Checking out when you have multiple copies of books

When we entered out books into LibraryThing, if we had several copies for a book, we were updating the "copies" field to indicate 3 or 4 or 5 copies. However, if more than one patron tried to take the book out through TinyCat, the system would only show one copy and it was "checked out". However, if the several copies of the book were all entered separately in LibraryThing, then each individual book would show up available to check out. This seems odd to me. Are we doing something wrong when we update the "copies" field? Is there another way to update the main record with how many copies are available for check out or do we actually have to enter a book 5 times separately into Library Thing if we have 5 copies?

You have to enter the book 5 times.

Hi ridgewoodcoop,

Your assumption is correct! Unfortunately, LibraryThing doesn't have a copies management feature yet, and the "Copies" field was created long before TinyCat or any other lending features were created. You'll need to catalog each copy within your library separately, if you wish to track lending for those books. We'll be sure to announce if/when anything changes on the copies management front, though. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

we enter separate records and put #2, #4 etc in the title of each one so we can keep track of who has which copy.

In our Tiny Library we have our own call number system which works like a barcode in other systems, identifying each copy as a separate item.

Checkout works pretty easily this way in TinyCat.