Nerd Alert
New Orleans, LA
Two nights ago I downloaded Booxter software for keeping inventory of books. The first night I stayed up until 2am downloading information into the database. Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, with the luxury of having nothing urgent to do and nowhere in particular to be, I spent the entire day cataloging books. Hundreds of books. It was a very happy day.
There are at least twelve giant plastic tubs of books up in the attic. There used to be 45 cardboard boxes, but Katrina taught a lesson about paper, water, and ruination. I think I may be spending the better part of next week up in the attic.
In the past 48 hours I've learned a lot of about Library of Congress Control Numbers and International Standard Book Numbers too. I've come to dread the stacks of pre-1966 books. Number-free, they are tedious to extract information from. I'd rather have automated searches of Amazon and the Library of Congress do all the dirty work.
Talking to Ms. Nola about the inventory software, she asked if I had a barcode scanner. One of her friends has been scanning his books with a magic scanner wand. It's good to know that there is company in madness.
Two nights ago I downloaded Booxter software for keeping inventory of books. The first night I stayed up until 2am downloading information into the database. Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, with the luxury of having nothing urgent to do and nowhere in particular to be, I spent the entire day cataloging books. Hundreds of books. It was a very happy day.
There are at least twelve giant plastic tubs of books up in the attic. There used to be 45 cardboard boxes, but Katrina taught a lesson about paper, water, and ruination. I think I may be spending the better part of next week up in the attic.
In the past 48 hours I've learned a lot of about Library of Congress Control Numbers and International Standard Book Numbers too. I've come to dread the stacks of pre-1966 books. Number-free, they are tedious to extract information from. I'd rather have automated searches of Amazon and the Library of Congress do all the dirty work.
Talking to Ms. Nola about the inventory software, she asked if I had a barcode scanner. One of her friends has been scanning his books with a magic scanner wand. It's good to know that there is company in madness.
posted by Jennifer P. at 10:04 PM
5 Comments:
Scary, very scary...I myself was just thinking of scanning all my books in the other day. At least I am a teacher which kind of gives me an excuse....Kimu
Hey Kimu! I hadn't figured you for a book scanner. Learn something about your friends everyday...
I should clarify that I haven't made the jump to a scanner wand. I enjoy hands-on manual typing over time efficiency wand waving. Also, there's the question of where to store the scanner wand?
My favorite part of downloading software is that it takes up no space, does not come in a box, and has no accompanying paperwork. It's declutter time.
At the library, I too am not a fan of the older books. At least when it comes to getting them into the database.
Thanks for checking on things while we were gone!
As Ms NOLA's barcode-scanning friend, I can assure you that nothing is more deliriously addictive than cataloguing a whole shelf of books. In an hour or two. (You do have to insert a location into the database.)
Shokufeh, welcome back!
RJ, Ms. Nola has spoken of you so fondly for so many years. I hope that we have the opportunity to meet after I make the move to New York.
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