Personal Library management
Managing your personal library of eBooks or even regular books can become a daunting task. This page is intended to provide some solutions to the problem.
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[edit] Managing your eBook library
Managing your home library can mean a lot of different things to different people. On aspect is to be able to group your books so you can find them easily. One way to do this is to use the directory/folder system on your computer and device along with naming conventions to aid in arranging your library of eBooks. Booksorter by Vangelis Dimou can BULK-rename the eBook files according to your preferences.
Another trick to managing your eBooks when you have the option to sort by date is to modify the date on the file. This MobileRead forum thread has more on this option for Sony devices.
[edit] Library Managers
Library managing software is generally a database program. Often it can also be used to manage other collections of items you may own.
- All My Books is a personal ebook organizer software. Can lookup ebook details either from file metadata or online sources like Amazon.
- BookDB is a full Book database manager in multiple languages. it also has lending library features and import features. It features compact printing so you can take your list of books with you. this is a Windows program.
- My eBook Organizer manages eBook files for you so that you can find and access the right book easier than ever.
- Book Crawler is an iOS book manager that will allow you to take your list with you.
[edit] Combination Solutions
Reading and conversion software can also provide for personal library management. Tools that fall into this category include:
- Calibre - extensive management and conversion for Sony LRF files and others.
- GEB Librarian - provides management and conversion for RB and IMP files.
- ComicRack - provides Reading and management services for Comic book files.
[edit] Home Library features
Do you have an extensive eBook Library? How about printed books? The list below aims to define the needs for a top-quality eBook management software solution that is powerful enough to handle any situation, but simple enough that anyone can use it. It should also be able to perform keyword searches on your collection, keep companion content handy, and easily backup your library for safe-keeping.
Features should include:
- Self-contained library -- All electronic media (eBooks, supplemental materials, etc.) is copied to a separate directory, to keep everything centralized and managed.
- Automatic information retrieval -- Through the use of Amazon's Web Services or other sources, book information can be automatically retrieved, just by entering the book's ISBN.
- Find similar books -- Find books that may be similar to ones already in your library.
- Support for any document format -- The actual format of an eBook shouldn't matter. It should deal with whatever by simply opening it in the system's associated application.
- Library backup/restore -- A user's entire library should be backed up into a compressed archive, and later restored (either to the same system, or a new computer).
- eBook export -- eBook files may be exported to a new file, named according to the book's title/authors/publisher/publication date, with user-customizable formatting.
- Batch eBook import -- Add multiple files, or entire folders, in one step.
- Attach supplementary materials -- supplementary materials (such as zip files, CD ISO images, etc.) may be attached to book entries.
- Full-text search capabilities -- electronic media is indexed, and the actual contents of files are used in searches.
- Auto ISBN retrieval -- file names (and perhaps even file contents) are scanned for potential ISBN's.
- Categorized browsing -- books can be categorized, like folders on a computer. A single book may appear in multiple categories.
- Library index -- a file can be created containing all books in a particular category, organized by book (listed in alphabetic order), or by author (each author listed alphabetically, with their books under them).
- eBook Reader -- The manager should extend to including eBook Readers themselves.
- Lending library -- Should also manage library checkout and books.
