Bibliography, Base, and importing data

[John Jason Jordan-3]

OOo 2.4, Ubuntu x86_64

I have a bibliography created in Tellico. Tellico is a cool little app
for managing book collections. The neat part about it is that all you
need to enter is the ISBN number, then click to Update the entry.
Tellico goes out on the net and searches Amazon and several other
online databases, finds the book, and retrieves all the information
about it online, even an image of the front cover, if available. This
saves an enormous amount of typing.

I want to be able to merge selected entries into a bibliography in a
Writer document. From Tellico I can export in various formats,
including xml, html, zip, csv, pilotdb, bibtex, bibtexml, and onix. So
far I have tried xml and csv, but can't get either one registered with
Base. Let me explain in more detail, using my experience with csv as an
example.

I opened Base and checked "Connect to an existing database," and
selected "text" in the drop-down box. In the next window I entered the
path to the .csv file and checked the radio button for "'Comma
separated value' files." In the next window I left the default items
checked: "Yes, register the database for me" and "Open the database for
editing." When I clicked on Finish it opened a window showing the
folder that I specified in the first step, but no files appear in the
window. There is a spinbox that says "ODF Database," but when I select
it that is the only option. It should list all the database types,
including csv, but it does not. Since I cannot tell it to look for .csv
files it displays no files in the window. The file is definitely there
- tellico_bibliography.csv - it's just the Base can't see it.

What am I doing wrong?
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[H.S.]

John Jason Jordan wrote:

> OOo 2.4, Ubuntu x86_64
>
> I have a bibliography created in Tellico. Tellico is a cool little app
> for managing book collections. The neat part about it is that all you
> need to enter is the ISBN number, then click to Update the entry.
> Tellico goes out on the net and searches Amazon and several other
> online databases, finds the book, and retrieves all the information
> about it online, even an image of the front cover, if available. This
> saves an enormous amount of typing.
>
> I want to be able to merge selected entries into a bibliography in a
> Writer document. From Tellico I can export in various formats,
> including xml, html, zip, csv, pilotdb, bibtex, bibtexml, and onix. So
> far I have tried xml and csv, but can't get either one registered with
> Base. Let me explain in more detail, using my experience with csv as an
> example.
>
> I opened Base and checked "Connect to an existing database," and
> selected "text" in the drop-down box. In the next window I entered the
> path to the .csv file and checked the radio button for "'Comma
> separated value' files." In the next window I left the default items
> checked: "Yes, register the database for me" and "Open the database for
> editing." When I clicked on Finish it opened a window showing the
> folder that I specified in the first step, but no files appear in the
> window. There is a spinbox that says "ODF Database," but when I select
> it that is the only option. It should list all the database types,
> including csv, but it does not. Since I cannot tell it to look for .csv
> files it displays no files in the window. The file is definitely there
> - tellico_bibliography.csv - it's just the Base can't see it.
>
> What am I doing wrong?

This may not really answer your query directly, but have you looked at
Zotero? It is also a bibliography manager. However, I am not sure how it
fares in comparison with Tellico, but it works very well with OOo as an
add on. You may want to give it a try: http://www.zotero.org/. Tthe
latest version is 1.0.7. They are also working a "sync preview" version
which will let one store their database on one central location and
access it from anywhere. Zotero is installed as  Firefox add on.

I sugget Zotero because I have experienced that it is much more powerful
than OOo's Biblio (at least in OOo 2.4) when it deals with citations and
bibliography. Moreover, it appears to understand far more formats while
importing and exporting bibliography items.

Good luck,
->HS





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[John Jason Jordan-2]

On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:56 -0400
"H.S." <hs.samix@...> dijo:

> I sugget Zotero because I have experienced that it is much more powerful
> than OOo's Biblio (at least in OOo 2.4) when it deals with citations and
> bibliography. Moreover, it appears to understand far more formats while
> importing and exporting bibliography items.

Can Zotero go out and retrieve data about books just from the ISBN number?

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[John Jason Jordan-3]

On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 18:22:15 -0700
John Jason Jordan <johnjasonj@...> dijo:

> I opened Base and checked "Connect to an existing database," and
> selected "text" in the drop-down box. In the next window I entered the
> path to the .csv file and checked the radio button for "'Comma
> separated value' files." In the next window I left the default items
> checked: "Yes, register the database for me" and "Open the database for
> editing." When I clicked on Finish it opened a window showing the
> folder that I specified in the first step, but no files appear in the
> window. There is a spinbox that says "ODF Database," but when I select
> it that is the only option. It should list all the database types,
> including csv, but it does not. Since I cannot tell it to look for .csv
> files it displays no files in the window. The file is definitely there
> - tellico_bibliography.csv - it's just the Base can't see it.

OK, I managed to get Base to open the .csv file. But now I can't get it
to update the data if I change the .csv file.

I entered several more books in Tellico, then exported again to .csv.
When I exported I told Tellico to overwrite the existing .csv file.
Then in Base I clicked on the Refresh button in the toolbar. Made no
difference. Base still sees only the data from the original version of
the .csv file.

As an alternative, I tried exporting to a new .csv file, but I couldn't
find any way to get Base to add this as a new table. That is, I could
go register it as a new database, but I want all the tables in the same
database.
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[Brian Barker]

At 18:22 01/10/2008 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:

>I want to be able to merge selected entries into a bibliography in a
>Writer document. From Tellico I can export in various formats,
>including xml, html, zip, csv, pilotdb, bibtex, bibtexml, and onix.
>So far I have tried xml and csv, but can't get either one registered
>with Base. Let me explain in more detail, using my experience with
>csv as an example.
>
>I opened Base and checked "Connect to an existing database," and
>selected "text" in the drop-down box. In the next window I entered
>the path to the .csv file and checked the radio button for "'Comma
>separated value' files." In the next window I left the default items
>checked: "Yes, register the database for me" and "Open the database
>for editing." When I clicked on Finish it opened a window showing
>the folder that I specified in the first step, but no files appear
>in the window. There is a spinbox that says "ODF Database," but when
>I select it that is the only option. It should list all the database
>types, including csv, but it does not. Since I cannot tell it to
>look for .csv files it displays no files in the window. The file is
>definitely there - tellico_bibliography.csv - it's just the Base can't see it.

You seem to think that you are being asked to identify the .csv file
at this point, but this is not so: you have already done enough in
the second panel of the Database Wizard to achieve that.  The title
bar of this dialogue box is Save As, and you are being asked where
and under what name you want your new database - an .odd file rather
than the original .csv file - to be saved.

At 19:10 01/10/2008 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>OK, I managed to get Base to open the .csv file. But now I can't get
>it to update the data if I change the .csv file.
>
>I entered several more books in Tellico, then exported again to
>.csv. When I exported I told Tellico to overwrite the existing .csv
>file. Then in Base I clicked on the Refresh button in the toolbar.
>Made no difference. Base still sees only the data from the original
>version of the .csv file.

If I try to overwrite a connected .csv file (on my Windows system), I
cannot do so whilst the database to which it is connected is
open.  Perhaps your .csv file is not actually being updated?  If I
close the database and reopen it after modifying the .csv file, the
database table is updated.  This may be a solution.

>As an alternative, I tried exporting to a new .csv file, but I
>couldn't find any way to get Base to add this as a new table. That
>is, I could go register it as a new database, but I want all the
>tables in the same database.

Unless I'm missing something, you do not seem to be able to create
new tables in a database that is connected to an existing file.  The
solution is simple: instead of connecting the database to your
original .csv file, create a new database and then import each .csv
file.  An easy way to do this is:
o  In the database, click on Tables in the Database panel.
o  Open the .csv file in Calc.
o  Select the required cells in Calc.
o  Drag the selected range in Calc to the Tables panel in the lower
part of the database window.
o  This brings up the "Copy table" dialogue, which enables you to
select how you want the new table created.
You can repeat this dragging process to create new tables as required.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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[Chuck Evans]

unsubscribe montezumabrand@... please



----- Original Message ----
From: Brian Barker <b.m.barker@...>
To: users@...
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2008 2:29:31 AM
Subject: Re: [users] Bibliography, Base, and importing data

At 18:22 01/10/2008 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:

>I want to be able to merge selected entries into a bibliography in a
>Writer document. From Tellico I can export in various formats,
>including xml, html, zip, csv, pilotdb, bibtex, bibtexml, and onix.
>So far I have tried xml and csv, but can't get either one registered
>with Base. Let me explain in more detail, using my experience with
>csv as an example.
>
>I opened Base and checked "Connect to an existing database," and
>selected "text" in the drop-down box. In the next window I entered
>the path to the .csv file and checked the radio button for "'Comma
>separated value' files." In the next window I left the default items
>checked: "Yes, register the database for me" and "Open the database
>for editing." When I clicked on Finish it opened a window showing
>the folder that I specified in the first step, but no files appear
>in the window. There is a spinbox that says "ODF Database," but when
>I select it that is the only option. It should list all the database
>types, including csv, but it does not. Since I cannot tell it to
>look for .csv files it displays no files in the window. The file is
>definitely there - tellico_bibliography.csv - it's just the Base can't see it.

You seem to think that you are being asked to identify the .csv file
at this point, but this is not so: you have already done enough in
the second panel of the Database Wizard to achieve that.  The title
bar of this dialogue box is Save As, and you are being asked where
and under what name you want your new database - an .odd file rather
than the original .csv file - to be saved.

At 19:10 01/10/2008 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>OK, I managed to get Base to open the .csv file. But now I can't get
>it to update the data if I change the .csv file.
>
>I entered several more books in Tellico, then exported again to
>.csv. When I exported I told Tellico to overwrite the existing .csv
>file. Then in Base I clicked on the Refresh button in the toolbar.
>Made no difference. Base still sees only the data from the original
>version of the .csv file.

If I try to overwrite a connected .csv file (on my Windows system), I
cannot do so whilst the database to which it is connected is
open.  Perhaps your .csv file is not actually being updated?  If I
close the database and reopen it after modifying the .csv file, the
database table is updated.  This may be a solution.

>As an alternative, I tried exporting to a new .csv file, but I
>couldn't find any way to get Base to add this as a new table. That
>is, I could go register it as a new database, but I want all the
>tables in the same database.

Unless I'm missing something, you do not seem to be able to create
new tables in a database that is connected to an existing file.  The
solution is simple: instead of connecting the database to your
original .csv file, create a new database and then import each .csv
file.  An easy way to do this is:
o  In the database, click on Tables in the Database panel.
o  Open the .csv file in Calc.
o  Select the required cells in Calc.
o  Drag the selected range in Calc to the Tables panel in the lower
part of the database window.
o  This brings up the "Copy table" dialogue, which enables you to
select how you want the new table created.
You can repeat this dragging process to create new tables as required.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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[John Jason Jordan-3]

On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:29:31 +0100
Brian Barker <b.m.barker@...> dijo:

> At 19:10 01/10/2008 -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> >OK, I managed to get Base to open the .csv file. But now I can't get
> >it to update the data if I change the .csv file.
> >
> >I entered several more books in Tellico, then exported again to
> >.csv. When I exported I told Tellico to overwrite the existing .csv
> >file. Then in Base I clicked on the Refresh button in the toolbar.
> >Made no difference. Base still sees only the data from the original
> >version of the .csv file.
>
> If I try to overwrite a connected .csv file (on my Windows system), I
> cannot do so whilst the database to which it is connected is
> open.  Perhaps your .csv file is not actually being updated?  If I
> close the database and reopen it after modifying the .csv file, the
> database table is updated.  This may be a solution.

I determined that Tellico did, indeed, overwrite the .csv file, even
while Base was connected to it. After much gnashing of teeth I finally
got Base to update itself, but I had to close and reopen all parts of
OOo that were open.

> >As an alternative, I tried exporting to a new .csv file, but I
> >couldn't find any way to get Base to add this as a new table. That
> >is, I could go register it as a new database, but I want all the
> >tables in the same database.
>
> Unless I'm missing something, you do not seem to be able to create
> new tables in a database that is connected to an existing file.  The
> solution is simple: instead of connecting the database to your
> original .csv file, create a new database and then import each .csv
> file.  An easy way to do this is:
> o  In the database, click on Tables in the Database panel.
> o  Open the .csv file in Calc.
> o  Select the required cells in Calc.
> o  Drag the selected range in Calc to the Tables panel in the lower
> part of the database window.
> o  This brings up the "Copy table" dialogue, which enables you to
> select how you want the new table created.
> You can repeat this dragging process to create new tables as required.

I finally succeeded in doing as you suggest, but instead of dragging it
from Calc I copied and pasted between Calc and Base.

Thanks for the assistance.
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[John Jason Jordan-3]

On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:56 -0400
"H.S." <hs.samix@...> dijo:

> This may not really answer your query directly, but have you looked at
> Zotero? It is also a bibliography manager. However, I am not sure how it
> fares in comparison with Tellico, but it works very well with OOo as an
> add on. You may want to give it a try: http://www.zotero.org/. Tthe
> latest version is 1.0.7. They are also working a "sync preview" version
> which will let one store their database on one central location and
> access it from anywhere. Zotero is installed as  Firefox add on.
>
> I sugget Zotero because I have experienced that it is much more powerful
> than OOo's Biblio (at least in OOo 2.4) when it deals with citations and
> bibliography. Moreover, it appears to understand far more formats while
> importing and exporting bibliography items.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I installed the Zotero plugin in Firefox and then registered an account
with WorldCat. Then I added a few books as an experiment. It was not
able locate an older book for which I had only a Library of Congress
number (no ISBN number). Tellico had located this book, but evidently
Zotero does not use LOC numbers. When Tellico found the book it also
found an ISBN number for it, so I tried that in Zotero, but it still
could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
to catalog.

More important, I cannot figure out how to get the bibliography that I
created in my Zotero account into a Writer document. I got the
extension installed, and when I open a new document the Zotero toolbar
is displayed, but now what do I do?

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[Jean-Baptiste Faure-2]

Le 02.10.2008 18:25, John Jason Jordan a écrit :

> On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:56 -0400
> "H.S." <hs.samix@...> dijo:
>
>  
>> This may not really answer your query directly, but have you looked at
>> Zotero? It is also a bibliography manager. However, I am not sure how it
>> fares in comparison with Tellico, but it works very well with OOo as an
>> add on. You may want to give it a try: http://www.zotero.org/. Tthe
>> latest version is 1.0.7. They are also working a "sync preview" version
>> which will let one store their database on one central location and
>> access it from anywhere. Zotero is installed as  Firefox add on.
>>
>> I sugget Zotero because I have experienced that it is much more powerful
>> than OOo's Biblio (at least in OOo 2.4) when it deals with citations and
>> bibliography. Moreover, it appears to understand far more formats while
>> importing and exporting bibliography items.
>>    
>
> Thanks for the suggestion.
>
> I installed the Zotero plugin in Firefox and then registered an account
> with WorldCat. Then I added a few books as an experiment. It was not
> able locate an older book for which I had only a Library of Congress
> number (no ISBN number). Tellico had located this book, but evidently
> Zotero does not use LOC numbers. When Tellico found the book it also
> found an ISBN number for it, so I tried that in Zotero, but it still
> could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
> up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
> collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
> which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
> to catalog.
>
> More important, I cannot figure out how to get the bibliography that I
> created in my Zotero account into a Writer document. I got the
> extension installed, and when I open a new document the Zotero toolbar
> is displayed, but now what do I do?
>
>
>  

Usage of Zotero extension for OOo is the same as MS-Word plugin :
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/microsoft_word_integration

JBF

--
Seuls des formats ouverts peuvent assurer la pérennité de vos documents.



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[H.S.]

John Jason Jordan wrote:

>
> Thanks for the suggestion.

You are welcome.

> I installed the Zotero plugin in Firefox and then registered an account
> with WorldCat. Then I added a few books as an experiment. It was not
> able locate an older book for which I had only a Library of Congress
> number (no ISBN number). Tellico had located this book, but evidently
> Zotero does not use LOC numbers. When Tellico found the book it also
> found an ISBN number for it, so I tried that in Zotero, but it still
> could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
> up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
> collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
> which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
> to catalog.

So, if I understand this right, you are in the process of building a
catalog of books and you do not already have a catalog of books. Is that
correct?

Have you looked at the section "When Zotero Senses Items on a Web Page"
on http://www.zotero.org/documentation/quick_start_guide web page? This
should get most of your work done easily.

 But this is of course to add on a single item currently on your web page.

Furthermore, if you already have a database to be imported in to Zotero,
perhaps this will help: "Importing Records From Other Reference Tools"
at http://www.zotero.org/documentation/getting_stuff_into_your_library



> More important, I cannot figure out how to get the bibliography that I
> created in my Zotero account into a Writer document. I got the
> extension installed, and when I open a new document the Zotero toolbar
> is displayed, but now what do I do?

That is quite easy if you see the screen cast linked here:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/openoffice_integration

But here is basic method in pictures under "Using The Plugin" section:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/microsoft_word_integration

For users how do not have the word processor plugins installed, this
might be helpful:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/creating_bibliographies


Finally, you can try to get help on their forums web page. You have
already created an account so you can participate in the discussions
right away.

Good luck and warm regards.




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[NoOp-4]

On 10/02/2008 09:25 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
[snips]
> could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
> up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
> collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
> which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
> to catalog.

Have you considered looking at an opensource library system instead?
Perhaps something like koha etc:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22library+system%22+%22open+source%22

Even it's for personal use, you might find it easier to use MySQL and an
opensource library frontend that is specifically designed for this sort
of thing rather than trying to enter everything in OOo.


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[H.S.]

NoOp wrote:

> On 10/02/2008 09:25 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> [snips]
>> could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
>> up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
>> collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
>> which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
>> to catalog.
>
> Have you considered looking at an opensource library system instead?
> Perhaps something like koha etc:
>
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22library+system%22+%22open+source%22
>
> Even it's for personal use, you might find it easier to use MySQL and an
> opensource library frontend that is specifically designed for this sort
> of thing rather than trying to enter everything in OOo.

I have installed Koha in the recent past for somebody. I can confirm
that Zotero can detect a bib item on a Koha library catalog page and
show an icon in the URL bar that lets you add the item to your Zotero
database.

However, installing Koha just for this purpose (to maintain a list of
books to be in turn maintained in Zotero) seems to be extreme overkill
and redundant.

To the OP, John, the best bet IMHO seems to be to search for a book or
article or any other bib item on some library catalog (or multiple
catalogs to get the item record) using Firefox and then click the Zotero
"add item" button that should appear in the URL bar of Firefox. That
bitem-item-detection works on my univ. library page and also on the Koha
webpage which resides no a home computer. Pretty neat, I'd say.

BTW, could you please let us know how it goes? Zotero seems to be one
the best things available for biblio. stuff in OOo at present. Plus,
their Sync Preview is really cool, it lets you sync your Zotero
databases in multiple computers to your library stored at one place!

Regards.





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[NoOp-4]

On 10/02/2008 03:48 PM, H.S. wrote:

> NoOp wrote:
>> On 10/02/2008 09:25 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>> [snips]
>>> could not find the book. It is very important to me to be able to look
>>> up books by ISBN or LOC number and have Zotero add them to my
>>> collection. Otherwise I have to type all the information in manually,
>>> which is a major effort considering that I have several thousand books
>>> to catalog.
>>
>> Have you considered looking at an opensource library system instead?
>> Perhaps something like koha etc:
>>
>> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22library+system%22+%22open+source%22
>>
>> Even it's for personal use, you might find it easier to use MySQL and an
>> opensource library frontend that is specifically designed for this sort
>> of thing rather than trying to enter everything in OOo.
>
>
> I have installed Koha in the recent past for somebody. I can confirm
> that Zotero can detect a bib item on a Koha library catalog page and
> show an icon in the URL bar that lets you add the item to your Zotero
> database.
>
> However, installing Koha just for this purpose (to maintain a list of
> books to be in turn maintained in Zotero) seems to be extreme overkill
> and redundant.

I don't know... "I have several thousand books to catalog" sounds like a
job for an oss library package to me. I doubt that a library with
"several thousand books" would attempt to catalog simply via OOo and
Zotero; and gmu.edu probably would recommend the same.

Then again, I've no prior experience in doing this so I can certainly be
wrong & you seem to have good recent experience. Last time I installed
koha was about 6 months ago, but it was only for
testing/curiosity/learning purposes. :-)

>
> To the OP, John, the best bet IMHO seems to be to search for a book or
> article or any other bib item on some library catalog (or multiple
> catalogs to get the item record) using Firefox and then click the Zotero
> "add item" button that should appear in the URL bar of Firefox. That
> bitem-item-detection works on my univ. library page and also on the Koha
> webpage which resides no a home computer. Pretty neat, I'd say.
>
> BTW, could you please let us know how it goes? Zotero seems to be one
> the best things available for biblio. stuff in OOo at present. Plus,
> their Sync Preview is really cool, it lets you sync your Zotero
> databases in multiple computers to your library stored at one place!
>
> Regards.

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[H.S.]

NoOp wrote:

> I don't know... "I have several thousand books to catalog" sounds like a
> job for an oss library package to me. I doubt that a library with
> "several thousand books" would attempt to catalog simply via OOo and
> Zotero; and gmu.edu probably would recommend the same.

Ah, didn't notice that he was going to deal with that many books. In
fact, I am not sure if there is any easy way to get those books one by
one in any application! Perhaps there is a way for him to export the
bibliography that he already has in a format that Zotero can understand
and import. This would be the easiest method.

Koha, IIRC, can import some library catalog formats. I am no libraries,
but it appears that if he can export or convert this pre-existing
database to Marc21, he can import that in to Koha.

But perhaps I am missing OP's point here. If all he wants to do is
create and maintain a catalog, then perhaps Koha will be appropriate.
But I understood his request as building a bibliography database to
interact with a word processor. I don't Koha does that ... but I could
be wrong here. :)

Regards.



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[John Jason Jordan-3]

On Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:02:07 -0400
"H.S." <hs.samix@...> dijo:

> NoOp wrote:
> > I don't know... "I have several thousand books to catalog" sounds like a
> > job for an oss library package to me. I doubt that a library with
> > "several thousand books" would attempt to catalog simply via OOo and
> > Zotero; and gmu.edu probably would recommend the same.
>
> Ah, didn't notice that he was going to deal with that many books. In
> fact, I am not sure if there is any easy way to get those books one by
> one in any application! Perhaps there is a way for him to export the
> bibliography that he already has in a format that Zotero can understand
> and import. This would be the easiest method.
>
> Koha, IIRC, can import some library catalog formats. I am no libraries,
> but it appears that if he can export or convert this pre-existing
> database to Marc21, he can import that in to Koha.
>
> But perhaps I am missing OP's point here. If all he wants to do is
> create and maintain a catalog, then perhaps Koha will be appropriate.
> But I understood his request as building a bibliography database to
> interact with a word processor. I don't Koha does that ... but I could
> be wrong here. :)

Thanks to both H.S. and NoOp for the suggestions and commentary. Some
additional facts may help.

I do have several thousand books which I own. Ultimately I want to have
them all in a database/catalog of some sort. Almost all have an ISBN
number, and Zotero can use the ISBN number to look up the information
for the book. Then all I have to do is add it to my library. It will
take a while, but all I have to type in is the ISBN number.

As for existing databases, I started a few months ago with Alexandria,
which also has an internet lookup feature, so I could do essentially
the same thing - just enter the ISBN and let Alexandria find the book
and enter the details. However, I entered only about 40 books and then
my life got sidetracked.

A couple weeks ago I installed and tried Tellico. It is very similar in
functionality to Alexandria, but I like it a bit better - it seems to
have better lookup capabilities. However, I entered only a couple dozen
books.

Now I am trying Zotero. Note that what I am doing is experimenting for
the best solution for my situation. Since I do not yet have a database
I can use any of them. Zotero has the advantage of being web based, so
I can access my database from someone else's computer. More
importantly, there is an OOo plugin for it.

And that brings me to my motivations. One purpose is just to keep track
of what I have. A few months ago I ordered a book I needed for a class,
only to discover after it arrived that I already had a copy. That was
stupid. Please don't tell the university, lest they revoke the degree
they already gave me.

My other purpose is to handle bibliographies for papers that I need to
write for classes. And that's where the plugin promises to be really
handy (but more about that in another post).

Thanks again for the suggestions. I still have some issues with the
Zotero plugin, but I'll post about them separately.
--


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