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My German library app to track books borrowed from a library: http://www.videlibri.de/ http://www.videlibri.de/ It was doomed from the start, because basically

My German library app to track books borrowed from a library: http://www.videlibri.de/ http://www.videlibri.de/ It was doomed from the start, because basically no one goes to public libraries anymore. But you cannot go to a library without it. Like this week I saw a post of someone getting a 150€ late fee bill from the library while having no idea why, that would never happen with my app. That should have been well monetarizable, pay for my app, or you are going to pay ten times more to a late fee bill After the Windows app failed, I doubled down on the niche, by making it a Linux app. I thought as plan B, if I do not find users, I could sell it to the library itself. I thought that was a sure sale, because the library had bought software from me before, but they did not want an app Then I made it open-source, so I do not have to deal with it anymore, but no one understands Pascal code. It only lead to much more work. Now I have been working on it almost every free hour for 14 year. And I really should not have written my own HTML parser for it

chrisseaton 6y ago
> But you cannot go to a library without it. Why is this? Did you arrange some kind of exclusivity deal with libraries in an area to manage borrowing so that people have to use it?
- 1f60c 6y ago
  I think GP means that people should want to use the app because it can save them from having to pay late fees, not that people need to use the app. Like saying "Yelp, cannot go to a restaurant without it".
poulsbohemian 6y ago
> because basically no one goes to public libraries anymore Is this a German thing, an urban thing, or really a true statement universally? I ask because prior to covid lockdown, we made at least weekly trips to our public library and it always had a steady stream of patrons.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- benibela 6y ago
  Compared to almost anything else not involving libraries There are more people reading books than there are people reading books from a library. If I had just made a tool (in English) to keep a list books without involving (German) libraries, it would probably be much more successful and only take a hundredths of effort. And worse, I did not target libraries in general, but libraries in my city. Anything limited to one city has a too low user base. I planed to expand it city by city, by selling it in one city to cover the travel cost to the next city, so I can lend books there, actually test it, and make sure everything remains bugfree. The alternative option, expert users can use it with any library, by editing the config XML files to include their webpage URL and server parameters, seems to have been too confusing for people
phovetch 6y ago
The current trend in libraries is to abolish fines and waive any past fines. It has been shown to increase usage of the libraries.
stevage 6y ago
Do people really not use libraries in Germany any more? In the US, they are more popular than ever.
- jrm415 6y ago
  > Do people really not use libraries in Germany any more? I am really chuckling at the double meaning here. > And I really should not have written my own HTML parser for it
randomsearch 6y ago
> basically no one goes to public libraries anymore. I do. This surprises me. I always think a weekly trip to the library is good for the soul, just to be reminded of all the knowledge that's out there waiting to be discovered. Good reminder to watch less Netflix :-)
- ht_th 6y ago
  In my locale, the public library has shrunk in size to about 40% of its size 20 years ago. And it now includes a coffee bar and lunch café. The current selection is mostly popular books. For all topics I know something about, the non-fiction books seems to cater to children, lay-people, and beginners. The library has pivoted to social work, helping low-literate people, offering a safe space for teenagers to study, and a place for the elderly and 30+ women to meet. Those are all good reasons to exists, particularly because many of the visitors cannot go anywhere else, but I miss the library of my youth. I loved spending hours moving through the stacks, discovering all kinds of oddities and new things. But that seems passé. Even in the university library the amount of books has shrunk a lot and the depot with a lot of older stuff is now off-limits.
saberdancer 6y ago
I haven't been in a library for a long time, but in 90s I never had this issue. We had a "card" where librarian would stamp the date. Books had a paper on the back where they would stamp the issue date and return date. It was trivial to know when you had to return a book. Is this done differently in Germany? I like the app but I believe people won't buy/subscribe to an app that helps you only if you forget to return a book in time. Most people will believe they will return it in time and won't invest in this type of "insurance". Libraries might be more interesting customers but they have little reason to reduce late fee bills as it is extra income to them. You could/should look whether university/free libraries are interested. Hope you enjoy working on it.
- benibela 6y ago
  >It was trivial to know when you had to return a book. Is this done differently in Germany? It should be. The due dates are all listed on the webpage And some libraries even send reminder emails before the due date But that is how they got me. I got used to their reminder mails, and then - "Our mail server had a failure and now you have to pay 60€" >I like the app but I believe people won't buy/subscribe to an app that helps you only if you forget to return a book in time. Most people will believe they will return it in time and won't invest in this type of "insurance". I wish someone had told me that before I wrote it But there is also the secondary feature of keeping a record of read books. I read a lot of incomplete series before I had it, and now I want to read the rest of the series, but I do not remember what the series was. >You could/should look whether university/free libraries are interested. They are the worst. They have much less patrons than public libraries, and almost never answer emails. I think I might have gotten email PTSD from them. >Hope you enjoy working on it. I enjoyed it 13 years ago. But not anymore.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> But you cannot go to a library without it. Why is this? Did you arrange some kind of exclusivity deal with libraries in an area to manage borrowing so that people have to use it?

1f60c 6y ago
I think GP means that people should want to use the app because it can save them from having to pay late fees, not that people need to use the app. Like saying "Yelp, cannot go to a restaurant without it".

poulsbohemian 6y ago

> because basically no one goes to public libraries anymore Is this a German thing, an urban thing, or really a true statement universally? I ask because prior to covid lockdown, we made at least weekly trips to our public library and it always had a steady stream of patrons.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
benibela 6y ago
Compared to almost anything else not involving libraries There are more people reading books than there are people reading books from a library. If I had just made a tool (in English) to keep a list books without involving (German) libraries, it would probably be much more successful and only take a hundredths of effort. And worse, I did not target libraries in general, but libraries in my city. Anything limited to one city has a too low user base. I planed to expand it city by city, by selling it in one city to cover the travel cost to the next city, so I can lend books there, actually test it, and make sure everything remains bugfree. The alternative option, expert users can use it with any library, by editing the config XML files to include their webpage URL and server parameters, seems to have been too confusing for people

phovetch 6y ago

The current trend in libraries is to abolish fines and waive any past fines. It has been shown to increase usage of the libraries.

stevage 6y ago

Do people really not use libraries in Germany any more? In the US, they are more popular than ever.

jrm415 6y ago
> Do people really not use libraries in Germany any more? I am really chuckling at the double meaning here. > And I really should not have written my own HTML parser for it

randomsearch 6y ago

> basically no one goes to public libraries anymore. I do. This surprises me. I always think a weekly trip to the library is good for the soul, just to be reminded of all the knowledge that's out there waiting to be discovered. Good reminder to watch less Netflix :-)

ht_th 6y ago
In my locale, the public library has shrunk in size to about 40% of its size 20 years ago. And it now includes a coffee bar and lunch café. The current selection is mostly popular books. For all topics I know something about, the non-fiction books seems to cater to children, lay-people, and beginners. The library has pivoted to social work, helping low-literate people, offering a safe space for teenagers to study, and a place for the elderly and 30+ women to meet. Those are all good reasons to exists, particularly because many of the visitors cannot go anywhere else, but I miss the library of my youth. I loved spending hours moving through the stacks, discovering all kinds of oddities and new things. But that seems passé. Even in the university library the amount of books has shrunk a lot and the depot with a lot of older stuff is now off-limits.

saberdancer 6y ago

I haven't been in a library for a long time, but in 90s I never had this issue. We had a "card" where librarian would stamp the date. Books had a paper on the back where they would stamp the issue date and return date. It was trivial to know when you had to return a book. Is this done differently in Germany? I like the app but I believe people won't buy/subscribe to an app that helps you only if you forget to return a book in time. Most people will believe they will return it in time and won't invest in this type of "insurance". Libraries might be more interesting customers but they have little reason to reduce late fee bills as it is extra income to them. You could/should look whether university/free libraries are interested. Hope you enjoy working on it.

benibela 6y ago
>It was trivial to know when you had to return a book. Is this done differently in Germany? It should be. The due dates are all listed on the webpage And some libraries even send reminder emails before the due date But that is how they got me. I got used to their reminder mails, and then - "Our mail server had a failure and now you have to pay 60€" >I like the app but I believe people won't buy/subscribe to an app that helps you only if you forget to return a book in time. Most people will believe they will return it in time and won't invest in this type of "insurance". I wish someone had told me that before I wrote it But there is also the secondary feature of keeping a record of read books. I read a lot of incomplete series before I had it, and now I want to read the rest of the series, but I do not remember what the series was. >You could/should look whether university/free libraries are interested. They are the worst. They have much less patrons than public libraries, and almost never answer emails. I think I might have gotten email PTSD from them. >Hope you enjoy working on it. I enjoyed it 13 years ago. But not anymore.