Book Cataloging App

[JHCC]

My smithing library has expanded beyond the point where I can remember all of the titles on my shelves. This is occasionally a problem if I’m browsing online or looking in a used book store, and a couple of times, I’ve ended up buying duplicates. In looking for a solution, I discovered a rather good cataloging app called Book Buddy, which comes in a free version and a paid version. These have the same features; the only difference is that the free version has room for a mere 50 volumes, while the paid version (a one-time fee, not a subscription) allows an unlimited number. 

The features I’ve used most so far are the categorization function, which lets you decide how to organize your books:

 And the barcode scanner, which lets you quickly identify books by ISBN:

 Without having to type in all their individual details:

For books that don’t have a barcode, you can scan or type in the ISBN, and for older volumes that predate the ISBN system or that were published privately, you can enter the details manually.

I haven’t yet tried it with periodicals (such as The Anvil’s Ring or The Hammer’s Blow), but I’ll keep you all posted on how that goes.

 

[Frosty]

I wish I had something like this a long time ago! I didn't open the link to check the price but I'd have to but into the unlimited version. I don't know if I have the energy to sort through the hundreds of boxes of books in the basement and then organize them so I could locate them. Still it'd sure be nice to know just what I had down there and on the book shelves.

Thanks for the link John!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That looks interesting. I use Excel on a thumb drive, which I can plug into my phone, however everything has to be entered manually.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus
 

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

I didn't open the link to check the price

$4.99.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

organize them so I could locate them.

There’s a field for “Physical location”, so you could number your boxes and add those numbers to each book’s record. 

[Frosty]

You're trying to tempt me into finally cleaning and organizing the basement aren't you? It IS tempting, I'd love to get some of my texts dug out and organized.

Frosty The Lucky.

[LarryFahnoe]

John that's super promising little app! I've just added it to my phone and laptop (appears to only be available for some of the new Macs) and the app's ability to use online sources to fill in additional details is really quite remarkable. I'm a tech guy, so it really shouldn't seem remarkable, but every now and again I take pleasure seeing something with fresh eyes. Time will tell, but this may be just the thing to bring some cataloging and order to a sprawling library!

The fact that it also supports import/export operations is important to me so that I can get my data out in the event the app is discontinued or otherwise goes belly up.

--Larry

[JHCC]

I'm one of those weird hybrids that use an iPhone and a PC, so I can't take advantage of the app's capacity for sharing between iOS devices. There is a cloud-based sharing option that I could use to edit phone uploads on my laptop, but I'm too cheap to spring for a subscription that I don't really need.

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

You're trying to tempt me into finally cleaning and organizing the basement aren't you?

Not at all! Just scan the books where they are, and it'll be easier to locate a particular volume within the chaos!

[Scott NC]

  I will be interested in the periodicals, although I know you said you have yet to try it.  Maybey  missed something.  It would be great to list articles of interest instead of all those pesky little torn paper marks and bad memory.  You would know right where to look.  I may have to ditch android finally.  

[JHCC]

So, I’ve started cataloging periodicals, and since periodicals don’t get ISBNs, I’ve had to create a bit of a workaround to enter them manually. Creating a “Periodicals” category was easy, as was a “The Anvil’s Ring” series. However, it doesn’t really fit the “volume, number” schema of most magazines, and the app seems to assume that any entry with the same title as another is actually a duplicate, even if the volume is different. Therefore, I’ve included the volume and number in the title and the season and year in the subtitle. 

Here’s what I’ve put in the Periodicals category so far:

 And here's a single issue’s page:

 And here it is in Edit view, to show the various fields:

NB: When you add a new record, you can add the cover photo by taking it with your phone, choosing it from your existing photos, or searching online. These here are all photos I’ve taken, but I haven’t yet seen if there’s an archive of TAR covers online.

I haven’t yet given any thought to adding article titles or the like, but I’ll give it some further thought. The Notes field might be good for that.

One thing I haven’t tried yet is uploading entries from a spreadsheet, which would  be useful for creating a number of records all at once and/or adding their article titles in Notes. 

[Frosty]

That sounds good John, it's reasonably short but detailed enough to make locating what you want intuitive and reasonably easy.

Doing good John, atta boy!

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Okay, I tried updating with exporting, editing, and importing, and it worked pretty well. This involved exporting everything into a comma-separated-value (CSV) file, opening that file in MS Excel, deleting the rows for the items I didn’t want to change, typing the article titles into the Notes field, saving the CSV file, and importing it back into the app. Here’s a sample of the result:

Now, this actually created duplicate entries for each issue, so I had to delete the original entries and then add photos of the covers to the new entries. I have to see if there’s some way to duplicates together rather than delete the extras. 

The next step is to try creating new entries by importing a CSV file. I’ll give that a try with my old copies of the Blacksmith’s Journal. More to come….

[JHCC]

Update: success!

 

[Frosty]

The buttons don't work for me John. 

Seriously, it looks like you're coming up with a good system to organize your library. You're beginning to scare me buddy!

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

No buttons there; that’s just screenshots of the app from my phone. 

[Frosty]

The animated roll eyes, Oy Vei  emoticon wasn't enough clue that I was joking? You're pretty easy to sneak up on when you're concentrating aren't you?

Frosty The Lucky.