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Keeping up with book lists?
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I am looking for some ideas and suggestions about how to keep up with a ‘master book list’. I want something I can use to keep track of books I want to read / read to the kids / want the kids to read. A big bonus would be something I can access with my Android smart phone when I’m at the library/book store, etc.
When I just had one child I kept a spreadsheet where I would write down book titles along with the author, where the book referral came from, the age level of the book, whether one of our two local libraries carried it, whether we owned it, whether we read it, and if so, the month/year in which we read it, and a column to write down notes on what we thought of it.
That worked great a first, but as the book list grew and I added more kids in the mix, it didn’t work any more.
I would like to keep a master list of all books I’m interested in and then categorize them in various ways and keep notes on them similar to what I tracked in my old spreadsheet. I know there are various websites and apps out there now that do some of these things (Goodreads, LibraryThing), but I would like to get some ideas about how the rest of you are managing this.
Thanks!
So, this isn’t an app idea or probably even an efficient way but I’m happy to share what I do to get the discussion started for you.
I have multiple sites’ lists combined into a super list. I took an hour or so in one sitting to go through and delete duplicates and organize. I did this by grade/age.
I use super this list to make my weekly library list. I simply copy/ paste several titles into a note in my Evernote app. I’m planning to start color coding my super list so I know not only if we have read a book, but if my son liked it. I figure i can change text color real quick after i copy them to Evernote for the week. Even if we don’t like books, I don’t want to delete any of them so that I can use the list again with my daughter.
This may sound time consuming and archaic, but it works 🙂 And aside from the big chunk of time at the beginning, it really didn’t take long at all.
Hope you get more ideas!
I have a printed list of SCM and ELTL books we still need that I keep in my purse. I’ve tried entering books we own into the computer, but it’s soooo time consuming! I just deal with the occasional duplicate being purchased.
I know you said you use Android. I use a Mac app called Bookpedia to catalog the books I own, plus I maintain lists in this same app for books I want to read. I know there are inexpensive options like this for PC’s. Have you looked into Library Thing, GoodReads or things like that?
I have briefly looked at Library Thing and GoodReads. I like the way Library Thing functions and the way it recommends other books, but it doesn’t have an Android app (not the end of the world though). GoodReads has an app, but I’m not sure I like it’s features as much as Library Thing.
I may go with one of those, but I was just curious as to how others were keeping up with this as it seems like something most of us would have to address.
It seems like such a big commitment to get so many books into one ‘system’ of tracking them. I want to get some input as to what has worked for others.
Scrapper4Life, I like your idea of using Evernote. I do use that for other things. I do like the sorting ability I had with my spreadsheet though – I used that a lot. I would sort by age range, by what was carried in our local library, by what we hadn’t already read, etc. The sorting and filtering was a pretty big deal.
I tried the free version of bookcollectorz (collectorz/books) and really liked it. I ended up purchasing it. I entered all our books (about 1200, eek! Took quite a few hours) and it is so nice. I can add wish lists if wanted. I like that it is on my PC, if internet is not working at the time, but also in a cloud to access any time.
So far well worth the investment for me and so much better (and faster) than my old xcel spreadsheet was.
Oh and since I used a program, vs my own spreadsheet all I had to do was enter the IBCN # from the book. It pulled up all the info and I can add notes and put in my own catagory. With Xcel I was entering all the info, author, publisher, date… and it was time consuming. Doing 1 number, or title, was really pretty fast.
Heather, what you want sounds like a fabulous idea! Surely there’s some bright teen out there who could create it for us!
I’ve been just keeping a spreadsheet of the books we’ve read, call #, comments, etc.
For books I want, I just cut and paste into a Word doc and save it by time period. Clunky, but it’s all I have at the moment.
Like sarah2106, I have collectorz and love it. I got the scanning pen so I can just scan the ISBN# instead of typing it in. I also like not only how the book info is automatically added but also being able to see the cover. I’m visual like that, and I find that helpful, especially when trying to find the actual book in our home library.
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