Theological Books
Puritan Board Freshman
This definitely goes in the theological section, me thinks. Regardless, it should be here *AND* in General Discussion.
I have found *THE BEST* software program that catalogues one's entire library. The name of it is Collectorz.com Book Collector 4.3 Pro. It is absolutely phenomenal. I wish I would have found this 2 years ago for my bookstore... man. I recommend everyone who has an extensive--or growing--library to download a free trial version. With a coupon (which I received with my trial download), the download software is $34.95, and it is worth EVERY penny.
For example, in order to catalogue a book you own, simply go to "Add Book by Searching Info Sources..." in the "Edit" menu, or use the shortcut on the top left (the icon is a closed book with a blue cross on the top of the book). Enter the ISBN and it will search a variety of online sources. Personally, I found the Library of Congress combined with Amazon US to be the best. If your book is keyed into the library of congress by the ISBN (not all books can be found in the library of congress by ISBN; e.g. Herman Ridderbos' commentary on John published by Eerdmans).
The search engine retrieves all the information available from any website listed to search. From the LoC you get the Call/Location Number and the Dewy Decimal number (if you want to organize your library in a more efficient manner). From Amazon US you retrieve the price, the rating, the photo image, the number of pages, the author, the publisher, the year published, and any notes included in the Amazon US website. It is simply AMAZING! If I would have had this for my business I would have saved SO MUCH TIME AND MONEY!!!! I'm so angry I just now found it. Once the information is retrieved, it transfers all the information into your catalogue with the click of a button. It is amazing.
Also, your library list of books can be imported to a .txt format that can be opened in MS Word. You can export the complete list to a .txt file in any variety of creation: LoC number, author, title, year published, publisher, etc., and in any combination and order. So, if you wanted to print LoC Call/Location Numbers and put them on the spines of your books, you can easily export all the LoC numbers (in the order you desire; i.e. in ascending order, or in relation to the author's alphabetical number, or alphabetical title, etc.). I'm telling you, this thing does it ALL!
Now, I've downloaded and tried about 10 different software programs similar to this one (i.e. visit www.downloads.com and search their software). The closest comparison is the software program BookCat. However, not only is this software more expensive, but the searches in the LoC did not yield any information on any titles that Book Collector 4.3 Pro yielded in its search of the LoC webpage/database. For some reason BookCat just didn't find the info Book Collector 4.3 Pro could in the LoC. These reasons--price and inability to find information as does Book Collector--is why I finally sided with Book Collector 4.3 Pro.
BUY IT AND USE IT!!!! If you have an extensive (and expensive) library, these are great records for insurance. Not only does Book Collector get information about the publisher and such, but it *ALSO* downloads the *PRICE* of the book for your own records (I believe it is the full SRP, not Amazon.com's sale price, which is better for your records). You can store all your books on the database, back it upon a file, or print it, and keep in a fire-safe box. IT IS AMAZING! I've definitely found my next house-keeping project with this bad boy. And, for you married gentleman, your wife can finally go into your study, touch your books (i.e. shelve them after picking up the book piles from the bathroom, the living room, and the side of your bed, and all the books slewn across your study floor) and shelve them without misplacing them (assuming you do tag them with the LoC Call/Location number, which I plan to do). I suggest spending a hundred bucks or so and getting vellum (sp?), or see-through covers as dust jackets. You can cover all your books in this material and place the LoC Call/Location Number on the vellum rather than the binding or the dust-jacket, which protects its value. Me, I don't have much concern for that since my books are thoroughly marked with pencil, pen, highlighters, etc. The only resale value my books will have is if I become famous and appreciated in the theological/academia world some 200 years after my death and my family still has my books, but I ain't holding my breath for that.
GET THIS SOFTWARE, NOW!!! Seriously, the puritanboard.com ought to let me write a review and advertisement of this software on their webpage to help out people with growing libraries.
I have found *THE BEST* software program that catalogues one's entire library. The name of it is Collectorz.com Book Collector 4.3 Pro. It is absolutely phenomenal. I wish I would have found this 2 years ago for my bookstore... man. I recommend everyone who has an extensive--or growing--library to download a free trial version. With a coupon (which I received with my trial download), the download software is $34.95, and it is worth EVERY penny.
For example, in order to catalogue a book you own, simply go to "Add Book by Searching Info Sources..." in the "Edit" menu, or use the shortcut on the top left (the icon is a closed book with a blue cross on the top of the book). Enter the ISBN and it will search a variety of online sources. Personally, I found the Library of Congress combined with Amazon US to be the best. If your book is keyed into the library of congress by the ISBN (not all books can be found in the library of congress by ISBN; e.g. Herman Ridderbos' commentary on John published by Eerdmans).
The search engine retrieves all the information available from any website listed to search. From the LoC you get the Call/Location Number and the Dewy Decimal number (if you want to organize your library in a more efficient manner). From Amazon US you retrieve the price, the rating, the photo image, the number of pages, the author, the publisher, the year published, and any notes included in the Amazon US website. It is simply AMAZING! If I would have had this for my business I would have saved SO MUCH TIME AND MONEY!!!! I'm so angry I just now found it. Once the information is retrieved, it transfers all the information into your catalogue with the click of a button. It is amazing.
Also, your library list of books can be imported to a .txt format that can be opened in MS Word. You can export the complete list to a .txt file in any variety of creation: LoC number, author, title, year published, publisher, etc., and in any combination and order. So, if you wanted to print LoC Call/Location Numbers and put them on the spines of your books, you can easily export all the LoC numbers (in the order you desire; i.e. in ascending order, or in relation to the author's alphabetical number, or alphabetical title, etc.). I'm telling you, this thing does it ALL!
Now, I've downloaded and tried about 10 different software programs similar to this one (i.e. visit www.downloads.com and search their software). The closest comparison is the software program BookCat. However, not only is this software more expensive, but the searches in the LoC did not yield any information on any titles that Book Collector 4.3 Pro yielded in its search of the LoC webpage/database. For some reason BookCat just didn't find the info Book Collector 4.3 Pro could in the LoC. These reasons--price and inability to find information as does Book Collector--is why I finally sided with Book Collector 4.3 Pro.
BUY IT AND USE IT!!!! If you have an extensive (and expensive) library, these are great records for insurance. Not only does Book Collector get information about the publisher and such, but it *ALSO* downloads the *PRICE* of the book for your own records (I believe it is the full SRP, not Amazon.com's sale price, which is better for your records). You can store all your books on the database, back it upon a file, or print it, and keep in a fire-safe box. IT IS AMAZING! I've definitely found my next house-keeping project with this bad boy. And, for you married gentleman, your wife can finally go into your study, touch your books (i.e. shelve them after picking up the book piles from the bathroom, the living room, and the side of your bed, and all the books slewn across your study floor) and shelve them without misplacing them (assuming you do tag them with the LoC Call/Location number, which I plan to do). I suggest spending a hundred bucks or so and getting vellum (sp?), or see-through covers as dust jackets. You can cover all your books in this material and place the LoC Call/Location Number on the vellum rather than the binding or the dust-jacket, which protects its value. Me, I don't have much concern for that since my books are thoroughly marked with pencil, pen, highlighters, etc. The only resale value my books will have is if I become famous and appreciated in the theological/academia world some 200 years after my death and my family still has my books, but I ain't holding my breath for that.
GET THIS SOFTWARE, NOW!!! Seriously, the puritanboard.com ought to let me write a review and advertisement of this software on their webpage to help out people with growing libraries.