1chapelcitychurch
Hello to all of the wonderful TinyCats out there!
I am just beginning the process of cataloging books for a church library/resource center. We will be using Dewey, and will have ciculation through TinyCat. I may have missed a wiki somewhere...but I'm trying to figure out ALL the steps I need to do to bring the library up and running (and then I am going to recruit HELP!). I "think" I need to take the following steps, but am slightly unclear on some details:
1) Catalog all books into Library Thing first (I have almost 200 done...an awful lot are going to be by hand. Probably 1/10th done.)
2) Next add barcodes to each book in the catalog - I don't think it matters which barcode number order the books in the stack are in at all, correct? Obviously, I stick a barcode label on each book, but how do I get that barcode to be associated with that book in the catalog?
3) Add Spine Labels/label protectors to each book and shelve as appropriate.
3a) GO LIVE!
4) Add patrons. Wait. I see patrons have barcodes -why? Where do I put THEIR barcodes? Are these the SAME barcode labels I put on the books?
5) Then...when someone wants to check out a book, I ... do what? Do I check them out with the barcode scanner? and back in as well?
Sorry. I really have read an enormous amount of information on the boards, I just don't feel like I have the BIG picture yet.
Thank you for anyone with the patience to help me out! :D
Cara
I am just beginning the process of cataloging books for a church library/resource center. We will be using Dewey, and will have ciculation through TinyCat. I may have missed a wiki somewhere...but I'm trying to figure out ALL the steps I need to do to bring the library up and running (and then I am going to recruit HELP!). I "think" I need to take the following steps, but am slightly unclear on some details:
1) Catalog all books into Library Thing first (I have almost 200 done...an awful lot are going to be by hand. Probably 1/10th done.)
2) Next add barcodes to each book in the catalog - I don't think it matters which barcode number order the books in the stack are in at all, correct? Obviously, I stick a barcode label on each book, but how do I get that barcode to be associated with that book in the catalog?
3) Add Spine Labels/label protectors to each book and shelve as appropriate.
3a) GO LIVE!
4) Add patrons. Wait. I see patrons have barcodes -why? Where do I put THEIR barcodes? Are these the SAME barcode labels I put on the books?
5) Then...when someone wants to check out a book, I ... do what? Do I check them out with the barcode scanner? and back in as well?
Sorry. I really have read an enormous amount of information on the boards, I just don't feel like I have the BIG picture yet.
Thank you for anyone with the patience to help me out! :D
Cara
2lesmel
You have a great list of steps!
1 -- Be sure to try different sources while adding books. If you haven't used the LT app, you might find that useful for fast adding of titles using the ISBN barcode on the books. I've found Bowker to be great; but it puts author names in the wrong order. (There's an outstanding bug that might eventually get worked on. Maybe)
2. In each book record, there will be a field for barcode. Assuming you are using your own barcode labels, you should edit the record, type/scan the barcode into the correct field. Since you are using Dewey, you aren't going to worry about barcode order at all. LT _does_ generate book barcodes if you want it to. You do not have to use item barcodes; but if you have multiple copies of titles, you might want to.
4. Patrons don't _have_ to have barcodes for checkout. Assuming you _do_ have to (or want to) use barcodes, you would need to issue a card to your patrons. The easy way to do this? Have a box of index cards with the patron's name and a barcode label affixed to the card. Keep the cards in alphabetical order. Use them at the time of check out/in. Yes, the barcodes you use for your patrons and your books can be the same range and style. LT can also generate patron barcodes for you. Do not have to use patron barcodes.
5. For check out/in...
Go to TinyCat Admin > Check in/out (https://www.librarycat.org/admin/checkinout)
Enter the item barcode/ISBN/title, press enter (or click the magnifying glass)
Choose the status (checked out, return, or hold)
Enter the patron name or barcode
Enter the date
Enter the due date (none, loan period, or date)
Click save.
1 -- Be sure to try different sources while adding books. If you haven't used the LT app, you might find that useful for fast adding of titles using the ISBN barcode on the books. I've found Bowker to be great; but it puts author names in the wrong order. (There's an outstanding bug that might eventually get worked on. Maybe)
2. In each book record, there will be a field for barcode. Assuming you are using your own barcode labels, you should edit the record, type/scan the barcode into the correct field. Since you are using Dewey, you aren't going to worry about barcode order at all. LT _does_ generate book barcodes if you want it to. You do not have to use item barcodes; but if you have multiple copies of titles, you might want to.
4. Patrons don't _have_ to have barcodes for checkout. Assuming you _do_ have to (or want to) use barcodes, you would need to issue a card to your patrons. The easy way to do this? Have a box of index cards with the patron's name and a barcode label affixed to the card. Keep the cards in alphabetical order. Use them at the time of check out/in. Yes, the barcodes you use for your patrons and your books can be the same range and style. LT can also generate patron barcodes for you. Do not have to use patron barcodes.
5. For check out/in...
Go to TinyCat Admin > Check in/out (https://www.librarycat.org/admin/checkinout)
Enter the item barcode/ISBN/title, press enter (or click the magnifying glass)
Choose the status (checked out, return, or hold)
Enter the patron name or barcode
Enter the date
Enter the due date (none, loan period, or date)
Click save.
3lesmel
You may find the TinyCat YouTube videos from LT helpful: https://www.youtube.com/c/librarything/playlists
4MarthaJeanne
I would suggest that now is the time to stop entering and to play with your catalogue a bit. Are the records the way you want them? Do you want to use more tags? How do you want to format the publisher field? It is a lot easier to make these decisions before you have entered a thousand books that then need to be edited.
You seem to be using Amazon as your main source. Library sources, starting with Overcat, tend to give better data, particularly for older books. Since you want to use Dewey, libraries will often include Dewey. Amazon doesn't. (Although you will get green Dewey numbers if someone else has it in their entry.) You are using mostly Amazon covers. Are you aware that if Amazon changes the cover it uses for an ISBN your cover will change as well? (And if Amazon no longer lists a cover, yours will also disappear.)
You seem to be using Amazon as your main source. Library sources, starting with Overcat, tend to give better data, particularly for older books. Since you want to use Dewey, libraries will often include Dewey. Amazon doesn't. (Although you will get green Dewey numbers if someone else has it in their entry.) You are using mostly Amazon covers. Are you aware that if Amazon changes the cover it uses for an ISBN your cover will change as well? (And if Amazon no longer lists a cover, yours will also disappear.)
5chapelcitychurch
>3 lesmel: - Thank you, yes, I am trying to work my way through these! I just felt like I needed...an overview of where I was going. Appreciate the advice!
6chapelcitychurch
>4 MarthaJeanne: Oh - great ideas and input - and that makes me wish I had asked before I actually started! Thank you so much - I will try to figure out how to change the source to Overcat. I realize that I started with Overcat, but evidently once I started using the app to scan in ISBN numbers, it must have been set to amazon. Hm. I'll try to go back and figure out how to change them! Thank you.
7chapelcitychurch
>2 lesmel: Thank you for such helpful tips! Yes, I am using the LT app, and for my books that have ISBN, that is working beautifully. Ok - I understand about the barcodes much better - and I REALLY LOVE the idea under 4 - a file on hand with their cards in alphabetical order. Brilliant. That makes perfect sense!
I appreciate this very much!
Cara
I appreciate this very much!
Cara
8Lake_Oswego_UCC
We just finished putting a church library of about 3000 books on TinyCat, with about 1500 titles entered in the past seven months. We used a CueCat scanner to enter some, and the phone app to instantly enter others. Some very old or non-mass market books had to be added totally by hand. Our books were always given an number in our Accession book, so we used the same number for the new bar codes. Volunteers managed to learn parts of the system very quickly. It was a long slog to get everything entered and new stickers applied, but it's done now.
9Keeline
Agreed that the data source selection is important. There are times to use Amazon as a data source but most often you will want something different.
For US publications, Library of Congress is generally good.
OverCat is a LT database with successful imports from library catalogs.
Library catalog data sources will more likely contain Dewey numbers that are correct and not merely guesses (green).
For books with ISBN barcodes (start with 978-) the mobile app is probably easiest (select your data source first). For the mass-market paperbacks mentioned in #8, those are probably UPC barcodes on the back for supermarkets, etc. Often the 978- ISBN barcode is on the inside front cover.
Some books are older and won't have a barcode. If they have a printed ISBN (say on the copyright page) you can type in that ISBN-10 number (with or without the hyphens) and look it up against your data source.
For books without ISBN (often before 1967) there may be an LCCN. These numbers were used to let libraries order sets of card catalog cards from the Library of Congress. They usually have a two year number, a hyphen, and a couple to several numbers for the sequence in that year. An example would be:
15-4667
This corresponds to Between the Lines in Belgium. If your data source is Library of Congress (or another library that has it), you can look up the catalog entry with this number. Some publishers printed these on the copyright page going back to the early 1900s. Some publishers won't do it at all, especially mass-market ones. The library-oriented publishers are more likely to do this.
If there's no number, you still don't have to enter the whole book by hand (tedious!). You can do a search by distinctive values from your book. For example, let's say you want to look for a copy of Anne of Avonlea published by Grosset & Dunlap (a major reprint house). You could search for:
"Anne of Avonlea", Grosset
The comma separates values from different fields.
When you see a listing that seems close, copy it to your catalog and make edits as needed.
James
For US publications, Library of Congress is generally good.
OverCat is a LT database with successful imports from library catalogs.
Library catalog data sources will more likely contain Dewey numbers that are correct and not merely guesses (green).
For books with ISBN barcodes (start with 978-) the mobile app is probably easiest (select your data source first). For the mass-market paperbacks mentioned in #8, those are probably UPC barcodes on the back for supermarkets, etc. Often the 978- ISBN barcode is on the inside front cover.
Some books are older and won't have a barcode. If they have a printed ISBN (say on the copyright page) you can type in that ISBN-10 number (with or without the hyphens) and look it up against your data source.
For books without ISBN (often before 1967) there may be an LCCN. These numbers were used to let libraries order sets of card catalog cards from the Library of Congress. They usually have a two year number, a hyphen, and a couple to several numbers for the sequence in that year. An example would be:
15-4667
This corresponds to Between the Lines in Belgium. If your data source is Library of Congress (or another library that has it), you can look up the catalog entry with this number. Some publishers printed these on the copyright page going back to the early 1900s. Some publishers won't do it at all, especially mass-market ones. The library-oriented publishers are more likely to do this.
If there's no number, you still don't have to enter the whole book by hand (tedious!). You can do a search by distinctive values from your book. For example, let's say you want to look for a copy of Anne of Avonlea published by Grosset & Dunlap (a major reprint house). You could search for:
"Anne of Avonlea", Grosset
The comma separates values from different fields.
When you see a listing that seems close, copy it to your catalog and make edits as needed.
James
