Help design my book inventory tool

[NogDog]

Just because I can, I've started working on a web site for people to keep an inventory of books they own, have read, and/or want to read. Without asking any loaded questions, I'd like to get some feedback on what the rest of you bookaholics would like to see (or not see) in such a tool.

At this time I am visualizing a site which is not a social networking site nor a book review site; there are already plenty of those on the web. It would be merely and simply a place for people to keep control of their personal libraries.

I've already done a fair bit of design and some coding, but I'd like to get your ideas of "must have" and "nice to have" features, along with any "OMG that annoys me" things you'd prefer it not have.

Hopefully before too long I'll be here asking for some beta testers.

[CegAbq]

Hey NogDog - I like this idea, and I'd love to be one of your beta testers.

One thing I can think of is the easiest way possible to pull info from a site where one either bought the book or it is listed there, to reduce/eliminate the amount of info that needs to be manually typed in; although as I think about it, that is probably a humongous coding/database issue. Oh well. just a thought.

An easier feature would be ways to tag books that have been either loaned out (to whom) or passed on or gifted.

Keep us posted.

[NogDog]

Hey NogDog - I like this idea, and I'd love to be one of your beta testers.

One thing I can think of is the easiest way possible to pull info from a site where one either bought the book or it is listed there, to reduce/eliminate the amount of info that needs to be manually typed in; although as I think about it, that is probably a humongous coding/database issue. Oh well. just a thought.

Hmmm...sounds like a definite nice-to-have, but possibly a bit of work. I'd like to do that, but it might be a version 1.x sort of thing.

An easier feature would be ways to tag books that have been either loaned out (to whom) or passed on or gifted.

Keep us posted.

Would you visualize that as something you'd simply want a free text field for ("loaned to John Doe"), or a two-step thing with a select list of statuses ('loaned', 'gave as gift', 'recycled', 'lost', . . .) with a separate text field for details (e.g. recipient)?

Thanks.

[CegAbq]

or a two-step thing with a select list of statuses ('loaned', 'gave as gift', 'recycled', 'lost', . . .) with a separate text field for details (e.g. recipient)?

I think this 2-step idea would be more functional

[Rasputina]

I use library thing, best thing I like is tags to sort my books.

[marianneg]

Would you visualize that as something you'd simply want a free text field for ("loaned to John Doe"), or a two-step thing with a select list of statuses ('loaned', 'gave as gift', 'recycled', 'lost', . . .) with a separate text field for details (e.g. recipient)?

I like the list idea, with the ability to fill in other details.  You might also include a "wishlist" status, for books that you don't have yet.

I'd like to see:

• a way to mark books read or unread
• genre tags (maybe a list of pre-defined ones and then the ability to created user-defined)
• support for multiple authors/editors
• user-defined rating system
• ability for the user to create a working link to more information, eg. a link to the amazon page
• generous amount of space for notes/reviews

I'll probably think of more later!  I'd love to be a beta-tester, too!

[EllenR]

NogDog, I would love to beta test too. I have not found a software that I really like yet. I get annoyed with the number of steps it often takes to get a book into my library. My ideal would be to click a book or search by Title or author to bring a list to click and have it add without asking me to rate or comment. If I want to do that, I will do it later. I don't usually use ratings for my books. I prefer to add brief comments for my own use. I'd find it useful to have a column or notation as to the format that I have the book in since I have pbooks and ebooks. Other than that, I like the wish list that marianner gave you along with tags for sorting by genre or other user-defined sorting method.

EllenR

[4Katie]

What a cool idea! The main thing I'd want is a way to keep track of books in a series, and their order. I do this now on an Excel spreadsheet.

[NogDog]

NogDog, I would love to beta test too. I have not found a software that I really like yet. I get annoyed with the number of steps it often takes to get a book into my library. My ideal would be to click a book or search by Title or author to bring a list to click and have it add without asking me to rate or comment. If I want to do that, I will do it later. I don't usually use ratings for my books. I prefer to add brief comments for my own use. I'd find it useful to have a column or notation as to the format that I have the book in since I have pbooks and ebooks. Other than that, I like the wish list that marianner gave you along with tags for sorting by genre or other user-defined sorting method.

EllenR

I definitely want to keep it simple, at least as far as entering data. My plan is to only have the absolute necessities be required entries, e.g. book title, author, format (drop-down list) and buttons for owned/not owned and read/not read (with default values so you only have to click if different from the default). Pretty much anything else will be optional.

[NogDog]

What a cool idea! The main thing I'd want is a way to keep track of books in a series, and their order. I do this now on an Excel spreadsheet.

I definitely want a series indication of some sort. I'm still trying to decide exactly how I want to implement it, but it will be in there one way or another.

[CegAbq]

Another thought - perhaps be able to download to desktop in some fashion (txt, spreadsheet, ?)

[marianneg]

I definitely want a series indication of some sort. I'm still trying to decide exactly how I want to implement it, but it will be in there one way or another.

What about the user defines a series (eg., Southern Vampire series), and once they add a book to the series, they then have the option to enter the number it is?  Can you tell I'm an OO programmer? 

Other than that, I like the wish list that marianner gave you along with tags for sorting by genre or other user-defined sorting method.

I agree, I'd like everything to be searchable/sortable as much as possible.  Eg., let me see everything with the tag "fiction" but not "mystery", ordered by the date I read it.  Which gives me another idea, how about a place to enter the dates it was read?

[Aravis60]

This sounds really interesting. I've never been able to find a book inventory system that I like for my personal books. I use a database that I created for the books in my classroom library. It has Lexile of the book and availability of Scholastic Reading counts tests as well as number of copies, but I've never been able to make one that I like for the books I have at home. I would really like to have a series indication and a way to track books that have been loaned out. I can never seem to remember where my books have gone.

[NogDog]

. . . ordered by the date I read it.  Which gives me another idea, how about a place to enter the dates it was read?

This seems to me like one of those things that, if implemented, I would deem "optional" as I would probably just as soon not worry about having to enter it for every book I enter into the database. How important or unimportant would this be to the rest of you?

[CegAbq]

a place to enter the dates it was read?

While this would be nice, I too would not like to HAVE to enter this - so optional would be my vote

[Susan in VA]

Ummmmm....  it needs to come with a personal assistant to get it set up in the first place.   Otherwise I just don't see myself typing in the titles and authors of all my books.   

[Betsy the Quilter]

Mandatory for me would be a way to import a file from a csv or other format.  I already have a whole bunch of books in a database, and there's no way I'd use something else if I had to start from scratch.

I use Readerware, and once of the nice things about it is that I can drag a page from Amazon into the database and it enters the basic data for the book for me.  Not sure how this works, but it's way cool.  I can also enter a book ISBN and it will search several online databases (Amazon and others) and find the book data for me.

Price I paid for the book and a summation for that field so I can see the value of my collection would be great.

Betsy

[NogDog]

Mandatory for me would be a way to import a file from a csv or other format.  I already have a whole bunch of books in a database, and there's no way I'd use something else if I had to start from scratch....

Frankly, if you're already using a full-featured application with which you are at least reasonably satisfied and have already imported your books into, I don't see mine trying to compete with it. That being said, it shouldn't be difficult for me to add an upload CSV feature, but at least initially it would require the user to match my CSV format, not to match whatever is automatically output by any other application.

[EllenR]

This seems to me like one of those things that, if implemented, I would deem "optional" as I would probably just as soon not worry about having to enter it for every book I enter into the database. How important or unimportant would this be to the rest of you?

I personally would rather have less than more. I can't stand having to bypass a lot of details to get my books in. That's one reason why I only have about 170 books in my Goodreads list. I can't get around to adding them all. I would prefer a separate software I can call up, add my books, note the series and order in that series, tag so I can sort but not HAVE to do so. I personally don't care when I read a book and can't recall when I read them in the past anyway, so option would be my preference.

One note about the drag and drop function on that Readerware software -- that is something I would definitely find attractive. Otherwise I have to bring all my books to my desk to hand enter them and I'm not likely to do that. Goodreads offers suggestions based on members' lists and that is helpful since I don't have to enter the books by hand.

EllenR

[gurkie]

I know you said not a book review site, but for me I would like to have a general review of the author story on any site that was tracking my books. I reread a lot of books and it would be nice to know whether I thought it was worth rereading in the summary page. I know someone mentioned format are you thinking eformat vs. dtb? Or more specifics like mobi/DRMed Kindle/pdf etc? I think both of those could be helpful although I doubt I would ever get around to loading my dtb into the format.

If you could read in the data on the books that are in our libraries from either Calibre or Amazon (as currently between those two sources most if not all of my ebooks are catalogued) it would probably be very convenient.

One thing I enjoy which would probably not be a release 1, is seeing recommendations based on others who similarly ranked books. Both based on Author and specific series.

Also have you thought about the added value element? Is this going to be used to just track someones novels and whether they have read it, or will it eventually be something that can be added as a facebook/iPhone/Pre app? In which case I think there is a facebook app, or will it be used to facilitate trades of DTBs? I guess I am saying I see potential other usages for this data and I am wondering what direction you will take it.

[NogDog]

In case anyone's really bored, I've started documenting the development of this application on my "PHP Musings" blog. The first post: http://www.charles-reace.com/blog/2009/09/16/book-list-application/

[Cindy416]

I love the idea of a book inventory tool, and I, too, would love to be a beta-tester.

My suggestions would echo many of the others here. That said, I realize some of the features might not be available for awhile, if at all.

I would love to see the inventory tool be searchable, as well as one that's capable of dealing with books in a series.  I don't really care which system you use to deal with the ultimate fate of a book, as long as I can type in what I did with it. A 2-step approach would certainly work, of course.

Thanks in advance for creating this tool. I can't wait to see and try it! I'll be checking out your blog to find out how the process is going.

[NogDog]

I love the idea of a book inventory tool, and I, too, would love to be a beta-tester.

My suggestions would echo many of the others here. That said, I realize some of the features might not be available for awhile, if at all.

I would love to see the inventory tool be searchable, as well as one that's capable of dealing with books in a series.  I don't really care which system you use to deal with the ultimate fate of a book, as long as I can type in what I did with it. A 2-step approach would certainly work, of course.

Thanks in advance for creating this tool. I can't wait to see and try it! I'll be checking out your blog to find out how the process is going.

Regardless of what other features I choose to implement, one given is that there will be a free-form text field for entering anything you want about a book in your list, and it will be searchable. I hope to have a dedicated "series" field, but haven't decided yet what the best way is to incorporate it.

[Betsy the Quilter]

Frankly, if you're already using a full-featured application with which you are at least reasonably satisfied and have already imported your books into, I don't see mine trying to compete with it. That being said, it shouldn't be difficult for me to add an upload CSV feature, but at least initially it would require the user to match my CSV format, not to match whatever is automatically output by any other application.

I can handle that...do that all the time, as rarely do two different databases match up exactly.  Still simpler than re-entering 300+ books.     Otherwise my needs are simple.

Betsy

[NogDog]

Here's my current prototype for the add-book-to-list interface.


This view shows the "auto-suggest" feature in place for the author's name field: