This article by Natalie Conrad of Organized Habits, and a Paper Tiger Expert, gives us some great tips in how to get our books organized – whether we have just a few or a major library. As you’ll see, Natalie also recommends Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management to inventory your books — it’s not just for filing paper!
I am a book lover. I love to read and I love to own books. I have 3 bookcases in my home that are stocked with books I’ve collected – favorite authors, books on my hobbies, leisure reading, bible studies, and books that show me how to do things (like remodel the bathroom). There are certain books I will have forever and others that will be with me for just a little while. Can you relate?
Even though we can now listen to audio books and have books on e-readers, there will still be books on my shelves. Many of my clients and friends, particularly teachers and researchers, have tons more books than I do. So how do you organize the books you have? As I see it, before starting to organize, there are 2 main questions to be answered.
Walk through your home or office and make a quick list of the kind of books you have. List genres, favorite authors, types of research books, manuals and textbooks, collector’s editions, etc. You are not listing the book titles here, just getting a handle on what kind of books you have. Take note of how they are currently organized. Are there certain bookshelves for certain kinds of books or are the books intermingled in multiple locations?
Now that you have taken stock of your book inventory, let’s create your vision; a plan for how you want your books to be organized. Here’s a few ideas:
If your current system is working, then that’s fine – do not change a thing (except maybe inventory them with Paper Tiger). Leave a comment and share what you do to manage your library of books or what you are planning to do to better organize it. If you have further questions about Paper Tiger software, I’m a trained consultant and would be happy to help.
Natalie Conrad is an organization consultant, speaker, and author in Northern California. She is also the founder of Organized Habits, a premier organizing firm, serving national and local clients in homes and small business settings. She is passionate about organizing as she believes that the clutter holds one back from pursuing their life long goals and dreams. Visit Natalie’s blog for more articles like this by going to www.OrganizedHabits.com/blog
Organizing home libraries is a great way to display what you want, store the rest, but keep track of everything you own in your home library. Much of how you get organized for this area of your home depends on how much space you have for your books. Maybe you have just acquired or inherited a sizable amount of books or moved to a smaller space and have less to work with. It could even just be that you have stacks of books that are still unpacked from the last move and you are ready to get proactive in your organized living. Whatever the reason, it is time to sort through those books and make sure they are organized to prolong their shelf life, as well as your sanity, and Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management can help you get your home library organized.
Why get organized when it comes to your book collection? Well, for one thing, it is easy to lose track of exactly what you have in your book collection. If you need to reference that home repair book but don’t know where it is, you may end up having to buy another copy.
Another reason to establish an organization system for your books is for your peace of mind. Clutter can be a real cause of the added stress you feel. Getting your life in order and making sure your collection is stored in a manner that will prevent damage, in addition to being able to actually find the book you need without having to search in different places can set your mind at ease.
Don’t forget also, your book collection can become a family heirloom, a collection of literary treasures to hand down to the next generation. Should something happen to you, it is good for your family to be able to have an understanding of the filing system you implement for organizing your home libraries.
To get organized when it comes to your book collection, the first thing to do may be to determine what you would like to keep on display among the shelves, and which books you might want in other rooms. For some people, this is a stock of books they refer to a lot, plan to reread or just like to have on display. This inventory of display items can also be rotated or changed on a regular basis, if desired. Or, when a new book comes in, it may be time to retire an older one to storage or another room in the home.
After you have decided what to display and what to file away, it is time to box up the rest or keep it filed in another part of the home. To keep track of what books go where, it is a good idea to use a filing system or document management software in which you can index your books based on the location you are displaying them. This will enable you to get organized enough to be able to easily look up which of your favorite reads are located on shelves in the home, which have been boxed up and put in a closet and even those books being stored outside the home or borrowed by someone.
After you have divided your books and decided where each stack will go, you can then start a location in the software database to match the physical location where each set of books will be located. Once you have named the first location, you can begin to index each book, similar to how you might file paper files, with the book title as the item name. Then add keywords with the author’s name and maybe some information about each book, and the shelf number or box number where you’re going to place the book. For each book you add to the respective location, the software will assign an item number to that book. You would then affix a label or mark the number on the book itself to match the assigned item number.
You can categorize your books in the software by book type, such as Cookbooks, Home Repair, Photo Albums, Marketing, Finance, Business, etc. When you’ve indexed all of your books, you will be able to conduct a Google-like search in the filing system database, and the software will tell you exactly where the book is located.
You can also print out an item list report with your list of books and where they are located, either by item number or alphabetically by book name.
Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management can help you get organized so that you can find the book you need, when you need it – quickly!
