Readerware Auto-Catalog Wizard

These are the basic steps:

1. Pick the internet sites you want to search
2. Identify the items you want to catalog by scanning a barcode or entering an ISBN
3. Run Readerware auto-catalog
4. Check the results

Site Selection

To select the sites start by displaying the list of sites available by  clicking on the down arrow on the site selection box. A list of available sites is displayed.

To select your first site, just click on it. Notice that the list does not automatically disappear at this point like a conventional drop down list. This is because you can select more than one site. To add another site, use the standard list selection keys for your operating system to select other sites or a range of sites. For example on Windows hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the next site. On Mac OS X hold down the Command key and click on the next site. Notice that the names of both sites now appear at the top of the list. To select a range of sites, hold down the Shift key and click on a site, all sites between the new and previous selections are now selected.

When you have completed selecting the sites, click on the up arrow to close the list.

If the Merge data from all selected sites box is checked, Readerware will search all the sites you select and merge the data. Readerware gets as much information as possible from each site before moving on to the next site looking for still more information. This means that the order you search sites is important.

For example, suppose you like the Amazon listing but would also like to include the dewey number in your Readerware database. In this case you would search Amazon first and then the Library of Congress.

But supposing you prefer the Library of Congress listing but would also like to get images from Amazon. You simply search the sites in the reverse order, The Library of Congress first.

If the Merge data from all selected sites box is not checked, Readerware will extract data from the first site with a match and then move on to the next item in the list.

Either way, the order you search sites can be important, it can make a big difference to the data you collect during a Readerware auto-catalog run. Each site maintains different data about an item. Many sites categorize items for example and Readerware will extract the category information for you. But sites use different categorization schemes. So which is better? That is really for you to decide, you need to look at the data each site returns and determine which site provides the best data for your needs. Then you can set up the search sequence to search that site first. That way, if your favorite site has the item, Readerware will extract the information from that site. If not it goes on to check the other sites. You change the search order using Readerware Site Preferences.
 

ISBN/LCCN/UPC Input

If you are typing in CD and DVD barcodes, you must ensure that you type in all digits. A US barcode currently contains 12 digits, a European barcode contains 13.

In the above example, you would enter 731458917724, you must include the digits to the left and right of the barcode.

Using a barcode reader is often the fastest way to enter the list of items to catalog. Each day more and more companies make low cost bar code readers available to consumers. Check the barcode reader section on the Readerware web site for more information.

To enter the ISBN, LCCN or UPC manually, simply type it in and press the enter key. Readerware will then validate the data and if valid, move it to the list below. If invalid, Readerware will display an error message. Readerware also uses audible queues to indicate a valid or invalid item number, so you don't have to keep looking at your screen each time you enter an item.

Normally when Readerware indicates that an ISBN is invalid, it means that you typed in the number incorrectly. Simply correct the mistake and try again. Very rarely Readerware will display the error, even when you entered the ISBN exactly as printed on a book. This is because the publisher included an invalid ISBN on the book. This does occasionally happen, especially on older books when the ISBN system was new. You can tell Readerware to accept this ISBN anyway and try and find it by clicking on the Accept button in the dialog.

To scan in a barcode, refer to the instructions  that came with your scanner. Simply ensure that the input field has the focus and scan. Readerware then receives the data, converts it if necessary and adds it to the list.

To delete an item from the list, select it and hit the Delete key.

Duplicate Entries

Rerunning auto-catalog

You can rerun Readerware auto-catalog, maybe your internet connection went down while auto-catalog was running, maybe you want to select more sites and try again to match not found books. You don't have to scan all the items again, simply hit the Reload button to reload your last item list.

If the Allow Duplicates option is off, when you rerun auto-catalog, Readerware skips any items that are already in its database and just searches for the items it doesn't already have cataloged.

If the Allow Duplicates option is on, you must delete the ISBNs of books already cataloged from the list or they will be cataloged again.

Using a file of ISBN, LCCN, UPC or barcode scans

Using a batch barcode reader

Saving entered barcodes

Verification Page

Auto-Catalog Running Page

You may have noticed that as you added an item to the list, a  question mark icon was displayed next to it. This indicates that Readerware auto-catalog has not yet searched the internet for this item. As it processes each item, Readerware changes the icon to indicate the results. The icons are:

- The item has been processed, the item and product image have been added to the database.
- The item has been processed and added to the database, no product image was found
- The item has been processed but could not be found at any of the sites searched
- The item was already found in the Readerware database, this item was skipped
- A site returned multiple results for this item, Readerware cataloged the first match. You might want to check the site manually.
- A site was busy and returned an HTTP status code of 503. This is a temporary condition, try again later.   More

You can save the item list by clicking on the Save List button.

When you have reviewed the status of each item you entered, click on the Next button to proceed to the final page of this wizard.
 

Auto-Catalog Complete Page

• Items Input Count - The number of items entered
• Items Added Count - The total number of items that were added to your database
• Images Added Count - The number of items with product images added, this will be less than or equal to the items added count.
• Duplicate Items Count - The number of items already found in the Readerware database and skipped.
• LOCIS Multiple Matches - This count will normally be zero. Occasionally  the Library of Congress will return more than one match for the same ISBN. In this situation Readerware cannot determine which is the correct match so the book was skipped. But the book does exist at The Library of Congress, so you can use the Readerware Browser to catalog the book after selecting the correct match.

This statistics information and a complete item by item listing is also written to a log file, if user logging is enabled. You will find this file in your Documents->Readerware->Logs folder. You can view this file in any text editor

There is no easier way to catalog your collection!
 

Site Overloaded Error

The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay.