diff --git a/src/calibre/db/backend.py b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
index bb4ef5e18b..47e4c90c76 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/backend.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
@@ -310,7 +310,8 @@ class DB(object):
     # Initialize database {{{
 
     def __init__(self, library_path, default_prefs=None, read_only=False,
-                 restore_all_prefs=False, progress_callback=lambda x, y:True):
+                 restore_all_prefs=False, progress_callback=lambda x, y:True,
+                 load_user_formatter_functions=True):
         try:
             if isbytestring(library_path):
                 library_path = library_path.decode(filesystem_encoding)
@@ -386,7 +387,8 @@ class DB(object):
         self.initialize_prefs(default_prefs, restore_all_prefs, progress_callback)
         self.initialize_custom_columns()
         self.initialize_tables()
-        load_user_template_functions(self.library_id,
+        if load_user_formatter_functions:
+            load_user_template_functions(self.library_id,
                                         self.prefs.get('user_template_functions', []))
 
     def initialize_prefs(self, default_prefs, restore_all_prefs, progress_callback):  # {{{
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/legacy.py b/src/calibre/db/legacy.py
index 2be12f9653..6157ad1878 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/legacy.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/legacy.py
@@ -38,10 +38,12 @@ def cleanup_tags(tags):
 
 def create_backend(
         library_path, default_prefs=None, read_only=False,
-        progress_callback=lambda x, y:True, restore_all_prefs=False):
+        progress_callback=lambda x, y:True, restore_all_prefs=False,
+        load_user_formatter_functions=True):
     return DB(library_path, default_prefs=default_prefs,
                      read_only=read_only, restore_all_prefs=restore_all_prefs,
-                     progress_callback=progress_callback)
+                     progress_callback=progress_callback,
+                     load_user_formatter_functions=load_user_formatter_functions)
 
 class LibraryDatabase(object):
 
@@ -67,7 +69,8 @@ class LibraryDatabase(object):
 
         backend = self.backend = create_backend(library_path, default_prefs=default_prefs,
                     read_only=read_only, restore_all_prefs=restore_all_prefs,
-                    progress_callback=progress_callback)
+                    progress_callback=progress_callback,
+                    load_user_formatter_functions=not is_second_db)
         cache = self.new_api = Cache(backend)
         cache.init()
         self.data = View(cache)
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py b/src/calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py
index c9b01193e5..11f18bd0e6 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/actions/copy_to_library.py
@@ -396,11 +396,12 @@ class CopyToLibraryAction(InterfaceAction):
 
         # Open the new db so we can check the custom columns. We use only the
         # backend since we only need the custom column definitions, not the
-        # rest of the data in the db.
+        # rest of the data in the db. We also do not want the user defined
+        # formatter functions because loading them can poison the template cache
         global libraries_with_checked_columns
 
         from calibre.db.legacy import create_backend
-        newdb = create_backend(loc)
+        newdb = create_backend(loc, load_user_formatter_functions=False)
 
         continue_processing = True
         with closing(newdb):