Solving the Home Library Problem?

zgrossbart asks: "My wife and I have about 3,500 books. We can't find anything. All the books are in random order. We want to find a solution for organizing our books. We have a barcode scanner, but I'm not sure the best way to use it. I want a solution that is easy to maintain going forward and makes books easy to find. I also want the data in an open format. I'm think about using MySQL right now, but I'm open to other suggestions. What software do other people use to organize their home libraries?"

Closed Source but reliable

[dada21]

I bootlegged a copy of AV Cataloger [avcataloger.com] and liked it so much that I bought it. I recommend it to all, but it is a Windows-based program.

I'm sure you can write your own, but AV Cataloger hits all the sites to gain information -- even Amazon for books. It also helps to keep track of what you loan to people (my mother is the worst thief my latest report shows!).

I know /. readers don't like closed-source Windows-only software, so I'd welcome an F/OSS solution just like this. Until then, this is a worthy purchase.

Delicious Library

[jnd3]

If you've got a Mac (a big IF, I know), Delicious Library [delicious-monster.com] is the way to go. I've not seen its equal for Mac or PC. Barcode scanning (I use a modified USB CueCat), auto-querying for book covers and other information, borrowers, and so forth. Works for books, CDs, video games, DVDs, whatever. Worth every penny!

Re:Delicious Library

[bjpirt]

I would second this - it works fantastically for my DVDs

Although, I'm unsure how well it would work with generating locations for the books - would you have to decide where to put things on your shelves or would it classify it according to the dewey decimal system and then you'd know where to put it on your shelves.

Works ok for my DVDs because we can just store them alphabetically.

( opening up Delicious library to have a look...)

oss4lib

[croddy]

There is quite a large amount of open-source software available for library management. A full-blown ILS might be overkill for a personal collection, but I'd suggest checking out Koha [koha.org] and the listings at OSS4Lib [oss4lib.org].

Readerware

[Tryfen]

I use Readerware [readerware.com].

Spent a couple of evenings scanning in my books, it then went and got all the details from Amazon etc and I ended up with a nice database of all the books.

It was a bit slack on some of the old and obscure stuff - but if it's in an online bookstore, it will usually pick it up.

I haven't tried it for CDs or DVDs - I use DVD Profiler [intervocative.com] for that.

HTH

T

Re:Delicious Library

[phillymjs]

Another vote for Delicious Library here.

As for locations, I just made shelves in DL that represent my different bookcases in different rooms in my house, and dragged the appropriate books into each. I'm eagerly awaiting a version of DL that supports 'smart shelves' so I can just use the location info in each book's entry and have those shelves dynamically update.

~Philly

Re:Three answers

[jmilne]

My wife's a librarian, and she would laugh at the idea of using LoC numbers for a collection this small. Dewey's far simpler to figure out mentally for a collection that isn't the size of your local state university's. Heck, for a collection this size, you could go with the standard used book store layout. Just use general catagories and label the shelves so you know what they are. History (maybe break down into Ancient, European, American, etc. if you have a lot of history books), Religion, Science, Math, Art, etc. Fiction could be seperated into genres like Mystery, Fantasy, and Romance, or just organized alphabetically. The beauty is, you probably already know where these books should be catagorized, and you could probably do it all in the span of a few hours. Trying to do anything else, including assigning Dewey call numbers, is going to take a lot more time and effort for not much more benefit.

have you tried Library Thing?

[Glog]

Here is the link: http://www.librarything.com/ [librarything.com]. This will help you with the cataloging of the books. As far as organizing, hrmmm, why not organize by color - that's how some women I know would do it :D

Re:The Dewey Decimal System

[RevDobbs]

So, did you purchase your Dewey Decimal licence, or do we have to send the Library Police after you?

Hint: the Dewey Decimal System is not free to use...

Re:Closed Source but reliable

[peragrin]

Closed source but for The Apple platform

http://www.delicious-monster.com/ [delicious-monster.com]

It does everything for you. It works with either a scanner or you cna manually enter numbers.

The big solution though is physical sorting of the books. You have to keep them in place and return them to that place, being as anal as your old high school librarian about where the books/dvd's/etc are returned to.

Why would you want to waste your time with this?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is one of the more idiotic ask slashdot questions. It's like typing up a grocery list on your computer, a complete fucking waste of time.

Why don't you just alphabetize the damned books and go on with your life? It's just like a dorky geek to waste countless hours unecessarily using technology when a simple non technical method is perfectly usable and a hell of a lot faster.

Re:The Dewey Decimal System

[deadgoon42]

A good point. That's why I encourage people to use the Library of Congress system. No license to use it and all books have the same number no matter what library you're in. In fact, most books list their Library of Congress system number on the inside from cover (or one of the front pages).

Re:Three answers

[Doctor Memory]

Yep, that's what we do at home. We've got some 5500 books, and they're broken down into Fiction and Non-Fiction. Fiction has two walls, and is all alphabetized by author. Non-fiction has one wall, and is categorized by subject. Throw down a rug, plant the futon in the middle, and leave a wake-up call for Spring...

WARNING: if you move, personally pack the library, or you will spend far more weekends than you would like alphabetizing books (and buying bookcases).

bibliophile

[Noksagt]

Please consider joining Bibliophile [sourceforge.net] on sourceforge, which is a collection of a lot of the other open source literature management software. The effort is fairly informal, but we'd like to share tools for importing, exporting, and cross-site searching.

(FWIW: I'm involved with refbase [sourceforge.net])

use the public or academic library

[Anonymous Coward]

seriously

donate all your books except the regularly used reference texts and the favorite ones that get read and re-read and support your local library.

the books will be there for you to use, and for others, and they already have a filing system.

tchao

Re:The Dewey Decimal System

[trepan]

Are you maybe thinking of the Library Hotel [wikipedia.org] which got into trouble with OCLC [oclc.org], who owns the trademark / copyright to the Dewey Decimal System?

As far as I can tell the only cost you might run into in trying to categorize with the Dewey Decimal system is if you want to purchase one of OCLC's classification indexes.

But maybe you're thinking of a different instance in which OCLC required payment for use of the classification system for a small private collection. If that's the case, I'd be genuinely interested to hear more about it.

DL. Any other library solution is 10 years behind.

[Qbertino]

That's a total no-brainer.
Delicious Library. [delicious-monster.com] Period. No other Library programm or solution comes even close. It's the companies only product, sells for 40$ and it's a programm that justifies buying a Mac just for the purpose of running it. It's that good.

It has everything you could wish for and loads more. Among the most notable features are bot's that spider the web (amazon, etc.) for meta info on your books based on the barcode (including grabbing cover-pictures), option to use a webcam as barcode scanner and exports to data formats of your choice.

Really, looking any further is pointless. DL+Mac Mini+Barcode Reader or Webcam will take you farther than any other solution you could even dream of.

Warning: Addictive

[SteeldrivingJon]

When I bought Delicious Library, I wound up spending all night scanning in all my books.

Note: some items trigger easter eggs when you add them to your library.

Re:Delicious Library

[Anonymous Coward]

I too love Delicious Library (how can you not love the name). I've been using it since its beta release, and it's worth the $40. Of course, I then had to go out and buy an iSight.

One of the great aspects of DL is its integration into Amazon - no need for a scanner if you can find the book, cd, software title or game on Amazon. Just drag a link to the DL screen and voila, you've added it to your library. There are occassionally bugs with getting the cover to appear, but those are more Amazon's fault than DLs - there may be some strange images (ones with sale "stickers") that affect how the cover is imported and displayed.

I only wish there was better integration between DL and iTunes - would love to import and export between the two databases.

Re:BookCrossing

[I'm the Slime]

On the Macintosh there is a program called Delicious Library that lets you use your iSight web cam to read in the bar codes. It then looks up the product at Amazon and stores it in your "library." You could scan in all your books (and movies and CD's) and sort them by Author or my Title to see which you like best. Then file them accordingly. It gets the book cover off the web too and gives you a virtual book shelf. The software also lets you check-out the book and track that activity. http://www.delicious-monster.com/ [delicious-monster.com] This program pretty much rules.

Delicious Library

[Vandil X]

Delicious Library is an excellent OSX application for organizing your books, music, games, and movies. It has support for scanning barcodes (even with a web cam).

I use it, myself, and it's extremely useful.

Nobody mentionned Koha

[holstein]

From the their self-description:

Koha [koha.org] is a full-featured open-source ILS. Developed initially in New Zealand by Katipo Communications Ltd and first deployed in January of 2000 for Horowhenua Library Trust, it is currently maintained by a team of software providers and library technology staff from around the globe.

It is intended to manage a small library or documentation center: at 3500 books, you are still considered a pretty small documentation center... But it could ease a lot the management of those books, the friends borowing, etc.

They have a lot of success-story. My librarian wife finded it nice when I showed it to her. Even though she refuse to keep woking at home organizing our books. Damn!

Of course, to really help keeping track of the books, you will need a good physical organisation too. But since Koha can talk Z3950, it may be possible to obtain the classification professionnaly done by big libraries: making Dewey or LC classification is _hard_. Librarian don't usually have master degree for nothing... So I would suggest refraining from going that work yourself ; pick a simple organization, since 3500 books is not that big, when you think about it and compare with _real_ libraries...

Good luck!

Consider expansion

[ColoradoAuthor]

If you already have 3500 books, you're probably a collector, not a "tosser" at heart. You need to consider how your system will accommodate future expansion to possibly tens of thousands of books. In no particular order:

• Will your system be so much work to implement that you eventually give up on it?
• Will any data you collect migrate to whatever bibliographic/catalogging software you might decide to use in 10, 20, 40 years?
• How will you handle overflow, when there's a bookcase in front of each wall?
• Do you need to protect your library from silverfish or other book-destroying pests?
• Is your house sturdy enough to support all that weight?

Here are a couple specific strategies that have helped me and my wife:

• We organize books by rough subject headings. We subdivide once a category gets too big to find what we need.
• We catalog the books we have read using Endnote (www.endnote.com). We only record the books we've read, to avoid the overwhelming task of dealing with our whole library at once. We use Endnote because it can import info from the Library of Congress (among other places) and because it can export the database in literally thousands of formats, so "the software that comes next" is a non-issue.
• Overflow goes into boxes. Since we're usually in a hurry when this boxing happens, a good solution has been to take a digital photo of what's in each box; everything isn't catalogged, but it's way quicker to glance through a bunch of pictures than to unstack and open boxes. We invest in super-heavy-duty bankers boxes (available from many online office supply stores)--not the flimsy ones in stock at your typical neighborhood office store.
• We keep our eyes open for good homes for books we no longer need. I'd rather ship a box of books to, say, a school in a third-world country than to give 'em to the local Friends of the Library, where book dealers will cherry-pick the best ones, then send the rest to either a book sale or a landfill.

Re:Throwing it ALL away...

[Jerry Smith]

So thats right, throw away a perfectly good book, and the rest of the planet with it.

You are right in some ways: there are http://www.snopes.com/katrina/charity/library.asp [snopes.com] institutions that really would appreciate secondhand books: hospitals, Salvation Army, schools, homes for the elderly. Better contact them first before showing up with several cubic meters of Louis Lamour pockets though :)

Re:Scan them all and use google desktop

[AJWM]

Buying Dead-tree books is fucking stupid ,it harms nature

Nope. Buying Dead-tree books is good for the environment. Just think of all the CO2 that tree soaked up from the atmosphere and has now sequestered (as cellulose) in that book.

Help reduce greenhouse gases, buy and keep dead-tree editions.