Backups, Imports, and Cleaning up my Collection
Talk Frequently Asked Questions
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1bkramar
I love LibraryThing. I spent 2 years scanning and organizing my mom's collection, much of which I have recently inherited. I've run into several complications and struggles when trying to import her library into and wanted to see if you all have easier ways.
1. How do you back up your libraries? I had assumed that by exporting from LibraryThing and saving that file, that I would be able to quickly upload everything to LT if my Library ever got deleted or corrupted. As I've learned, it doesn't seem to be so easy.
2. Is it really true that I can import a file either with ISBNs or with my tags but not both? And if I choose to keep my tags, I'll lose basically everything else thats not part of that sample file. (Covers, media type, etc.) I've currently got a library with over 2500 books. I can cut and paste the ISBN from my original spreadsheet which then repopulates covers, media types, and other public information but oh my, that's going to be a tedious exercise.
3. If I upload a new cover, does that become publicly available for everyone else to use? I uploaded a decent number of covers for my mom's collection but I am not always seeing them as a choice.
4. I added some books to my mom's collection manually because I couldn't find them through any other search. If it has an ISBN or Library of Congress number does it automatically become a "Work" (part of the public Libraything domain and findable by others who may want to add that book) or is there something else I need to do?
6. I have a lot to learn about editing my Book vs the "Work". There were some edits I made to mom's books that probably just got made at the Book level but probably should have been higher level edits. Once I clean up this collection......
Thanks everyone. I'm really excited about getting my own collection online. But also very nervous about the time it takes and the risks Im already seeing of losing hours of work.....
Brenda
1. How do you back up your libraries? I had assumed that by exporting from LibraryThing and saving that file, that I would be able to quickly upload everything to LT if my Library ever got deleted or corrupted. As I've learned, it doesn't seem to be so easy.
2. Is it really true that I can import a file either with ISBNs or with my tags but not both? And if I choose to keep my tags, I'll lose basically everything else thats not part of that sample file. (Covers, media type, etc.) I've currently got a library with over 2500 books. I can cut and paste the ISBN from my original spreadsheet which then repopulates covers, media types, and other public information but oh my, that's going to be a tedious exercise.
3. If I upload a new cover, does that become publicly available for everyone else to use? I uploaded a decent number of covers for my mom's collection but I am not always seeing them as a choice.
4. I added some books to my mom's collection manually because I couldn't find them through any other search. If it has an ISBN or Library of Congress number does it automatically become a "Work" (part of the public Libraything domain and findable by others who may want to add that book) or is there something else I need to do?
6. I have a lot to learn about editing my Book vs the "Work". There were some edits I made to mom's books that probably just got made at the Book level but probably should have been higher level edits. Once I clean up this collection......
Thanks everyone. I'm really excited about getting my own collection online. But also very nervous about the time it takes and the risks Im already seeing of losing hours of work.....
Brenda
2MarthaJeanne
There is no easy way to export and reimport.
3. Yes, the cover becomes available to everyong, but there may be a long lag.
4. Every book is part of a work. It may be the only copy in the work, or it may be combined with many others. But that does not mean that others can add it from the work. LibraryThing is not a source. The Add book on the work page will not use your entry. It will look for a source. (and probably not find one.) It does not matter whether or not there is an ISBN or any other number.
3. Yes, the cover becomes available to everyong, but there may be a long lag.
4. Every book is part of a work. It may be the only copy in the work, or it may be combined with many others. But that does not mean that others can add it from the work. LibraryThing is not a source. The Add book on the work page will not use your entry. It will look for a source. (and probably not find one.) It does not matter whether or not there is an ISBN or any other number.
3Charon07
1. I don’t bother. I’ve got an out-of-date export or two lying around somewhere. So far (knock on wood), I haven’t needed a backup (but just saying that makes me nervous).
2. You can import a file with both ISBNs and tags if you use the sample .csv file format: https://www.librarything.com/LibraryThingSample.csv. See the Universal Import on this page: https://www.librarything.com/import. There may be other ways, but this is the one I know about.
6. It’s okay not to edit “Common Knowledge,” i.e., at the work level. If the books in your catalog have the info you need correctly, that’s all you need to worry about. When I’m feeling civic-minded, I sometimes add or correct Common Knowledge, but I don’t always bother, especially when I’m adding a lot of books at once.
2. You can import a file with both ISBNs and tags if you use the sample .csv file format: https://www.librarything.com/LibraryThingSample.csv. See the Universal Import on this page: https://www.librarything.com/import. There may be other ways, but this is the one I know about.
6. It’s okay not to edit “Common Knowledge,” i.e., at the work level. If the books in your catalog have the info you need correctly, that’s all you need to worry about. When I’m feeling civic-minded, I sometimes add or correct Common Knowledge, but I don’t always bother, especially when I’m adding a lot of books at once.
4bkramar
>2 MarthaJeanne: Thank you! I had not considered the idea that LibraryThing itself was not a source. Makes sense.
5bkramar
>3 Charon07: Regarding question 2: I was not able to get that to work. If I imported the sample file with ISBN numbers, I didn't get the tags. When I left off the ISBN number, I got the tags...but (obviously) no ISBN number or any other info other than the data allowed in the sample file.
6Charon07
>5 bkramar: Sorry to hear that. I haven’t done an import since I first joined, and I was able to import both tags and ISBNs. Something must have broke between then and now.
7bkramar
>6 Charon07: To make matters more confusing:
In great frustration, I tried again this morning with a subset of 26 books instead of the whole file. I had notes saying that an import with both the ISBN and the tags would bring in both. (And I tested that a year ago, and it worked. I still had the "test" collection to prove it) This morning, it worked. So now, I have to decide whether to delete everything and try the large import again. Or keep slogging along with manual entries of the ISBN numbers. I'll probably keep slogging along. My household is ready to see progress rather than keep hearing..."Well, something didn't work so I started over, again."
In great frustration, I tried again this morning with a subset of 26 books instead of the whole file. I had notes saying that an import with both the ISBN and the tags would bring in both. (And I tested that a year ago, and it worked. I still had the "test" collection to prove it) This morning, it worked. So now, I have to decide whether to delete everything and try the large import again. Or keep slogging along with manual entries of the ISBN numbers. I'll probably keep slogging along. My household is ready to see progress rather than keep hearing..."Well, something didn't work so I started over, again."
