Organizational doubt: Single library with virtual libraries vs Multiple libaries

[joruib]

Hello everybody!

Sorry if this question seems a little newbie and feel free to ignore it... but it's pretty important for me.

I'm in the process of moving my entire book collection to a couple of external HDs (main and backup) and wanted to store in the HD the books as a Calibre library, so I can plug the disk, launch Calibre and point to the library to get the books I need.

My books comprise all of fiction, non-fiction, technical books and text-books, some exclusively in PDF and lots in several formats.

So, question is... which is the best solution? A single library with virtual libraries for fiction, non-fiction, etc... or separate libraries?

I really don't know if a single library vs several would be more manageable, performance-wise... so, if you could share your experience, it would be very valuable to me.

Thanks!

[Sirtel]

I would go for a single physical library. Otherwise it's a pain to search for something you may not remember every detail about, or to perform any library-wide operations.

OTOH, if you're sure you don't ever want to do the same things with, say, fiction books and technical PDFs, you could keep them separately. It all comes down to personal preferences.

There is a somewhat worse performance with a huge library vs a smaller one, but for me personally the convenience of using a single library is worth it. YMMV.

[theducks]

2 main reasons FOR separate:

1) Security (includes PG supervision needed)
2) The Metadata (Columns) vary significantly (and can't be optimized. I see extra columns where a Tag and a VL or 3 would get the job done. AKA Brute force)
2b) A column with Fixed values needs to be different

Ask yourself:How much added disk space would those 'Extra' (not used for the other Library take)

[DNSB]

My personal choice is two physical libraries. One is called Intake is where books are imported, metadata, covers, etc. cleaned up and any editing is done. After that the books are moved to Main where I use VLs when I want to look at sublibraries.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

My personal choice is two physical libraries. One is called Intake is where books are imported, metadata, covers, etc. cleaned up and any editing is done. After that the books are moved to Main where I use VLs when I want to look at sublibraries.

I do all that in my main library. Never saw the need to have a separate library for this.

Besides, when editing metadata I often don't recall exactly what the series number might be for a new book in a long-running series, and I need to see the rest of the series to ascertain this. How could I do that if the rest of the series was in a separate physical library?

Edit: I also modify series names, so I need to see the rest of the series for that too.

[ownedbycats]

I tried using a separate intake library for a bit but kept forgetting to switch over. I have a Cleanup VL instead.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I do all that in my main library. Never saw the need to have a separate library for this.

Besides, when editing metadata I often don't recall exactly what the series number might be for a new book in a long-running series, and I need to see the rest of the series to ascertain this. How could I do that if the rest of the series was in a separate physical library?

Edit: I also modify series names, so I need to see the rest of the series for that too.

To do that, I made a small plugin which check series agains another library.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

To do that, I made a small plugin which check series agains another library.

Really? What plugin is that? Is it in the general list of calibre plugins?

[joruib]

Well, thanks for your answers! I'm starting to realize that probably a single library is the way to go, though it would be interesting to know how many books are 'too much' before starting to see penalties in performance (I've read somebody in the forums has a library with 200.000 books! I'm nowhere near that!).

I mainly have these sub-libraries:

• Novels
• Non-fiction
• Textbooks (mainly PDF)
• Comics
• RPG

So, if I manage this in a single library with virtual libraries, probably this can work out.

Always can create a new library and start moving books, isn't it?

Thanks everybody.

[ownedbycats]

"too much" would depend on your system specs. Run library maintenance > check library every so often, it'll run a VACUUM on the sqlite database and compact things.

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by DNSB

My personal choice is two physical libraries. One is called Intake is where books are imported, metadata, covers, etc. cleaned up and any editing is done. After that the books are moved to Main where I use VLs when I want to look at sublibraries.

I also use a separate intake library. When a book is cleaned up to my liking, I move it over to my "real" library and delete it from the intake library. That way I can see at a glance which library is on the screen. There are usually only a handful of books in the intake library.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by joruib

Well, thanks for your answers! I'm starting to realize that probably a single library is the way to go, though it would be interesting to know how many books are 'too much' before starting to see penalties in performance (I've read somebody in the forums has a library with 200.000 books! I'm nowhere near that!).

y.

RAM and disk space are the limiting factors.

RAM, because the DB (what drives the GUI grid) Is in memory (the actual books are only on disk except when Editing, converting or Viewing) Mine (V7.15) says 335MB or about the same as THIS Firefox session is using)

IMHO the Library does not need to be on a SSD because most books are small to tiny when compared to modern applications. My 'Main' (not the Calibre default) is on spinning rust , not the SSD (C

[JSWolf]

I use two libraries. One is where the source eBooks go and the other is where they go to be edited and eventually put on my Reader. So I do have a copy of the books as they wwre originally.

[LienRag]

Question : how do you do that ?
I have a huge book collection taken from the Internet, with a lot of PDF in it.
So around 65 Gib.
Which means that I don't want to host it on my main computer's hard disk, just on an external disk.
But when I try to make the Calibre library on an external disk, I can't open Calibre after that without the external disk plugged in - which is clearly not what I want.

Is there a tutorial somewhere which explains how to have a main Calibre library on an external disk while still having some books on the computer itself ?

Thanks in advance !

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by LienRag

Is there a tutorial somewhere which explains how to have a main Calibre library on an external disk while still having some books on the computer itself ?

The calibre library can only be in one place and an external disk should have the same filesytem as the OS.

You either have the Calibre Library on a physically connected external or internal disk. If it's on an external disk that must be connected (mounted) before Calibre is run and must not be unmounted/disconnected till Calibre is exited and disk is safe to eject.