Best way to manage a small library at work?
August 10, 2013 4:51 PM Subscribe
I am buying a bookshelf to centralize the books (<500) currently strewn about our office at work. I would like to setup a simple system for keeping track of books in inventory, and manage who borrows what. Ideally there would be a simple web-based piece of software built specifically for this, but I am open to a more lo-if solution if necessary. Bonus points if its not specific to books, but able to manage more things to let people borrow among a trusted group. There are about 150 people in the office.
Response by poster: Some more info:
Ideally there would be an interface where people can search and find books in stock and available, and check them out. Delicious Library seem cool for tracking your own stuff, but not sure it has the social inventory management functionality to suit our needs.
posted by wordsmith at 4:57 PM on August 10, 2013
Ideally there would be an interface where people can search and find books in stock and available, and check them out. Delicious Library seem cool for tracking your own stuff, but not sure it has the social inventory management functionality to suit our needs.
posted by wordsmith at 4:57 PM on August 10, 2013
Do you have any folders or a drive that is shared amongst the 150 people in office? If so, could you maybe create a spreadsheet with the books/things available? (Like, for each row with an item on it, have a repeating succession of two columns with "OUT" and "IN" and have the person borrowing write in their initials and the date they checked the said thing out or returned it. You could have a column that says "UNAVAILABLE" if something is checked out for easier searching, etc. . . .)
posted by sevenofspades at 5:34 PM on August 10, 2013
posted by sevenofspades at 5:34 PM on August 10, 2013
At work we use bug-tracking software for this. We've got a similar sized collection and office.
Every item in our work library is a 'task'. People who have books/films/games out have the task sent to them the moment the take the item out to sit in their queue until they return it, where it goes back to the "Library" queue. So we know who has what at all times, when they took it out, and can track all kinds of details (i.e. everyone who has ever taken it out). You can even use due dates and set it up to email people a reminder when it's due - we use this if there's an item in high demand.
There's lots and lots of free bug-tracking software that you can use for this purpose.
posted by subject_verb_remainder at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2013
Every item in our work library is a 'task'. People who have books/films/games out have the task sent to them the moment the take the item out to sit in their queue until they return it, where it goes back to the "Library" queue. So we know who has what at all times, when they took it out, and can track all kinds of details (i.e. everyone who has ever taken it out). You can even use due dates and set it up to email people a reminder when it's due - we use this if there's an item in high demand.
There's lots and lots of free bug-tracking software that you can use for this purpose.
posted by subject_verb_remainder at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2013
If you are willing to spend some money, I recommend Library World. It's about $500 a year, it's cloud based and while it is technically a library system, I also use it to inventory and lend technology equipment at the public school that I work at. It's cloud based.
posted by momochan at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2013
posted by momochan at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2013
1A. Arrange books alphabetically by author--OR
1B. Arrange into major categories (colored sticker for each category, on the spine) and then by author.
2. Photograph bookshelves for future reference--rephotograph for inventory control as necessary.
3A. Sign-out sheet--paper, by bookshelves, with space for title, borrower, date out, and date returned OR
3B. Check-out card in back of each book, where people write their names, date out, and put into a box or basket. Returned books have the card back in the pocket.
I think that for many people, entering something into a database or spreadsheet will be a major hurdle after they've grabbed a book. (take book, access spreadsheet or database, enter something in the right format, save, etc.) You are more likely to have compliance if they just scribble their name on the sheet.
posted by Hypatia at 6:21 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
1B. Arrange into major categories (colored sticker for each category, on the spine) and then by author.
2. Photograph bookshelves for future reference--rephotograph for inventory control as necessary.
3A. Sign-out sheet--paper, by bookshelves, with space for title, borrower, date out, and date returned OR
3B. Check-out card in back of each book, where people write their names, date out, and put into a box or basket. Returned books have the card back in the pocket.
I think that for many people, entering something into a database or spreadsheet will be a major hurdle after they've grabbed a book. (take book, access spreadsheet or database, enter something in the right format, save, etc.) You are more likely to have compliance if they just scribble their name on the sheet.
posted by Hypatia at 6:21 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
A good, free, and open source online library software system is OpenBiblio. Wikipedia also has a good summary of what the program can do.
You can put in as much or as little data about the items as you would want, and it can manage check-outs/in. If you (or someone else in your company) is familiar with installing software on a hosted web environment (like Wordpress), then this will be very straightforward to install and maintain.
I maintain an installation for a church library. If you have questions I might be able to answer, feel free to MeFi Mail me.
posted by 1367 at 7:44 PM on August 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
You can put in as much or as little data about the items as you would want, and it can manage check-outs/in. If you (or someone else in your company) is familiar with installing software on a hosted web environment (like Wordpress), then this will be very straightforward to install and maintain.
I maintain an installation for a church library. If you have questions I might be able to answer, feel free to MeFi Mail me.
posted by 1367 at 7:44 PM on August 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've volunteered for a couple of tiny-to-small feminist libraries, and both used Filemaker Pro. It's reasonably easy to set up and can do all of the library things. (I'm not sure if this is helpful, because the collections I am thinking about were somewhat larger, and you might not want to pay $300 for a solution...)
posted by snorkmaiden at 10:11 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by snorkmaiden at 10:11 PM on August 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Man 500 books is not very much. I'd be tempted to upload them all the LibraryThing and have the users have a system of tagging to indicate who has checked out what (i.e. add a tag that said CHECKOUT1234 for a user's number or CHECKOUTjess if they don't care about privacy) You can upload a list of ISBNs to the site and you'll have them all there plus a lot of metadata about the books. Downside to this is that it is very specific to books.
posted by jessamyn at 9:59 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 9:59 AM on August 11, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by oceanjesse at 4:54 PM on August 10, 2013 [2 favorites]