# Home library software?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-library-software/177464>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 25, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-library-software/177464 "2003-05-25T22:14:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Abegweit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Abegweit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abegweit)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-library-software/177464/1 "2003-05-25T22:14:07Z")

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Not entirely sure if this is the place for this… but here goes:

Does anyone know of any good (and preferably free) software suitable for a home library catalogue? My GF and I might charitably be called bookworms, and would like to be able to actually know what we own.

Thanks in advance…

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**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-library-software/177464/2 "2003-05-26T05:17:56Z")

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I have been using the Book Collector program from [here](http://www.collectorz.com/book/). It costs either $25 or $40, depending on which version you want and there is a fully capable demo available. The nice part is you only have to enter the ISBN and it will look up the book online for you.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-library-software/177464/3 "2003-05-26T07:10:55Z")

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I’ve tried the demo of Book Collector too, based on a thread on the board. It seems fine, but I have too many books entered already using a form in StarOffice Adabas database to want to switch. I also have thousands of magazines, and many books pre-ISBN, so the ISBN capability is not totally useful. If you are starting from scratch, and have mostly newish books, you should check out the demo, though.