I have a LOT of books in Calibre, I try to keep the selection actually on the reader down in the sub-100 area. That ALWAYS leaves me with enough choice. When I finish reading a book, it's HOME, select Most Recent, Left and delete the book. Then I select By Title and instantly I have a 2-3 page list of what I am interested in, sorted by genre. And I try to switch genre with each book, unless I've got a trilogy going that's all hot for me. chrome://informenter/skin/marker.png Other people use collections and my system, while easy to adapt to multiple people, is single reader-focused. But I find that the time spent clicking on the Kindle is incredibly short. And thus, I get more reading done. Which, afterall, is the goal of any organizational system.

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