I just bought a Microvision Flic scanner, which works like a charm with a Mac program called Delicious Library. You scan a book barcode (or a DVD or game) and DL searches amazon for the book and imports all of the data into its own library system. The program also has a feature which allows you to set reminders to yourself when someone has loaned out the book. Even though I am a Biblioscape devotee (it is the only thing that is keeping me from jumping ship from Windows entirely), I am still going to use this system to very quickly import data and keep track of which books I own (not to mention which are currently in my office and which are at home). It would be fantastic if Biblioscape developers could take a look at these relatively inexpensive barcode scanners and make it possible to import data directly into Biblioscape. In my googling, I discovered that Notabene already does this. In the meantime I'll work on an import format.
Annette
If you have a low cost
If you have a low cost barcode scanner, you can use it to scan the
barcode of the ISBN number on the back cover of your book. This number
can then be used to run a search and capture the hit directly into your
Biblioscape database. Therefore, you can enter the bibliographic data
of your book collection into your Biblioscape database without typing.
the Z39.50 source "Library of Congress". You can also use another
Z39.50 source if you prefer. Click the "Any Field" combo box and select
the "ISBN" field.
click the Search button to run the search. If there is a hit,
Biblioscape will automatically capture the bibliographic record of the
hit and put it into the references folder "Online Search". You can then
drag and drop it to another folder.
Oh that's amazing! I should
Oh that's amazing! I should have known that you'd be on top of this. Thanks.
Annette
MediaMan works too
MediaMan works in a similar way, but when it comes to journal articles and note-taking, you will find Biblioscape does a much better job. In time we should have a much more user-friendly environment with Biblioscape, I hope. At this point, they are busy working on the funcionality, new features, synthesizing a workflow that meets most of the demand. Once that is done, I believe they will work on the GUI. Not to mention both are intrinsically linked, codewise, I mean. There is a distinction between average media users needs and professional researchers needs, and I'm guessing Delicious Library falls in the first category.