Marche Book eXchange

Click? ? first on 'visit the library', then look at the tool bar and click 'add book'

Then enter any combination of author, title and /or isbn number into the first field ( it's quicker and more accurate if you put the author first and then title) and click on the magnifying glass. This will connect the search to the database of books held on Amazon and will come up with a selection for you to choose from.

The selection may contain hardback, paperback and or audio casseste versions. Scroll down and check to see which one corresponds with your book. In particular check the isbn number and the publisher as sometimes there are many versions printed by various publishers of the same book.

When you see the correct book select it and it will lead to another page of details usually with a jacket cover picture for you to check and confirm.

Before you hit confirm go through the pull down menus, and add the correct category, format and condition.

An Amazon review will appear if there is one but you can change this to one of your own if you prefer.

If you are happy that all the details are correct, click 'confirm' and the book will be added to the 'central library' and appear on your 'current book status' until requested and sent out or chosen at a Marche book meeting.

If the search comes back saying there were 'no results' then you must enter the author, title and isbn number in the asterix fields ( and preferably enter information in the non asterix fields as well). Then click on 'add book'

As above, it will come back with a page of details for you to confirm and you should fill in all drop down menus and check details before you click confirm and 'add to library'.

Books should only take a minute to enter........especially if they under 5 years old. It is rare for the Amazon database to come back with nothing except where the book may be a special version such as a book club or promotional copy, a foreign publication or an older book which may no longer be in print.

Jacket pictures may be different to your book version as they can change for example when books become films etc.........they don't always change their isbn number unless it's a new print run or a different publisher. The database will pick up the most recent picture for that isbn number.

Have finally got the time to load some more books, only to find there seems to be a glitch and the system will not load the first title I try. First the ISBN was not recognised and then even trying manually, all one gets is Amazon can find no matches!
Is this just me or is there a problem at the moment?
I also noticed whilst browsing that the bookshelves are still not showing correct publication dates for a lot of titles?

I have today had a couple of email notifications telling me replies to my postings awaited me on the forum.
Nothing here though ! I think Andria you were saying this also happens to you sometimes? I will have another go when I have a bit more time and will try a little patience, though I did try a number of times!
Strange I could not find your posting here!! The other thread was fine.

You aren't going mad........my children registered and were testing out the forum and so their comments got deleted.

Sorry you had problems.it happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I was putting a pile of books on after the last book club meet...the problem wasn't with us so it may have been with the Amazon database........also it is very spelling sensitive. I just left the problem book and tried another and it worked. If the book is an American or a diverse publication you may have a problem and need to enter all of the details manually.

We kept the name order with the first name followed by the surname as the Amazon database also does this.

With regards to the publication dates....I went through a pile a monh or so ago and don't think there are that many which are wrong still. It happened at the beginning of the book loading where some books were not found and had to be manually entered. If the date field is not filled in, it will automatically put the date it was entered in. I am not sure the publication date is that important and we have talked about deleting it altogether.........what do you think?

Hope this answers all of your queries

Ciao!

Thanks for confirming I am not going mad Andria!? ? I sometimes wonder if I am having a senior moment or two.
No problems with the loading, I think a little more patience is required by me and maybe simpler in the long run to enter all the info manually rather than rely on the Amazon database, if as you say it sometimes appears to behave oddly.
Am I confusing the system by being the librarian that always puts the authors surname first?
Is there any way that the books maybe could be sorted in title order as well, as an alternative for when searching for titles one wants to read
I understand from your comments that the system inserts the actual date of registering the book when it is not noted! I think this causes confusion as it makes it look like a brand new publication, if you do not already know the title that is! I agree with you that it would be better to leave the date out as unimportant, in this situation. If one wants to know when a book was published it is easy to follow the link to the Amazon reviews? ? where it will be shown.
I hope to find time to load some more books on to the site soon, none of mine have been requested yet. Are you finding books are still only changing hands at the actual meetings?

Linda,

You can already search by title or categorise by title. At the end of every library page you have scroll bars which you can use to choose these options.

If there is a specific title you are looking for just type in the title and press search by title.......if it's in the database it will come up. You can also choose to view pages by titles decending or acending.

The books are not listed library fashion i.e author surname first as the books link through to another database for info and it has to follow the format of that database. I have not seen any book site which lists it the old way.

Yes most people are swaping at the meetings and as we have about 150 books now and about 40 members there are plenty to choose from but I expect as people retreat into the winter months and don't make it to all of the meetings they will be more interested in swaping by post. All those who are keepers of books are hapy to swap by post although they seem to prefer to leave them with us in a central system but we are happy to send them out to you........so request away!

Thanks Andria for the info. I am going to have another go today at loading some more titles. which hopefully may be of interest to someone sometime!

Andria I am trying to correct the info on some of the books I have already loaded. So that they comply with your database with authors christian name first.
However the system will not let me! this is the message I get? Help!

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ' user=13, available=0 where ind='116'' at line 1

Linda........it's complete double dutch to me so I will pass it on to Jonathan and see what he makes of it!

I will get back to you.

Ok Andria I was only trying to be helpful! Will just leave well alone unless Jonathan would like them altered?

Sorry but I now have another problem for you.? ? I have been very successful this afternoon and loaded a few more titles on to the site.? ? However I have somehow managed to load three titles twice! So sorry goodness knows how I managed that? Sure I did not enter or push any buttons twice!
Will you please remove the duplicates for me?? ? I do not think we have authority to remove titles from our bookshelves ourselves?
They are Gorillas in the Mist, Out of Africa and Charmed Lives.
I know I am a nuisance, Sorry!