Now, children, what shall we do with these shelves...?

[desperance]

I built the shelves; I filled them. I quail, at the thought of how often I am going to have to do this, to get all the books reshelved. That's twenty-four linear feet of shelving, and - well, I suppose it might be one-twentieth of the collection. Might be. I'm not good at judging quantity, but I usually underestimate.

Maybe I should use this opportunity, this process, to LibraryThing the collection? That might encourage me to filter, even - 'cos some of these books, it would be hard to admit publicly to their ownership. And even this evening, I did find a few that I thought maybe I could let go. If I were strict with myself. It's that thing where you find you have vol three of an indeterminate series that you've never read; that's a fairly pointless position, and the alternatives are either to make a serious effort to find at least vol one, or else to pass it on to someone else. Like that. It happens a lot, on my shelves; I've picked up so many random books, one way or another.

But. They are my books. I know few things about myself, but this is one: that I keep my books. Even those I dislike, even those I'm fairly sure by now I'll never read. They are my books; I keep them.

Now I have to find a home for countless old videos, that were squeezed onto the old shelves in front of the books. That's going to be a recurrent problem, for the old shelves were deep and allowed of double-stacking. Not so the new ones. Sigh. Too much stuff. If I can't winnow books, maybe I can winnow videos...?

Comments

[julesjones]

I believe that you are allowed to have multiple accounts at LibraryThing, and that some people have a public and a private account for this reason. There are certainly some books in my collection that may well end up in a second, private, account when I get to that box. Box, because they are deliberately not out on the public shelves...

I am actually attempting to be honest with myself and Deal With the ones I know I'm never going to read again. Mostly because Other Half has put his foot down about No More Bookshelves.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Oh, are you doing the LibraryThing thing? How do you find it - worthwhile? A chore? Both of these...?

[julesjones]

"All of the above"...

I do it in fits and starts, and it gets tedious when it's something that has to be entered by hand, rather than being able to just put in the ISBN and have the software drag up the details from Amazon. Hence few of the Folio Society books so far. But it's dead handy for rapidly checking whether I've got a book and which edition (not so handy for if I *don't* have a book, since I'm only half way through what's on this side of the Atlantic). And someone wrote a widget to allow one to drop a copy onto a PDA, which has already saved me the price of the LT subscription in not buying another copy of something I've already got. And it means I've got an offsite catalogue for insurance purposes (which was my primary reason for doing it).

Also, if you are an author, and put in at least 50 books from your own collection, you get to have an "LT author" button to put on your user profile and author page, and get listed on the page of LT authors, which is minor egoboo and may well even be vaguely helpful in selling books. My profile (with link to catalogue) is here:
http://www.librarything.com/profile/JulesJones

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Also addictive, don't forget addictive.

Plus, unlike Jules, I find the urge to improve the system irresistible, so I'm forever entering by hand, disagreeing about details of editions, having to find new cover images. I have the soul of a proofreader. You might be similarly afflicted.

You already have an author page at LibraryThing (as, mysteriously, does Carol Trent, though I've tried to combine them with limited success).

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

Did you try to add an author photo of Carol Trent?

[julesjones]

It's *horribly* addictive, so perhaps we shouldn't be tempting Chaz when he's supposed to be working. I infected at least three people on the afp irc channel, who went to play with it and couldn't stop. I got a progress report one evening that involved "I give in, I just got out my credit card" half an hour in. :-)

It's partly that my initial motivation for this was to get the books catalogued for insurance purposes, so I was trying to get as much as possible into the system in at least preliminary form. But yes, I will sit there and get it *right*. And I've been doing my bit towards scanning the covers of the older Folio Society editions that we can't get off the FS website (well, that the discussion group members who are currently FS members can pull off the website).

Might get a couple more FS books done today...

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

I can't get rid of books either - to the point of barely being able to throw away a copy of Lord of the Rings which had been read so often that it had fallen apart into about 4 pieces, and I had a fancy illustrated hard back as well as another paperback the same as the disintegrated one already in my possession. I did, eventually, manage to talk myself into getting rid of the broken one, but it was tough.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. My favourite secondhand book dealer has just departed with a box of triplicates - and I had to work very hard to persuade myself that no, there were really no books that I absolutely had to have three copies of. Two is obvious - one to keep and one to lend - but I do find it easy to make the case for three (one to keep, one to lend, one to lose because some lendees, y'know...) and I really, really don't have space for that kind of clinging-on. They keep filling my television with cheap awful-warning documentaries about people who can't get rid of stuff; I keep determinedly not watching them.

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

I reckon that so long as I can find most of the floor when I really need it then I'm doing ok. I've also recently realised where I can fit in a nice lot of extra bookshelves in the house so I'll be doing that as soon as I can summon the ergs - I do like the look of bookshelves, it's much nicer than heaps of books all over the floor. Naturally one always needs some books within arms reach but not all of them.

I think we've managed to not have any triplicates - other than LotR for a brief while as mentioned up there ^^, but we do have quite a few duplicates, as you say, that's only sensible. (No, we don't watch those documentaries either...)

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

I'm told that if you have a lot of books, it really makes sense to use the cue-cat bar-code scanner for LibraryThing.

I used to have one that I'd gotten free as part of a promotion, and eventually threw out because I never used it. Now I'll have to spend $20 to get another one. (I'm the midst of moving books and LT-ing them, too.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hmmph - sounds fab, bet it doesn't work with Linux...

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Actually, I suspect they do. I remember when the cue-cats came out as free promotion, and the linux geeks I knew playing with them. Something about "so now I have a barcode scanner, what can I do with it."

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool - thank you! *departs, in search of cue-cats* (Well, hell, they're called cue-cats...)

[julesjones]

They often have them on the LT website itself, and I believe they can be convinced to work with Linux. I keep meaning to get one myself, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Ah yes: $20 international shipping:
http://www.librarything.com/cuecat

[durham-rambler.livejournal.com]

That's quite a mark-up, since in 2005 you could buy them for 30c each. (But you had to buy half a million to get that price.) That link also refers you on to a page with Linux resources, and a very funny letter to a lawyer.

[esmeraldus-neo.livejournal.com]

Oh, man I had one of those too...you mean it eventually DID come in useful? The one thing I ever got rid of CAME IN USEFUL?

Damn.

[freaky-trixter.livejournal.com]

Ow, you remind me of my boyfriend. He treats his books as if they are his children. non the less. So, one day, we happened to live in a small replica of a publiclibrary, and that's where my temperance was over.
I do LOVE books as well, especially all those huge and expensivу art albums, with paintings bvy my favorite artists, but I try to be reasonable with that.
I try to persuade Max (my partner) and myself, that being honest with ourselves, and letting some of the books go, gives a way to new books into our lives and into our home, and gives a chance that a book that was kept for years on a shelve, will find the owner who will truly need it.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I try to persuade Max (my partner) and myself, that being honest with ourselves, and letting some of the books go, gives a way to new books into our lives and into our home, and gives a chance that a book that was kept for years on a shelve, will find the owner who will truly need it.

Ah, that's a fine argument. I just need someone else in the house to persuade me. The cats don't care.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I got quite ruthless at winnowing books when faced with an international move. If you need help, perhaps I could pop over and be cruel for you. :) And skritch the kitties.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Any time. Truly.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I alphabetize, too. I find it deeply soothing in a compulsive way. :)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. Half the pleasure anticipation of this whole reshelving project is that I can get all the books into order. I have been very slow about this - been in the house twelve years, and only half the books are ordered - but as you say, it's a soothing thing. I sorted the children's books when my Sophie-cat was in hospital being operated on, and chances were she wasn't coming home (she did, for years longer - but that's a told story). I tackled the SF during one of my regular got-no-publisher crises. Etc. Sometimes it's obvious to me that I shoulda bin a librarian.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

And of course, if you were a librarian, you'd be writing novels as a way of hiding from the stresses of librarianship...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

You see? It would have been ideal...

[mantichore.livejournal.com]

«But. They are my books. I know few things about myself, but this is one: that I keep my books. Even those I dislike, even those I'm fairly sure by now I'll never read. They are my books; I keep them.»

Oh. That's a comfort. I thought I might be the only sick puppy who had this kind of psychological problem. Glad to see there's a whole litter of them! ^_______^

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

I used to be like that - WE used to be like that, all 5 of us - but eventually the floor boards began to creak and we down sized houses to move here. There were tears and sadness, but the charity shops in Cambridge celebrated our largesse.

Then we discovered Barter Books, who don't seem to mind us using them as a library (they have the finest choice of Chaz books I know)

Someday, when I win the lottery, I'm going to get myself a proper library.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Then we discovered Barter Books, who don't seem to mind us using them as a library (they have the finest choice of Chaz books I know)

- and they've just restocked (http://www.barterbooks.co.uk), so if you're missing anything, they'd be a good place to start. Or of course just ask me.

A friend came round yesterday and we built another shelf, and filled it - and discovered in the process that yes, it is true: everything must get worse before it can get better. I have added shelves, and yet there are more books unshelved than there were before, and they are in less good order. Aaaargh...!