book book book

[jazzfish]

Out of respect for the people who requested I not taunt them when I get new books, I will instead taunt you with my old ones.

33: Number of bankers' boxes (703 style) it takes to hold my books.
14: Number of bankers' boxes of books still untouched after last night.
10: Number of bankers' boxes of books being Saved 'Til Later (nonfiction, bad/missing ISBN barcode, mass-market paperback, etc)
9: Number of bankers' boxes of books (fiction) put on shelves by me after being scanned in by the redoubtable uilos.
4: Number of times I will use the phrase "bankers' boxes of books" in this post.

365: Number of books contained in those nine boxes. (Number probably somewhat higher, thanks to Vertigo/DC's irritating habit of putting UPCs instead of ISBNs on their graphic novels until just recently.)
25: Approximate number of shelf-feet that those books occupy.
25: Exact number of US dollars required to purchase a lifetime membership with LibraryThing, wherein those 365 books are now available for ogling.

Many thanks to vt_andros for providing me with a :CueCat two or three years ago, jonny_law for the PS/2-to-USB adapter that works wonderfully with the :CueCat, and of course uilos and her laptop for a delightful evening spent scanning and processing barcodes.

Comments

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

I count five uses of the phrase "bankers' boxes of books"; I think it's only fair to count the one in the use count, as well.

[fishy1.livejournal.com]

Isn't the ISBN (also)in the copyright info in the front of the book? (near the library of congress stuff)

may have to investigate this "library thing" if scraun hasn't already. i need to be able to track books of ours that are 'checked out' by friends.

[fishy1.livejournal.com]

oops. that was supposed to be scraun23.

[jazzfish]

Hm. I'm seeing only four. Four and a half if you want to count the one under "33."

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I was counting that half as a whole, you're right.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

It is, but we are using a barcode scanner to get as much as possible first. Then we will go back and hand enter the books with ISBNs but no barcode and after that will be the true problem books without ISBNs.

I also have a LibraryThing. Search for Uilos. The neatest feature they've put up recently is the ability to get the website on your cell, if the phone is so enabled. This will make book shopping much less redundant.

[currentlee.livejournal.com]

i totally need to get on library thing.
d'you think it does graphic novels?
or combined collections with specifications as to what belongs to whom?

[jazzfish]

It's had no problem with the graphic novels I've entered. Well, the ones that had ISBN barcodes at least. I imagine it won't have any trouble with the others. uilos is really the person to ask about that; she's actually entered things without ISBNs.

As for combined collections, it's got a tagging feature, so you could tag all an individual's books with zir name.

[platypusgirl.livejournal.com]

"for a delightful evening spent scanning and processing barcodes."
not everyone can use that phrase and actually mean it.

[fishy1.livejournal.com]

hey!

[uilos.livejournal.com]

All my graphic novels have ISBNs so it wasn't a problem for me to enter them. Some of my random individual comics didn't have ISBNs (damn you, Vertigo direct sales), but there is a way to enter non-ISBN'ed books manually.

As for combined collections, I bet there is a way to go about it, but I would think the easiest solution would be tagging each book as to which collection it goes into.

If you want to poke in an established collection, I'm Uilos on Library Thing.

[jazzfish]

Depends on the book. ISBNs don't appear to have been in use at all before 1970, so that's two boxes from my grandfather's place right there. And the Science Fiction Book Club didn't start putting the ISBNs in their books until about ten years ago; that accounts for another box or so. The other six boxes of unscannables either didn't have an ISBN barcode, or had one but it was unscannable for some reason.

All is not lost in the case of the ISBNless: sometimes you can find an ISBN by correlating the Library of Congress number, which a lot of these have. And if all else fails I can enter them manually. Won't be able to track other people with them, but oh well. I'll know I have them.

I heartily endorse LibraryThing. It supports tagging, so you can tag checked-out books with "checked-out" and with the name of the person who's got them.