Cataloguing Books

[MdB]

Google Goggles smart phone app will scan bar code OR the front cover and then give you full details of the book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hhgfz0zPmH4#

 

[LadyArowana]

Google Goggles smart phone app will scan bar code OR the front cover and then give you full details of the book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hhgfz0zPmH4#

Because some days it is just too much bother to pick up a book and look inside :lol:

 

[worms]

All good advice, but if I was doing this, I would definitely add a "location" column! Spent far too long on Sunday searching repeatedly for a book in various locations in the house... Never did find it!

 

[Keithj]

The barcode scanner in my phone also records GPS position, but I don't think that would be accurate enough to know which room, let alone which shelf...

Most of my books predate barcodes. The system I use is a little card on the shelf where I record who's borrowed what. I still lose lots: some people are sources for books, some are sinks.

 

[vicky whitworth]

Cataloguing? Books? Isn't part of the fun wondering where you last saw a particular book? Trying to remember whether you did actually buy it or just looked at it in the bookshop? Visualising where in the house it is, what shelf? Isn't it part of the fun the strange ways titles end up sitting next to other titles they have no business being side by side with? We specialise in 'piles' of books, I'm afraid.

 

[Owain]

If you want to use real cataloging software then look at Evergreen
http://evergreen-ils.org/about.php

Uses Library of Congress MARC standard formats for holding bibliographic data. And if you lend books to friends you can catalogue your issues and send reminder emails.

Needs a Linux server to run on though, unless you find a hosted version.

 

[Penners]

I would definitely add a "location" column! Spent far too long on Sunday searching repeatedly for a book in various locations in the house... Never did find it!

That's an excellent idea, worms. You could then spend all of your time updating the location column for every book that gets left casually around the house ("sitting room coffee table", "wife's bedside table", "downstairs loo", etc) - so much more fun than boring old reading.

 

[Owain]

RFID tags in each book and sensors round the house to keep track of them.

Couple it up to a speech synthesiser and you could have a 'Big Brother' voice announcing where your books are going.

 

[worms]

If you want to use real cataloging software then look at Evergreen
http://evergreen-ils.org/about.php

Uses Library of Congress MARC standard formats for holding bibliographic data...

No...! We can't be having any of this new fangled colonial nonsense. The Dewey Decimal system is the only fitting, PPUK, way to catalog ( :wink: ) books!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

There's only one tidy way to arrange books
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGlN_EaEgPQ

 

[worms]

There's only one tidy way to arrange books
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGlN_EaEgPQ

:lol:

 

[Penners]

The ever-brilliant writing of the big, grey Ronnie.

When I worked for Volvo I had a secretary who used to file everything under "V". Volvo correspondence, Volvo invoices, Volvo manuals, etc.... True story!

:roll:

 

[Feltwell]

At least she knew quickly where to find things I suppose.

I once gave a parcel to a receptionist to send out with a note attached with the address on - the address ending "N. Yorks". She sent it to New York :roll:

 

[Juju]

I'm in cataloguing mood too. I'm identifying, listing, describing and GPS mapping etc the majority of the plants in the National Trust garden I volunteer at! Obviously a group of daffodils counts as one record not 100 or whatever... It's quite a big project despite us only being 4 acres of formal gardens - it's quite satisfying though to sort out all my hand drawn maps and bits of paper with plant names on and historical notes etc - and to get all the information into one place.
It also involves Excel which is not my favourite thing but luckily Mr Juju is an expert and will be training me!
Juju

 

[Feltwell]

Excel is very intuitive once you get into it. You can quite quickly learn to use it at a basic level, you'll only use probably 5% of the functionality but that's all you'll need. I am a self-confessed Excel nerd and was a very heavy user in times gone by. The transition from 2003 to 2007 takes some getting used to and if you're an experienced user you'll hate it for the first day or two, but once you get into it the newer version is better in my opinion at least. 2007 to 2010 is not much change.

Garden design - I badly need some inspiration. Being stereotypically male, I score highly on the "practical how to do/make/fix things" front and very low on the "how to make them look nice" front. I really do not possess any artistic talent. Any ideas for sources of inspiration for redesigning a family garden? Or even better someone to do it for me? Definitely not formal, lots of grass for kids to play football, has to incorporate a whacking great trampoline, no "period" requirements at all.

Fred Drift in action once again!

 

[eezageeza]

Garden design - depends how much 'design' you want doing - if you just want to improve your garden by adding new planting, working around the existing layout (assuming the lawn and trampoline are already fixtures) then a good local nursery will be able to sort that for you. I'd give you a name, but had better not offend the moderator gods by advertising!

 

[Juju]

FW - even though I'm a gardener, I find design difficult. There are basic design principles that apply to all gardens, which you'll find in most decent gardening books. What I did for my own garden was to look at loads of books for inspiration - I had an idea of what I wanted but then finding a picture of exactly the right look really helped to clarify it and then it was also easier to persuade Mr Juju that giving up some of his lawn to flower beds was the right thing to do...

I also use gardens we visit as inspiration - you can take ideas from a walled garden, group of pots, a border etc.

I'm sure if you go to the library or local charity shops, you'll find some books on family gardens etc. I would say though don't do too much in terms of elaborate designs and exotic planting if your kids are young - let them have most of the space for playing etc.

My favourite book is called 'Backyard Blueprints' by David Stevens. It's supposedly for small gardens although most of the gardens in it are considerably bigger than mine! Another good one is 'The Garden Maker's Manual' by Rosemary Alexander and Richard Sneesby - this is particularly good for thinking about structures, paths, fencing etc.

Juju

 

[rogerh]

I'd use a database rather than a spreadsheet for cataloguing, e.g. Filemaker (admittedly expensive, although an older, used version would be more than adequate). There are thousands of, often free, templates available. Filemaker also do a cheaper database program - Bento - but it's only available for Mac, iPad and iPhone. There's a Bento template called Library:

http://solutions.filemaker.com/database-templates/uk/detail.jsp?serial=2549954

Or there's Readerware: http://www.readerware.com/

Book Collector: http://www.collectorz.com/book

Bookbag: http://www.wakefieldsoft.com/bookbag

And BookDB: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Home-Education/BookDB2.shtml

 

[Penners]

I'd use a database rather than a spreadsheet for cataloguing

Isn't it a question of what you're used to? If you're comfortable with a spreadsheet, but find a full-scale database a bit daunting, then you can stick to a spreadsheet. And vice versa.

So long as you're consistent with your spreadsheet cell entries, the data will be interchangeable with most databases anyway, via .csv files, won't it?

 

[Flyfisher]

Indeed. I would also suggest another reason. For the vast majority of people, standard and easily available software is the best option. That's not to say it is necessarily the best software in terms of specific functionality, but very few domestic applications require specialist features, so standard software is usually more than adequate.

The other reason for using standard software is that help and support is usually freely available, as we have seen here with Excel. There are good reasons for it being so widely used.