BookDB: Personal (and not so personal) library management software

Some few months back, a librarian in a University here in Nigeria had asked me whether there is a stop gap library package she could use to keep records of her library's holdings pending the time her management will approve the implementation of Koha. The idea is to have entered the holdings as they are acquired rather than do them in retrospective later. I advised her to get a Microsoft Access Database setup that could be exported as text with a view to converting to Marc and uploading to Koha later.

But two weeks ago I discover BookDB2, called by its author a Book Database and librarian. It is supposed to be a personal library management software that allows you to keep a record of your personal book holdings and also manages borrowers. In the Author's words...

"BookDB is a simple yet powerful database tool which will help you keep track of your book collection. You can create and edit publishers, authors and categories then add books using a simple entry screen. The latest version also allows you to import your books from a text file, in case you've already got them in another program."

It supports import from a text file and from Librarything. So it's nice if you want an offline management of your books when Internet Access is not available. (Very common in my clime here in Nigeria)

More importantly is that you can export out your books out in a csv text file that you cam massage to get it into Marc using MarcEdit. So rather than bothering with Access Database you could use BookDB in a pinch for a small / young library pending upgrading to a more elaborate setup like Koha.

I will be posting a brief review/tutorial on BookDB soon.So watch this space! And did I mention that BookDB is absolutely free? You can get it at www.spacejock.com