Cataloguing books...

[fajrdrako]

Dec. 13 2007: Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? [Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin)]

If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?

Yes, I catalogue my books. I don't catalogue my books obsessively. Or methodically. Or consistently. I catalogue them on a casual basis. Occasionally. When I feel the urge to dust and I think, "I've got books I never catalogued, don't I?"

I don't use Shelfari. I joined Shelfari. I keep getting perky, friendly messages from them telling me that my friends also own The Lord of the Rings (I know) and the Dunnett novels (yes, I know). Mostly I ignore Shelfari. It looks too... colourful. Too complicated. Makes me feel lazy. I'd rather be reading than cataloguing, anyway.

To catalogue my books, I use MS Excel and I type in all titles and authors when I find the time. Sometimes also publication dates, when I feel excessively inspired. I started with the fiction. I don't think my non-fiction colection has ever entirely been catalogued. I like to think I mostly know what I have, and I mostly know where it is, and that might be stretching the definition of "mostly" but it seems to... mostly... work. There isn't a lot of rhyme or reason to it. Dunnett novels in one place, favourite hardcovers in another, biographies of English Romantic poets on a certain shelf, biographies of Julius Caesar in another... It isn't elegant, but I cope.

I'm not even going to start to talk about the question of whether I catalogue my comic books.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't know that one. I must check it out.

[takhys]

I like LibraryThing and have an old account with them, but I found the interface of GoodReads to be more intuitive.

Ta-Dah.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okay! Thanks for the link.

[takhys]

No prob. They also have a feature that lets you import all your books from an Excel spreadsheet.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That would be so easy to do!

[takhys]

Yep, yep. Most of the online ones let you do that - so if you find that you dislike one service and want to switch to another, it's pretty easy to do that.