This summer I worked really hard to get things in order in our house, from my clothing to my books. I was not super happy with how things were organized overall and I just wanted to overall everything and started with my clothing and got very immersed in ways to organize my books along the way.
Originally my books were organized by genre, but I was looking to mix this up. I decided, after puzzling over it and talking it through with my hubs, that I would go in and organize by author last name. I spent hours (over a few days), taking books off of my shelves and reorganizing. I talked to several people on Instagram who also organize this way, but with the added component of also sorting by genre. This is something that I really didn’t want to do, as I wanted to force myself out of my comfort zone. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just going to the same genre area on my shelf but really looking at my books to see what I had available. Something I struggle with as a reader is just getting stuck in one genre and since I have made the shift I have noticed myself reaching for so many different books instead of the “same old, same old” when it comes to genre.
With my new organization I knew that I wanted to keep track of my books a little better as well. I was sick of not knowing exactly what was in my collection and I felt it was time for a change. I did some research and actually ended up using an App I had paid for and bought a few years back, BUT it had some great updates and made it more useable for what I wanted. I went with the Apple only App BookBuddy ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bookbuddy-my-library-manager/id395150347 ). Things I really like about this at home library app are that you can create not only categories and tags, but you can also scan books in and out of your library if you choose to lend them out. Now, I very rarely lend books out because I have been traumatized by the few times I have and they were returned in ruins, but this is a nice feature for sure! It took me a several hours (5-8) to scan each and every book into my library, as the app does have a nice scanning feature. If for some reason you have a vintage or older book you can also look that up via the app, or manually add it if you would like which I loved!
My last step was to emboss my books. I went back and forth between stamps, stickers or an embosser and I went with a customized embosser from Etsy. This ran me around $35 but it was so incredibly worth it! This also took a fair amount of time and if I didn’t have tendonitis from playing cello and typing so much before, now I do! (The hand/wrist pain is my own fault because I am stubborn and wanted to just get it all done at once.) On each title page I took my embosser and pressed it into the page. What I love about this vs. a stamp or sticker is that it is a little less “obvious” but still provides that “proof of ownership” in each and every book. I can’t recommend emoting your books enough, not only does it just look classy but it’s a great way to keep track of all of your amazing books!
If you are feeling not particularly happy with your at home library or book organization as we head into Fall I can’t recommend getting in there and organizing it enough! This gave me not only the motivation to read more but gave me a chance to look through all of my books multiple times and sort through what I needed and what I could give away and sell. This is such a great experience and such a fantastic way to go through your books. I would highly recommend doing this in shifts and going through your different stages of sorting and not tackling everything all at once. I think if I had tried to do this all at once I would have TOTALLY given up! Good luck!
Joyfully Jacquie 