Personal Librarian is a FileMaker Pro database designed to help you keep track of your personal library. With Personal Librarian, you can keep track of all the vital statistics of your book collection, including:
• Where and when you purchased your books.
• Where your books are stored.
• The current size and value of your collection.
• To whom you have books loaned out.
No matter how many books you own, Personal Librarian can help you keep better track of your collection.
About The Demo Version
----------------------
The demo version of Personal Librarian is limited to 30 records. I've included 30 books from my own collection to give you an idea of how the program works. You can enter books from your own collection by typing over the existing records. When you purchase the full version of Personal Librarian, you'll receive a password that will let you completely unlock the database. Once unlocked, you can add as many records as FileMaker will allow, and you can modify the layouts to suit your particular needs.
Payment for Personal Librarian is handled through the Kagi payment service. To purchase Personal Librarian, use the Register program that's in the Personal Librarian folder. You can save the registration information to e-mail to Kagi, or you can print the information and fax or mail it to Kagi.
Hints and Tips
--------------
These hints and tips will allow you to get the most out of the Personal Librarian.
• Be sure that you have the following fonts installed: Geneva, Helvetica, Times, Palatino, and Avant Garde. The TrueType versions of these will work, but if you have ATM and the Type 1 versions of the last four, Personal Librarian will look better.
• In all of the list views and reports, clicking on the column headers (Title, Author, etc.) will sort the list/report by that field.
• Most books now have the Library of Congress Catalog in Publication (CIP) data printed on the copyright page. This is the best place to get title, author, ISBN, subject, LC Catalog Number, and LC Call Number information. If a book doesn't have the CIP data in it, you can look it up in the Library of Congress catalog. To access the catalog, telnet to locis.loc.gov or visit the Library of Congress web page at www.loc.gov.
• ISBNs may be entered with or without the separators, usually dashes or periods. Personal Librarian verifies that the ISBN you've entered is a valid ISBN.
• Use the location field to specify a general location, like "Bedroom" or "Storage". Use the location code to specify a specific box or shelf.
• Use the comments field to list all the titles and authors of works in an anthology.
Version History
---------------
Version 3.1
-----------
• Updated for FileMaker Pro 3.0/4.0.
• Changed the pull down menu fields to pop-up list fields. I made this change to make data entry faster.
• Made the Publisher & Purchased from value lists based on the contents of those fields. This change should cut down on duplicate store and publisher entries.
• Fixed a bug in the loan report script.
• Changed the ISBN validation so it now displays an alert when an invalid ISBN has been entered.
Version 3.0
-----------
• Many new fields, including: LC Catalog Number, LC Call Number, Volume, Edition, Size, Pages, Publisher Imprint, Publisher City and State, Place purchased City and State, Reader Comments, Date Started, and Date Finished.
• Completely revamped book entry screens.
Version 2.0
-----------
• Color! I finally got a color machine at home, so Personal Librarian 2.0 is now in 256 glorious colors.
• I got rid of the ungainly ISBN check digit field. Now PL simply displays a red warning message if you've entered an invalid ISBN.
• I've cleaned up all the reports and made them more consistent and easier to read.
• And a number of other things I've forgotten, but they're in there.
Version 1.2
-----------
• The ISBN check field. I added a little field to the right of the ISBN that contains a zero if you’ve entered a valid ISBN number. If you enter an invalid ISBN, the number in this field will be from 1 to 10.
• A Sub-Summary by Location Code Report. If you sort the Inventory Report by Location code, you will get a subtotal of the number of books and value of those books in each location.
• A handy registration form. Clicking the “Print Registration” button in the “About PL” page prints out a registration from you to fill out and send in with your shareware payment (Hint, Hint).
• New value in the “Binding” popup menu: “Loose Leaf”
• Fixed a bug with the Tab order in the search layout.
• A new, cooler looking (in my opinion) main menu.
Version 1.1
-----------
• New values in the “Binding” and “Printing” pop-up menus. I added ‘Cassette Tape’ to the “Binding” pop up and ‘Tape’ to the “Printing” pop-up for use with “Books on Tape” entries.
• Two new fields: “Location Code” and “Comments”. The “Location Code” lets you specify a specific location for your books, such as a shelf number in your study, or a box number in storage. The “Comments” field is for storing general comments about the book, or any other information that wouldn’t fit in any of the other fields. I use it for keeping the “Read By” info for books on tape, lists of all the stories in a short story collection, who wrote the forwards or introductions to the books, etc.
• A new Inventory Report. This report gives you the title, author, location, location code, binding, and price of your books, as well as a total volume count and total value calculation. This report is useful for insurance purposes or income tax records, for those lucky enough to be able to deduct some or all of their books purchases as business expenses.
• Added the total volume count and total value calculation to the detail report.
