I have a large personal library, mostly of paperback books.  I would
like to create an MS Access database of the books, including at least
title and author, and ideally date of publication, publisher, etc. 
However, I do not want to enter this by hand for a couple of thousand
books.

What I would like is the following: a way to use a laser wand to scan
the ISBN numbers on the back of the books, then query a database for
the information related to each ISBN, and either load it directly into
Access, or report in a format that Access can use.  Or some variant of
that.  At worst, I could enter the ISBN by hand.

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Request for Question Clarification by leep-ga on 28 Oct 2002 01:07 PST

Are you interested only in "free" methods of getting this done or are
you also interested in non-free software solutions?

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Clarification of Question by yggdrist-ga on 28 Oct 2002 01:17 PST

I am interested primarily in methods that use my existing equipment
(PC, Windows XP, MS Office XP).  I am prepared to spend a modest
amount to purchase a laser wand, and to pay a small fee for database
access.  A distant second option would be proprietary or non-free
software.

Greetings again yggdrist!

Well, if you are willing to spend a modest amount, I would first
recommend looking into Readerware, which is a Java-based application
that works with Windows XP.  It costs $40 to download a single-user
version and the software will:
1) Allow you to scan in ISBNs via a barcode reader
2) Grab information from the internet for the ISBNs you have entered
3) Allow you to export the data into various formats (such as a
tab-delimited file.)

You can then import the data into a spreadsheet and import the
spreadsheet data into Access.

You can read more about Readerware by accessing their site:
http://www.readerware.com/

The Windows XP version can be downloaded at:
http://www.readerware.com/rwW32.html

You can download Readerware for a free 30 day trial.  But to view
their pricing page if you decide you eventually want a copy:
http://www.readerware.com/rwPur.html

With regard to getting a barcode scanner, the Readerware people
actually offer a bundle that provides a free CueCat barcode scanner:
"Free CueCat Offer":
http://www.readerware.com/rwfreecc.html

They also have a page listing some low-cost regular barcode scanners:
"Barcode Reader Specials":
http://www.readerware.com/rwbarcodespec.html

And here's someone's mini-review of Readerware (just so that you get a
non readerware.com opinion of their software):
"Subject: Re: Book catalog software? (recommendation)"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=MPG.17e93ffe6e1185c9898f9%40localhost


On the free side, things can get a bit trickier.  About two years ago,
a page known as "Zarf's Book Scanning Project" appeared.  On it he
detailed the specific steps he took to scan in the ISBNs of his books,
obtain information on the books via web sources, and then export the
info to raw data or to HTML files.  (For some reason, his web site,
http://www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan , is not fully connecting at this
hour.  As such, the links below point to the cached versions that
Google has.)  The full technical details of what he did can be viewed
at:
Zarf's The Book-Scanning Project:
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/

However, you may want to jump directly to the summary section:
"Skip the History, Make it Work" section:
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/#quick

Additionally, he has an update page with useful information on it:
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:www.eblong.com/zarf/bookscan/updates.html

For some additional ISBN tools, you may want to view:
"ISBN Tools site":
http://isbntools.com/


Ok, assuming that you have used one of the above methods to create
spreadsheet data, you can then import the spreadsheet into MS Access. 
If you are uncertain how to accomplish this step, I would recommend
reading through the following instructions:
"Converting an Excel Spreadsheet to an Access Database":
http://databases.about.com/library/weekly/aa123100a.htm

I hope this information is helpful.  If you would like for me to
clarify any part of my answer or further research your question,
please let me know before issuing a rating.  Thanks!


leep-ga

While of course I have not tried these yet, in principle this is an
extremely satisfying answer.  The researcher quickly provided both
low-cost and free solutions that appear quite likely to work, and gave
enough detail to allow me to find and judge the options.  I wish I had
known about this question service when I first thought of this need
four years ago.

It didn't exist four years ago. :-)

You may also want to try our book catalog software Book Collector.
More info can be found here:

http://www.collectorz.com/book/

Alwin Hoogerdijk
Collectorz.com
http://www.collectorz.com