what NOT to do when using a barcode scanner on your ENTIRE book collection 📚

📝 The Ultimate Book Tracker Database Notion Template:

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[UnfortunateRamblings]

"Booktubers realizing that managing a collection is time intensive and requires forethought" is my new favorite genre. No shade, it's genuinely cool to see people experience the frustration but excitement that is the information sciences.

[DanikaLeighEllis]

Many apps (definitely Librarything, maybe Libib too?) have apps that you can use to scan barcodes using the phone camera, so my tip would be check for that before buying a scanner!

[mabfab]

This system is cool! During quarantine I typed in my entire book collection into a Google spreadsheet, one by one lol. I own 613 books!

[KileyYoung]

Did I just manually add all of my owned books into StoryGraph like two weeks ago? Yes. Have I previously failed to integrate notion into my daily life? *nods* Am I still tempted to do precisely this? Also yes 😅

[leighamontgomery]

The first time I scanned all my books (using my phone not a scanner, using LibraryThing but I like Libib better), it wasn’t for a fun reason, just boring practical adulting: for property insurance documentation. That was 5 years ago though, it’s time for an update.

[susanpuckett]

I just use my phone...no need to buy a scanner. There are so many free services that do everything you mentioned and more. I used Library Thing at Georgetown University for a small teacher library at our learning center. No need to spend all the money when you cab get all of it free. Library thing also lets you set up book cases so when you look up a book you get all of the info PLUS where it is in your house. It also allows you to rate the books you have read and look and see average rating of books you haven't read.

[midlifepublishing]

I've been using library thing for years and it has a great web interface and is easy to use, not to mention it's also free.

[traceydodak]

So nice of you to give tips! I’d be curious at the end of the year if you did a similar video telling things you learned throughout the year with this system and maybe ways people could avoid any mishaps if starting from scratch.

[jenniferr.]

Thank you for making this video. I bought the same scanner a couple of months ago, and I plan on starting the project this week so I really appreciate the tips.

[beckyduff]

This is awesome, because I decided that I want to catelog my entire TBR. I'll worry about my read books later lol. I want to make sure I am reading so much off my shelves every year so I want to catalog my unread books for this year. Thank you so much for all the tips and tricks!

[befuddledpanda]

Found this very helpful as I embark on digitally cataloguing my collection. Thank you!

[TM-uigt]

thank you. I use the CLZ Books app to scan and organize. I'll use until I get to a manageable size and can see them on my shelves. I was hoping to use Storygraph's scan option but it doesn't work as well. I also like the multi-book upload and sorting capabilities. For ex, I wanted to read the shortest book I had.

[sarahgaither]

I'm 100% doing this. My collection isn't wild, around 300+. But I have them spread between 2 bookshelves in different rooms and boxed in closets. Also I have one favorite book that I thought I'd lost while moving multiple times and now I have 5 of it, so...

[badfaithu]

Thank you so much for sharing these tips.

[christiane]

I use bookstats and I love it. It's so easy ❤

[RottingDolll]

I’d love to do this but i have loads of books with multiple editions or special editions I have no clue how to track!

[rabidsamfan]

I use a library thing because I have a lot of books that predate barcodes.

[AwkwardBookworm]

I would love to catalogue my books but I am so so lazy 😂

[AsagaoSTL]

Questions for the commenters
1. Does the app you use allow for manually adding older books that don’t have barcodes? With picture of cover?
2. Does the app you use recognize books from other countries?

[GiovannaRibeiro]

Although I absolutely love the idea of using a scanner to get the data and input in into notion, the whole process (scan, import csv, edit file, import into notion and organize) seems kinda... too much? to do if you don't get tons of new books regularly. I totally get it might make sense for influencer, who do receive and buy a lot of things every month, tho. If you're cataloging everything for the first time, maybe the app + camera scan will do the trick, and then you can just input all the info directly/manually into notion as you get more books.