diff --git a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
index 938e5e665c..cc30f6dd5c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/sqlite.py
@@ -12,11 +12,50 @@ from sqlite3 import IntegrityError
 from threading import Thread
 from Queue import Queue
 from threading import RLock
+from datetime import tzinfo, datetime, timedelta
 
 from calibre.library import title_sort
 
 global_lock = RLock()
 
+def convert_timestamp(val):
+    datepart, timepart = val.split(' ')
+    tz, mult = None, 1
+    x = timepart.split('+')
+    if len(x) > 1:
+        timepart, tz = x
+    else:
+        x = timepart.split('-')
+        if len(x) > 1:
+            timepart, tz = x
+            mult = -1
+
+    year, month, day = map(int, datepart.split("-"))
+    timepart_full = timepart.split(".")
+    hours, minutes, seconds = map(int, timepart_full[0].split(":"))
+    if len(timepart_full) == 2:
+        microseconds = int(timepart_full[1])
+    else:
+        microseconds = 0
+    if tz is not None:
+        h, m = map(int, tz.split(':'))
+        delta = timedelta(minutes=mult*(60*h + m))
+        tz = type('CustomTZ', (tzinfo,), {'utcoffset':lambda self, dt:delta, 
+                                          'dst':lambda self,dt:timedelta(0)})()
+
+    val = datetime(year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, microseconds, 
+                   tzinfo=tz)
+    if tz is not None:
+        val = datetime(*(val.utctimetuple()[:6]))
+    return val
+
+def adapt_datetime(dt):
+    dt = datetime(*(dt.utctimetuple()[:6]))
+    return dt.isoformat(' ')
+
+sqlite.register_adapter(datetime, adapt_datetime)
+sqlite.register_converter('timestamp', convert_timestamp)
+
 class Concatenate(object):
     '''String concatenation aggregator for sqlite'''
     def __init__(self, sep=','):