add books: multiple library searches & no barcode scan

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add books: multiple library searches & no barcode scan

1TAKLIB
Dez. 13, 2021, 6:12 am

Hi,

I am new to librarything, which is really great and have two questions, since I am cataloging my libraries (~5000 books in the end or so):

1) if the barcode is scanned, and it is searched in the libraries (Library of Congress etc.) then can I somehow klick on that this search is done in multiple libraries?
The reason is, that I have a lot of books in different languages, and then I have to switch the libraries for the search...

2) if there is no barcode but only an ISBN, is there a way to scan this?
I guess it might be actually also relatively easy to implement, since to read an ISBN number with a scanner should be similar to reading a barcode...

Would be great to know about this, and sorry if I just might not have found the answer to that already..

Yours,

Tobias

2bnielsen
Dez. 13, 2021, 6:50 am

1) No, I don't think so. Best advice would be to use Overcat as source, since that will contain any books other LT users have imported from various library sources.

2) A barcode is much easier (by design) to read by a scanner than text is. So this is not possible. I don't know if there exists any cheap hand-held scanner that can do the trick.

I'm curious as to your actual setup. A pile of books and a smartphone? A pile of books and a computer and a CueCat? A pile of books and a computer and a high-end handheld scanner?
Are you using the mobile App or the web-interface (i.e. Add books)?

3TAKLIB
Dez. 13, 2021, 11:34 am

>2 bnielsen:

Hi and thank you very much for the input. to answer you:

to 1) well you can "activate" a specific library to be searched, one should allow the "switch on" of several in parallel... Overcat is not a good solution - from the 130 or so books I added between things, 15 I would not have found in Overact... The point is, that in the moment you have books from different countries, it is getting not so easy...
Even if you haven ISBN it is often not found...

to 2) oh electronics can read even your handwriting, blind people scan entire texts, so I guess it would even be more easy to photograph the title plus details page, upload it and transfer it to the corresponding forms, even easier than a barcode...

setting:

I use a MacBook Pro, plus an iPhone SE 2016 and an iPad Air 2014 for scanning. I also use the web-interface to type in the books the other two do not find...

4bnielsen
Dez. 13, 2021, 1:11 pm

>3 TAKLIB: Sounds a lot like my setup. I try to catch the correct edition of my books, so I'm also trying several sources and yes, it would be nice to be able to search in parallel. But 115/130 is a good ratio I think. (Not good seen from your point, but I think it is good compared to what I'd expect.)

And yes, software can scan and recognize things. I just think it'll be just as fast and easy to type the isbn by hand :-)

5TAKLIB
Bearbeitet: Dez. 13, 2021, 3:30 pm

>4 bnielsen:

well you are right, although tonight I had some stuff from Galleries etc. so often not to be found in "normal" libraries if at all... so there it would make live very easy

and well, I guess barcode is fine, typing is fine, but if you want to catalog 3000-5000 things it would be nice if at least while getting it in manually, one would only need to correct the feed into forms or well, to copy paste a recognized text, since while typing one is lazy, but from a librarian standpoint it might be interesting to have all those little information, printer, paper, etc. etc. which sometimes is given...

anyway, I am happy that LibraryThing exists, actually it is a great community project and effort after all, so I do not want to be picky and just asked and perhaps somebody does it... or it might be already in the making...

6bnielsen
Dez. 14, 2021, 4:40 am

I have a bit over 8400 books, so yes, I can easily imagine ways of speeding up the import process. I also want to scan covers, so cataloging takes time :-)

I completely agree with this:
"anyway, I am happy that LibraryThing exists, actually it is a great community project and effort after all, so I do not want to be picky and just asked and perhaps somebody does it... or it might be already in the making..."

7TAKLIB
Dez. 14, 2021, 6:12 am

>6 bnielsen:

well, 8400 is a number in every respect...

the question is, of course, whether LT is something beyond the classic libraries, which anyway do already the stuff, or should do the stuff, and of course, huge digitalisation programs are underway, so well perhaps we do not need to do this job - on the other hand I guess that on this scale where it is interesting, so >1000 books there might be also things, editions etc. which are not in these libraries where one would expect it. Thus, here one could actually make a contribution to "mankind" "global culture" - and all this without big blabla, since it is just for one's own (egoistic) interest...

8gilroy
Dez. 14, 2021, 7:11 am

>1 TAKLIB:

1) If you are scanning the ISBN through the app, it already searches all sources. Depending on your settings, you can have all sources you want selected, then scan the ISBN. No switching required. If you are scanning into the webpage, each link that has no results gives you options to click, but at this time, there are no ways to scan multiple sources at once from the webpage

2) If you have an ISBN that has no barcode, you can create an excel file, where you can upload that, to save some time. It still requires going back to edit the results, but it offers an option. See the Import section -- https://www.librarything.com/more/import -- for tips and tricks on how best to do this. Could also work with books without ISBN.

9jonsweitzerlamme
Dez. 14, 2021, 10:16 am

>1 TAKLIB: I have had problem #1 a LOT, and I don't think there's a solution. In terms of computing, searching through any one library's catalog can take a while; searching as many as you may need to find the books you want would take far too long, and you also have to guess which libraries might have the book in question. Try to go language by language and/or subject by subject. If you have a bunch of books in French, for example, you might switch to the BnF for a while, set aside any that don't come up, and move to the Kgl. bibliotek for your Danish books. My solution for the set-aside books has been deeply annoying and complex. First, I search Worldcat (worldcat.org) to figure out which libraries have the book. Then, I search the popup menu of libraries to see which of those I can search. Then, I search that library. That said, most of the books I haven't been able to find in the relevant language's national library have been pre-ISBN.

10TAKLIB
Bearbeitet: Dez. 14, 2021, 12:18 pm

>9 jonsweitzerlamme:

to be honest I find what you describe very interesting - I mean I do not know how good even the Google project is in this respect, but well obviously, it seems that all catalogs/libraries are not really as unified and exploreable than one would guess...

...so practically speaking, I think for me it would be already enough if one could have several libraries in parallel: Library of Congress, British..., French..., German... so say the main 5 to 10 => that would help already tremendously...

another idea would be, that LT searches these titles which you type in by hand in off-peak hours, just going through each of the 4xxx sources, and if something pops up, asking whether this is a correct find, or whether the additional info should be integrated... So that could be even done once in a while for books in the entire LT collection, IT wise just as a script doing the job and trying to annotate further the database...
...actually perhaps not a really difficult thing to implement, I guess the user interface for this is the most complicated...

11jonsweitzerlamme
Dez. 14, 2021, 2:22 pm

>10 TAKLIB: Worldcat is a project of OCLC, not Google, so it's a library-run project, and as such fairly accurate. It's not as strong outside of the first world (not as many member libraries) but it's really helpful for me for my French and German stuff.

I really like the idea of being able to create your own mix of libraries--your own personal Overcat--but I think that's a for-the-future project for LT.