use Access for a book catalogue?

[moa]

I am about to create a catalogue for a book collection. It probably consists
of around 1000 books. The books are now placed in shelves, and I would like
to build up the catalogue in lists based on these shelves. The catalogue has
to be able to both handle the books within one shelf, and all books at once.
After having created the catalogue I want to be able to sort the books by
title, the shelf they are placed in, author and so on. I also want to be able
to print lists of the books based on these criteria. The catalogue needs to
be easy to manage - also by people with very little experince of computers.
I do not have any prior experience of working with Access or other
databases. Do you think Access is an appropriate program for this project? If
not, what else?
Thank you so much for any advice!

 

[Jeff Boyce]

MS Access has something of a steep learning curve. If you don't have
experience with relational databases, you are unlikely to be able to quickly
create/use an Access database for this project.

And if you want OTHER people to be using what you develop, you will not only
need familiarity with relational databases, but also with graphical user
interface design. After all, you don't want to force all those users to
learn to build databases, do you?

Here's a major difference between Access and other tools like Excel and
Word...

Word helps people move words around, something they can do on paper, and
something they do probably every day.

Excel helps people move numbers around, something they can do on paper (and
with a calculator), and something they do probably every day.

Access is a tool for building ways to store and manipulate data -- NOT
something folks do every day. Think of the first two as objects of
furniture -- you know how to use a bookcase or a desk. Think of Access as a
table saw -- you don't use it the same way you use a desk or a bookshelf,
you use it to BUILD a desk or a bookshelf.

If you'll only need to be sorting by and filtering by, consider using Excel
instead.

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[Fred Boer]

Dear moa:

I think Jeff makes some excellent points. I can add a comment from personal
experience: I taught myself Access from scratch, and created a small library
application. It was *way* more work that I ever anticipated. Now, for me,
there were some specific reasons why I persisted, and along the way I
learned to love working with Access and this project became an enjoyable
hobby. But even so, if I had had any idea how much it would take before I
started, well, I'm not sure I would have bothered... This isn't to
discourage you, but to caution you. There are low cost professional library
applications available, and even lower cost shareware applications - you
might want to do a bit of research and be sure you don't try to reinvent the
wheel.

In addition you might want to look at the following templates: the first is
a "Lending Library" template..

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102068831033.aspx?pid=CT101428241033

And a book collection template:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010186431033.aspx?pid=CT102144001033

HTH