mrose%mit-eddie@teddy-bear.UUCP (11/17/84)
We are moving into a huge house with seven other people who also have extensive textbook, fiction, and album collections. I am strongly considering getting the SCANSTAR bar code reader for our Mac, scanning everything in, and converting my "library management" hackware to the Mac, using SuMacC most probably. Thus people can browse efficiently thru all the stuff (we're planning on turning a roughly 12'x14' room into a library w/floor-to-ceiling bookshelves all along the perimeter) My $64,000 burning question is, is there some database or collection or SOMETHING, *ANYWHERE* that I can download, copy, or otherwise legally snarf that will give me book's barcode keys (ie., that 71001 00295 80333 is "Reader's Guide to Fantasy" edited by Baird Searles)? Failing that, how about ISBN numbers? As it is, a lot of our sixties albums and books lack UPC codes, so perhaps ISBN is the right thing. Anything that will minimize the amount of tedium of typing in book titles, authors, subject, etc for each book would be appreciated. By one method or another, I can read IBM PC, Pixel 5 1/4'' , Mac floppies; VAX (vms or unix), DEC-20, or ITS magtapes, and of course, uucp or ftp-able files. I can probably read large-IBM-type magtapes as well, thru MIT IPS. I would much rather hack up some program to churn thru a data file and snarf all the relevant entries than create a data file by entering all of them by hand. If there is enough interest, I will summarize to the net. Any and all pointers to info or to other pointers will be appreciated. To quote a popular 70's song, The opinions expressed above "The things we do for fun!..." are solely the the product of complex neuro-biological states Martha Rose which almost assuredly have nothing whatsoever to do with my employers, my Rosemary and Thyme plants, or the outside world in general.