Dear Book Collectors,  Please reply directly to me. Managing a book inventory is probably not a popular subject for most of our Arachne subscribers and/or users of the digest form of our mail.
We have written about this topic before. Technology is rapidly changing, and I'm seeking the most recent reliable inventory recommendations for two small regional museums that are focused on womens' history. They have asked for my method of keeping an inventory of books, but I am using a 1998 program. It is quite obsolete by today's standards. Given the devices we have seen some attendees of lace events using, I would like to recommend something that will travel well and be safe from spam, etc. and that can also be printed by a museum's librarian.  At present, I have 4,063 books in my needlework library and sort information about a book by the following categories, which are arranged in columns that print across an 11-inch wide sheet of paper.   A count column / AUTHOR / TITLE / PUBLISHER / DATE (of publication) / COST / TYPE (Lace, Emb, Sew, etc.) / ISBN# / VALUE/YR  I shelve books by TYPE - all about Lace, for example, are in one section of the room. Next, they are arranged alphabetically by AUTHOR. A printed inventory helps a lot. Some Authors have written about several Types of books. I can see all of them listed together. There is also the problem of books being republished under different Titles, sometimes in different nations. By sorting them together by Author, I can sometimes avoid buying duplicates. The last column is used when I see a book's value rise or fall. I enter the new value, and the year of that entry. If there is space in the TITLE column, I may add a comment like: (144 pg. hardback) or (English/French/German) or (Also see "another title").  Ir would be nice if one could enter photos of book covers, tables of contents, etc. Please indicate if there is a quantity limit. And, if you have sage advice about not having to start typing anew in several years, that would be welcome. By this, I mean that what one has in an old computer can be transferred to a new technology.  Please tell about any useful inventory features I may not have mentioned. And, what to avoid.  My program enables sorting by any category, so if I want to print only LACE books, it can be done and save paper/ink.  Thanks for your assistance.  Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
