I was searching for library software and came across the suggestion of just using a spreadsheet or database for small libraries. I searched the forums but really didn’t find any advice about doing that. I was also searching the forums to see if there was any info about inputting data into calc/base using a barcode scanner - didn’t really find anything helpful with that search either. Anyone set up a small library using calc and or base? Anyone used a barcode scanner to input data into calc or base?
There is ready made library software. I’m sure that 100% of the professional products are just database applications. Any database developer is able to create one. If you could do that you would not be here. No, this is not about “learning by doing”, not even by tutorials. This is development work.
Have created the German Base Handbuch and added 2 library databases there. Couldn’t find them in English version of Base Guide. There is also added a possibility to use a EAN13-Barcode media.
Media_without_Macros.odb (943.4 KB)
Media_with_Macros.odb (970.6 KB)
Have a look at the Base Guide. Most of the description has been made by examples of this two databases.
Thanks for the links. I’ll check out the Base Guide as well. It’s been years since I have done anything with a database - back when Lotus Smartsuite was still a thing.
Not the most helpful input I have received on these forums - I have more confidence in myself and people in general to be able to learn and do what they set their minds to. This is generally easier when there are those who have already learned or mastered something and they are willing to offer direction - as RobertG did.
AFAIK most scanners pretend to be keyboard input so using a scanner shouldn’t present a problem. You can normally add a control character such as Tab or Enter to the scanner software/device, so after a read it goes to the next field or enters the number.
And the choice of office suite isn’t critical neither. There are technical questions to answer before designing any such system. Multi-user access? How many users? On what kind of network (software and hardware)? How many books? How many registered library users? Security considerations, backup strategies, finally the type of database backend (the actual database) and the frontend (user interface) to access the database where LO is not the best choice. LO can be a sufficient frontend to a rather simplistic backend. A simplistic backend however, should be able to handle millions of books with a whole city of library users.
You may find a lot of help here, if you set out to a project and have a specific problem. Showing the code/sheet you have you may find a lot of help.
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For more general questions it is harder to get information unless you are lucky andsomeone has really parallel code.
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Most libraries/offices are still run with MS-Office or closed-source database-applications. So you find not much discussions here in user-sites for this kind of usage.
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Barcodes are often a question, but you have to differ between reading and printing and often your hardware guides your choices.
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Good luck with your project…
And if you are looking for a solution for many users: I created on for MySQL/PHP/Apache, which is in use at different schools here: MyPHPlib
You could also take the *.odb-files and create the database in MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL. Tables should be the same so forms, queries and reports will run also. Might be there is some special detail in queries, but this could be solved.
I clicked on the link “MyPHPib” but everything is in German. Is there a way to convert to English?
MyPHPlib is created for German users. There is a language file for German and (only a part) for Spanish. With such a language file you could get the GUI in every language you want. No problem to get English here, because it is declared as an array with English shortcuts like this:
$lang = array(
'abridgment' => 'Kürzel',
'abridgment_short' => 'Kürz',
'accept' => 'Übernehmen', …
But: MyPHPlib isn’t a small library. It is used for thousands of books, DVDs … It has used a kind of systematic, which is also used in public libraries.