[LMB] OT: Book Databases

[Adam Ek]

Hello, I'm Adam, and I'm a bookaholic of the cataloging variety.

I've kept lists of my books ever since my first computer, back when my  
book collection was a mere 300 books or so. My book database started  
in RecordKeeper on Mac OS (1987 version, 4.0?). RecordKeeper died with  
a system update (and the company was out of business), but I  
transitioned to Filemaker and that system stayed mostly stable until I  
married Ailsa in 2000.

She's also a bookaholic, but not a cataloger. She's been a SQL  
database programmer, but to her that's "work" and not something done  
for a hobby.

On one hand, I didn't have to argue with her about whether we use her  
database schema or mine. On the other hand, I couldn't just do a text  
file import and merge the two catalogs. She had no catalog. She did  
have about 2000 books. My book collection was about 3000 books.

My database entry had been a bit leisurely in the past. Either I'd  
enter the books in the database after I got home from the bookstore or  
the con, or they'd go on the To Be Read bookshelf and I'd enter them  
after I read them (in which case I'd also rate them on Alexlit). Now I  
was faced with 2000+ books to catalog.

I also had to deal with a different book mix. Most of my books were  
fiction. My non-fiction was about 75% college textbooks/references,  
all of my non-fiction fit on part of one bookcase. Over half of her  
books were non-fiction.

Her books weren't completely sorted, but she's worked in a college  
library. "If you're going to catalog all of our non-fiction, your  
going to do it by the Library of Congress system."

"Er, a lot of your books don't have the LOC number in the front  
matter...."

Readerware to the rescue! I learned of Readerware from Scott Raun via  
this list. I've had a love/hate relationship with Readerware and other  
book cataloging software ever since. Scanning the barcode on a book  
and having it enter most of the cataloging information is very  
convenient. Readerware would even go to the LOC catalog and retrieve  
the LOC classification! However, there are a few things that have  
frustrated me about it and every other book cataloging application  
I've tried in the past seven years: Readerware, Booxter, Books,  
Delicious Library, LibraryThing

SORTING

First let me tell you a little more about my library classification.  
First it's broken down into sets of bookcases, then a system of  
sorting for each set.

	Fiction, paperback. Author, ([Series], [Series order #], Title)

	Fiction, hardcover & trade paperbacks. Author, ([Series], [Series  
order #], Title)

Ailsa was opposed to breaking up the fiction into two sets of  
bookcases until I showed her how many more books we could fit with the  
adjustable shelves set to paperback heights. Even so, a sad number of  
our books are in boxes in the garage.

	Gaming. Gaming System. Title.

	Graphics Novels/Comics. [Series], [Series order #], Title

	Non Fiction. LOC, Author, Title. (Full LOC if I can find it in the  
Library of Congress online catalog. Two letter classification by my  
own guess if I can't find it)

	Judaica, LOC, Author, Title

Judaica was given its own bookcase when I pointed out to Ailsa some of  
the ...interesting... juxtapositions the LOC system gave between her  
judaica books and her old sociology books. BL1616.15W64 _Inanna: Queen  
of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer_ just doesn't  
seem to belong on the same shelf as BM 155.2.T44 1991 _Jewish  
Literacy_. At least, not in an observant Jewish household.

	Poetry. Author, Title

	Tall Books (Anything 11" to 14"), LOC, Author, Title

	Very Tall Books (Anything over 14"). LOC, Author, Title

	Other Media. I haven't started cataloging DVD's and videogames yet,  
but considering their replacement costs I probably ought to for  
insurance purposes.

Most of the book catalog applications give me a classification or  
location field that I can use to designate which of these sets a book  
goes into. Some of them will let me specify a saved views which only  
display the books in each set. NONE of them let me save the sort order  
specific to each view. Most of them won't sort by the {Author,  
([Series], [Series order #], Title)} approach unless I put the Series  
and Series order right in the Title field. I'm stubborn, I want the  
Series and Series Order in their own columns.  Why, can't they do a 4  
column sort? Why, oh why, can't they save sort order along with view  
selection?

MULTIPLE OWNERS

Don't any of these programmers have families? Most of the applications  
have a simple checkbox for whether or not you've read the book. My old  
"To Be Read" bookcase system went out the window when 2000+ books got  
added to the system. I want to keep track of whether I've read a book  
in the database, and ever since I caught the alexlit bug I like to  
rate books too. However, Ailsa wants her own read checkbox and rating.  
So does Kathy, and David probably will when he's older. For that  
matter a simple "Owner" field is needed. Ailsa & I don't plan to ever  
split up, but Ailsa's & Kathy's books were all mixed together and  
there were some arguments when she went off to college.

MULTIPLE COMPUTERS/ONLINE ACCESS

LibraryThing is the only application that works well with multiple  
computers, but it fails my sorting criteria and my multiple owners  
criteria.

MULTIPLE USERS
I want Ailsa to be able to enter books when she's working on her own  
login.

PORTABLE

I want a list on my Palm Pilot that I can refer to when I'm at a  
bookstore.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Barcode scanning seems to be a time saver, but I wonder. They retrieve  
a lot of generic information online, but most of it I never use. I  
still need to manually enter: Classification, Owner, Date Acquired.  
Cost.

DANGER! DANGER! TIME SINK!

I started learning PHP and PostgreSQL a couple of years ago. I've  
designed a couple of database applications. I've started work on my  
own online book database, but I'm frustrated by how much time it  
takes.  Other programmers have done most of the work, why should I be  
duplicating stuff so many other people have done? There are open  
source library software applications, but the time required to  
personally install and learn an OPAC system or myPHPlibrary is more  
than I want to invest in this project. But what options should I fall  
back to?

Filemaker. Ah my old personal book database.
	Pros: Customizable as much as I want. Multiple Owners, Sorting? No,  
problem!
	Cons: Portability, I haven't been able to get networking or web  
access working right. No barcoding/web lookup, I've gotten fond of  
that feature.
	Cost: I have Filemaker Pro 7. It does work under Mac OS X 10.5, but  
it's still PowerPC based and I've got an Intel Mac now. $179 upgrade  
to basic filemaker? $599 to upgrade to Server? Vs. Free php and  
PostgreSQL (but lots of personal time to develop). Ouch. One minute,  
Filemaker 9 does PHP now? Hmm, oh only with Filemaker Server Advanced,  
$2499. Next!

Readerware: Ah my introduction to bar code cataloging.
	Pros: LOC access. Bar Code Scanning.
	Cons: Sorting Issues. Series problems. Multiple Computer/Users  
issues. Ugly interface.

Booxter: Nice try
	Pros: LOC access. Bar Code Scanning. Nice Macintosh interface
	Cons: Sorting issues, Multiple Computer/Users issues.

LibraryThing:
	Pros: ISBN/Bar Code scanning. Neat Social Networking.
	Cons: Don't trust online service to stay available. Still feeling  
burned by alexlit.com going away. I'd entered over 3000 ratings there.  
Also Multiple Owner awkwardness, also where should I enter book  
condition?

DeliciousLibrary:
	Pros: Lovely looking interface, Bar Code Scanning.
	Cons: No LOC, Sorting issues. Multiple Computer/Users issues.
	Waiting for 2.0 to come out. Probably at MacWorld Expo in a couple of  
weeks.

Argh! My book catalog has languished for over a year now while I try  
to figure out which system I want to use (or what features to include  
in my own PHP/PostgreSQL system). If Delicious Library 2.0 comes out  
with Library of Congress and some custom fields that I can use for  
owner... then I will probably go with Delicious Library and  
LibraryThing for online and networking.


Happy New Year,

Adam Ek
adamek at mac.com