What is the best software for creating a large database of rare books?

Dan T: What is the best software for creating a large database of rare books?
My father has thousands of rare books in his collection and I would like to create a database so that he can search for books, generate a list for insurance purposes, etc.

What would be the best software to create this database in? Most of his books are not contemporary and thus do not have a barcode.

I also want to ensure that the software I choose has easy options to export the data in case I need to switch software.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Lia
There’s a Microsoft Office software program called “Access”. It might be a little confusing to learn at first, but it’s pretty useful. You can sort the books in any way that you want on this program, and I’m pretty sure you can export the data to, but that’s not something we covered in Computer Awareness class, so I’m not sure.

Answer by Luxon
You could try Microsoft Excel

Answer by Rare Book Buyer.com
I am a NYC Rare book dealer an while I have my own tools, I have heard good things about AbeBook’s Free HomeBase software:

Google Docs has some free spreadsheet programs and then your list is always in the cloud and easily accessible.