RFID tags for home library

eddddy

Gers wrote: »

I think my friend wants to not only catalogue his fairly extensive book collection but also to find out where each one is more easily, especially as the shelving is floor to almost ceiling in a double height room.

So it sounds like all he needs is to include a "storage location" field in his catalogue.

e.g. Having found the book he wants in his catalogue the "storage location" says it's in "Bookcase 3, 4th shelf, 7th book along", or maybe "Book location 352".


I can't see how a bar codes, QR codes, could help with that.

In theory, you could put unique RFID tags in each book, and use an RFID tracking unit to locate a specific book - but I suspect that the cost and complexity would be prohibitively high. (And I'm not sure that the technology is accurate enough to direct you to a specific "slot" on a bookshelf.)

esuhl

Gers wrote: »

I think my friend wants to not only catalogue his fairly extensive book collection but also to find out where each one is more easily, especially as the shelving is floor to almost ceiling in a double height room.

Surely the easiest way would be have a text file listing all the book titles, subjects and authors... so you can search to find books when you don't know the author.


Then just keep order them on the shelves alphabetically by author name.


No barcodes, RFID tags or scanners required.

Gers

esuhl wrote: »

Surely the easiest way would be have a text file listing all the book titles, subjects and authors... so you can search to find books when you don't know the author.


Then just keep order them on the shelves alphabetically by author name.


No barcodes, RFID tags or scanners required.

One mans meat...

agrinnall

Gers wrote: »

Thanks all.

I think my friend wants to not only catalogue his fairly extensive book collection but also to find out where each one is more easily, especially as the shelving is floor to almost ceiling in a double height room.

I shall pass on all suggestions. :T

What he needs to do is to get in a professional librarian to both catalogue and classify his collection. If he lives anywhere near one of the universities that still offers a librarianship qualification (which is usually at Masters level - I have one myself) he could contact the staff there to see whether they would be prepared to consider the task as a student placement opportunity. Unfortunately he may be too late for this year as the placements are usually at Easter, but some courses, particularly distance learning, may run to a different schedule.


You can find a list of universities here, if the course title doesn't mention library or librarianship it probably won't include training in cataloguing and classification.



https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/Qualifications

Chino

Gers wrote: »

One mans meat...

You still haven't explained how your friend intends to use either RFID tags or barcodes.

The only specific requirement you've mentioned is that your friend wants to be able:

Gers wrote: »

to find out where each one is more easily, especially as the shelving is floor to almost ceiling in a double height room.

Is your friend intending to install some form of robotic device to remove/replace books in his library and use RFID tags or barcodes as a means for the device to determine where the required volume is located?!!!

As has already been suggested, a simple text file is all that's needed.

Or a card index.

tacpot12

esuhl wrote: »

Doesn't the book itself tell you the author and title?


I think I must be having a senior moment... What purpose does cataloguing the books serve?


Couldn't you just write a 3 (or 4) digit serial number on the spine rather than using barcodes or RFID tags...?

I have so many books that they are stored in different parts of the house. Book crawler has some custom fields that allows me to record where the book is stored, so I can find it more quickly. The advantage of using the barcode on the book is that you don't have to type in the name of the book or the author, just scan the barcode and Book Crawler knows everything about the book except where it is in your house. Tell it that and you can find it again when you need to.

esuhl

tacpot12 wrote: »

I have so many books that they are stored in different parts of the house. Book crawler has some custom fields that allows me to record where the book is stored, so I can find it more quickly. The advantage of using the barcode on the book is that you don't have to type in the name of the book or the author, just scan the barcode and Book Crawler knows everything about the book except where it is in your house. Tell it that and you can find it again when you need to.

But why barcodes of all things?!


It's got to be quicker, easier, cheaper, and more useful to use serial numbers. They're easier for humans to read, short enough to be entirely visible from most books' spines, and you don't need a barcode scanner device/app.


Barcodes just add a layer of time-consuming complexity that isn't needed when you only have a few hundreds or thousands of books.