Hence, I don't feel the need to explain myself as much or make excuses for my extended neglect of this space. The past few years have taken their toll and for some, getting back to normal has proven far more difficult, if at all. Can thing truly return to normal after such eventful years?
Nevertheless, I'd like to think I'm making steps towards revitalising the blog, keeping the focus mainly on books, with whatever else that piques me in between.
Though, with the proliferation of large-language models and generative AI, one is skittish of putting craft out there, wondering if it'll get scraped eventually. "Publish and be damned" needs to be revised for this century.
Of late, I've been playing with a book-cataloguing app. After buying two copies of the same book twice within a couple of months, I pondered putting all my books – at least, those I plan to keep long-term – in a database of sorts to prevent a repeat. Books cost more now and one has to be careful.
Until I started manually keying in entries into a text file – and not getting far – using an app for the job never occured to me. I mulled over several choices before settling on Libib. I don't want to rely on the app entirely. I just need something to create a data set I can export to an editable file format to tinker with, as a back-up.
Libib has its limitations: basic Libib has a 5,000-item limit (gotta pay for more capacity), it doesn't always extract the right data or covers, it crashes occasionally, and the barcode scanning isn't foolproof – more on that later.
Nor can I can't edit certain fields for scanned items, though you can fill in all fields for manually keyed-in records. This is one limitation with basic Libib, it seems, and finding that out takes a bit of digging on the web version's support section. The work involved feels like part of my day job but it's peanuts compared to the app's kinks.
Also, Libib doesn't seem to verify whether an ISBN is already scanned or stored in a catalogue. I tried scanning an existing book and it was treated like a new title, not another copy of the one with the same ISBN. Does it have anything to do with me changing the data set settings? That doesn't sound acceptable. Libib also allows you to rate and review books, though it'll be a long while before I get to that.
All these aside, the app does the job. I have to log in to the web version of the app to export the data set but editing entries on the laptop feels more natural and easier, especially when looking up details of titles, tidying up synopses and updating cover images. Like part of the day job. A while back, the mobile app helped to determine if I had a Carlos Ruiz Zafón novel at home. I did not, so into the shopping basket it went.
Libib can't catalogue all the publications I have, however. When I was an editor and doing book reviews I received several advanced reading copies, which have no barcodes to scan and are generally not catalogued online. ARCs of some titles can considered collector's items but not to me.
Also uncatalogue-able are the clutch of National Geographic and Off the Edge magazines I have. The former have no discernible barcodes and scanning the ones on the latter yielded no results. Chap books and art zines, well. But at least I have a catalogue of major items, including dictionaries, a thesaurus, and writing and editing guides.
Starting this catalogue has accorded my book browsing and buying habit a certain gravitas. Some days I feel like the curator of a museum. Seeing my collection on screen hits a little different, though it looks a bit better on mobil. Books, however, are meant to be read and I'll get around to that – eventually.
Categories:
Book Blab
