So we have a few books...

I've taken on the bold task of cataloging our home library. I've been wanting to do this for a long time but it was such a daunting prospect, it kept being put back to do "later." Well, I guess later is here, because I jumped in with both feet after discovering a program that would make the job easier and more enjoyable (I had originally planned on--and started--just an excel sheet). I researched online and found four possibilities for software: Readerware, Collectorz, Delicious Library (DL) and BookPedia. They all have a free 30 day trial, so I downloaded all of them and spent time with each of the programs to find out which one would work best for our needs. Readerware and Collectorz are very popular and get rave reviews, but I just could not figure them out and they seemed very cumbersome. Of course, they were both made with PCs in mind and then adapted for Macs. The latter two, DL and BookPedia, were created especially for Macs. That is a big plus. They are also more appealing to the eye and seemed to be tailored more for the younger crowd. So, after using them both extensively I opted for BookPedia.

There were many features I liked about Delicious Library, but overall, Bookpedia fit what I was looking for. The interface is very similar to iTunes so I was familiar with how to navigate around in it. There was not much of a learning curve involved--I just opened the program and started scanning/entering books. Another thing I like is that you can use the built-in iSight camera to scan the bar code on books and all of the information is entered automatically (DL has this function too). That doesn't work for bar codes that are too small or for older books that don't have bar codes so in that case I just enter the ISBN and voila! all the book information appears--including the retail price for most books. You can also take a picture of the cover of the book with the iSight camera, if it doesn't come up automatically (most older books don't). I am planning on printing out a report with all the books and prices listed that I will store in our fireproof safe for insurance purposes. We have a lot of money invested in books!

I am also very impressed with the customer service. I sent an email to the company (I think it's a husband and wife team) and within a couple of hours I received an email from the owner herself. Another neat aspect about the program is the statistics tool. It lists in bar graph form all manner of statistics of your library. For instance, after working for about 4 days here is our statistics report:

Number of Books: 740 (and I haven't even ventured away from the bookshelves directly around the computer!)

Author with most titles:
CS Lewis - 13
Laura Ingalls Wilder - 10
Henri Nouwen - 9

Genres: Religion & Spirituality - 205
Children's Books - 159

Other interesting books I've discovered:
-1st edition "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - worth between $100-$150. Yeah, it's just been sitting on the kid's book shelf all this time! ha!



-1st edition "James and the Giant Peach" - worth $55+



-"Poetical Works of Felicia Hemans" - a lovely gilded book from 1866 - worth about $80. I picked this book up for $2 at a used book store because I thought it was beautifully-made. The interesting part I found out is that even though we'd never heard of her, she was a very popular poet during that time and was a friend of Sir Walter Scott.



I found quite a few books that were worth more than I though they would be ($20-$50) and a number of first editions.
I'll update you with other interesting tidbits as I go along on our book cataloging journey!