Programming Project

[toddbear]

Ok, I'm going to write my own book library catelog. Yes, I know its been done, and probably better than I will be doing it. Still, this will give me a chance to write a C# program and connect it to a database. Which I really want to do

Comments

[geometrician]

We use a program that includes where you have shelved (or boxed) the book and a photo of the cover (which it finds at Amazon on its own). The photo I can live without, but knowing where the book is stored is invaluable.

Another thing it does is lets you indicate that you have loaned the book, and to whom. If you so choose, it will automatically send that person a polite email reminder ever couple of weeks or so letting them know that when they are finished with the book, you want it back.

This software also catalogs DVDs and other media.

[toddbear]

That's great! I don't know if I'll actually add a field for shelf, but this spurred me to think I should add an overall field for catalog. That way, I can filter results by catalog. Someone else could use it for shelf, or fiction type, or whatever. Nice and flexible, with a minimum of coding on my part. Appreciate the feedback!

Who are you by the way?

--Toddbear

[geometrician]

Who are you by the way?

What? You don't remember me?

Kidding.

I saw you on one of my friends' journal a while back and thought you were cute, so I added you. As a matter of fact, you look kind of like a guy I lusted over in high school when I lived back east. His name was Todd, as well. I would imagine he's your senior by a few years; we graduated in '81.

Anyway, pleased to meetcha.

[toddbear]

Hmmm, Yep, I didn't graduate until '84 -- how are ya doin' daddy bear?

haha!

I went to a very tiny school. There were 34 people in my graduating class. But it was in North Central PA.

[ladyaelfwynn]

How much input from a cataloguer do you want? >-)

If you tell me yes, be prepared...

Serioiusly, though, I'd be willing to give you my ideas and point you to all sorts of info that are part and parcel of librarians work.

Is this for fun, for your use or for a wider distribution? (It tempers my answers. There's stuff I'd want for my own library d-base that would rarely be found in a libraries d'base (but possibly in a retail d'base), like cover art.)

[toddbear]

Well -- I want to keep the project small and light. I'm learning a new language here, so I want some immediate satisfaction. However, the more input I get, the more I can pick and choose from. Also, it will spur me on to think of fundamental design considerations that I should not overlook.

So, in short, please do contribute all that you'd like, but I reserve the right to only implement, at this time, those features I think will be good to do.

Thanks Aelfwynn!

[ladyaelfwynn]

This is a good start! Things I'd flesh out more include:

• Author - you will eventually need more than just first and last names. I am regularly surprised at how often to differentiate two different authors/creators I need a middle initial or a birthdate. In library land, using MARC tagging, we have 24 different options of fully identifying an author/creator/creation. Realistically, I only use about 6 of them ($a - $e and $q (Name, numbers associated with name, titles, dates, relator, and fuller form of name). We also have ways of citing other names used, both names no longer used and valid pseudonyms.


• Description - by this do you mean a physical description of the book, including dimensions and page number (librarians do this so we know how to arrange our shelves; over-sized books often go elsewhere) or do you mean an abstract of the plot? Both are valuable.


• ISBN - It's not just each edition that gets it's own ISBN, it tends to be each format, so that the trade paperbacks, hardbacks, large print, and fancy, illustrated versions all

[toddbear]

I really like to have a story description and a notes about the book as two separate fields. Good call there. Notes about the book can deal with missing dust covers to author signatures to "in poor shape" or something.

I need a flag for rather or not I own a book. If I've loaned out book 3 on a 5 book series, and its not here, I still want to catalog the book, but with the don't own flag I can run a report of it so I can buy it some time.

I'm putting authors in their own table, so they can have lots of extra fields, not just name. Some notes there might be nice.

I'm going to make a special table -- not sure how I'll do it, but for right now, its going to be to hold the ISBNs of the book.