Book Cataloging App? 2021 Edition

[TacomaDiver]

I know it's been asked before, but what are you all using to keep track of your book collections?

Spreadsheets? Apps? Something else?

I'm looking for something that's similar to what I use for my DVD/Bluray collection - DVD Profiler. I can't tell you how long I've been using this, and it was a great one time purchase.

So far, I've been eyeballing LibraryThing, Libib, and Excel. I know some use Goodreads, which I do read, but I don't track what I own there. I want more cataloging than reading statistics.

Collecterz looks similar to DVD Profiler, but dammit, stop with the annual subscription model. Grrrr.

Best option would include an app and a desktop version. (Occasionally, I feel like I'm in the minority with the fact I still use a desktop machine at home for most things.)

Excel gives me off-line ability and a way to take my collection with me on my phone and not worry about signal.

For context, when I was a wee child, I kept my comic collection documented on actual typed paper like this:

Uncanny X-Men - 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, etc. etc.

What else should I be looking at?

[dannyboy121070]

I use a program called All My Books. I've been using it for over a decade now, and I love it. My main goal in using it is to keep track of where I am in a series. I read so much that I tend to forget, say, what the last volume of Hellboy or Spider-Man that I read was, or where I left off in the Repairman Jack series, and this program is a huge help. You basically enter the ISBN #, and it autofills the rest of the info into the database. AMB has no subscription fee, just a one-time fee to buy a license.

https://www.bolidesoft.com/allmybooks.html

[TacomaDiver]

I use a program called All My Books. I've been using it for over a decade now, and I love it. My main goal in using it is to keep track of where I am in a series. I read so much that I tend to forget, say, what the last volume of Hellboy or Spider-Man that I read was, or where I left off in the Repairman Jack series, and this program is a huge help. You basically enter the ISBN #, and it autofills the rest of the info into the database. AMB has no subscription fee, just a one-time fee to buy a license.

https://www.bolidesoft.com/allmybooks.html

This looks very similar to DVD Profiler.

Thanks - I'll have to take a look at this one too. It didn't come up in my immediate searching - probably because it doesn't seem fancy and lacks all of the social network feel (the older I'm getting, the less of a fan of social networking I'm becoming . . .)

[dannyboy121070]

It's a solid program. I've been very happy with it, and their support has been great on the few occasions that I've needed them.

[TacomaDiver]

So I'm playing with the free trial, and maybe it's a limitation of that, but I'm having no luck finding anything other than regular retail versions of books. Nothing from CP, or SubPress, or CD, and the like. Is that your experience?

[dannyboy121070]

Usually what I do is go to Goodreads and put in the ISBN that they have, which, 90% of the time, works. Otherwise, I manually enter the book title exactly the way that Goodreads has it, which enables the program to suck up the info from Goodreads. (I have mine set up to pull info solely from Goodreads. The default used to be Amazon, but Amazon has some kind of issue now where the info that AMB can pull from them is always incomplete, so I switched to Goodreads) If you find a book on Goodreads and go to that book's page, clicking on the book cover will bring up "Other editions", and if you click on that, you can usually find the small-press version of the book. Some of my more obscure books, if they aren't on Goodreads, I have to enter manually.

[mhatchett]

I've been on Librarything for years and find that I'm pretty happy with them.
Mike

[TacomaDiver]

An update to this thread - I ultimately decided on using Libib. They have an app for my iPhone that will let me scan ISBNs for quick entry, but then I use the website sign to fine tune the details.

I just finished scanning all our books (at least the ones I can scan - so many older PBs don't have the proper ISBN on the back cover, and then there's the hit and miss with all of my various limited editions.) My wife and I have been going through our collection and editing the titles, updating the authors (so much ISBN data on this site is incorrect or just weird . . .) and then tagging our books (signed, numbered, 1st, 2nd, etc., etc.) The fine tuning will take quite a bit of time, but I do like having my collection at my fingertips.

I have the option of publishing my collection on a public URL, you can see all that here - but I really don't like how it sorts alphabetically by title. Good chance I haven't figured out how to change that sort - I know you can change the sorting when I'm logged in, but that's just my view.

Ultimately this will give me the ability to have basic details about my collection at my fingertips when we are out booking. I've found so many forgotten titles by scanning all of these books so maybe that's really the best part.

[Brian861]

Thanks for the info, Jason, I really need to do something like this. I can't tell you how many times I have to run upstairs to make sure I don't already have a book I'm about to order.

[TacomaDiver]

Having our book collection on our phones proved quite useful this weekend when we hit our local used book store. I think my wife got more benefit out of it since everything I picked up I knew I didn't have.

It takes a lot of time getting everything in the database, and I'm still fine tuning it, but it's already paid dividends.

Good luck!