One of These Days

Someday (ugh - there's that word again), when I get done going through all my garage piles and boxes, I'm going to use this kit I picked up several years ago. It is called "Your Home Library" and is put out by the New York Public Library.

The kit comes with a sturdy box, which doubles as a protective sleeve for this beautiful archival quality book. The book itself is 12x9".

Included in the kit is the book "Guide to Organizing a Home Library." This is a very comprehensive book about setting up your own library. There is a little pocket inside the front cover that the back cover of this book slides into, keeping it stored neatly together with the kit.

The kit also includes software. The idea is to enter every book you own into the computer, along with where it is located. So if you need to find your copy of a book, you can look it up in the computer. You can also search to see which books you have by a certain author. I think this feature will especially be handy since I am constantly running across deals for books and wondering if I already bought that one - ha. While organizing the kids' series books, I found that I had four copies of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Long Winter". :) I'm sure my dad wouldn't be surprised. He has helped us move this great collection of books and thought I was nuts to have so many.

The book has spiral binding and archival quality heavy parchment paper. After entering all your information in the computer, you can then print it on this paper so you will have a written copy of what you have and where it is as well. It's a cool idea, and impressive to look at, but I really think the computerized list will be my biggest asset.

The book slides into the sleeve. It is protected and looks very nice on a shelf. Can't wait to use this, but I'm a little overwhelmed. I must have at least a thousand books. I'll be interested to see how many I actually have. This will definitely take some time ...