The disorganized book lover who can't remember where she got this book or who might have borrowed that should just shift perspectives a little. Using book cataloging software, for instance, isn't really like organizational work. It's like taking a virtual stroll through your book collection.



Many people who collect things collect almost more of whatever it is that they love than they can appreciate at one time. The person who starts out with a single kitty cat figurine might end up with a thousand of them cramming every surfaces. While different people have different opinions of that type of display, the fact is that the owner can't remember all of the figurines at once.

And she can't see them all at once, and she can't appreciate them all at once. To appreciate a display of that size, she would have to through and look at each one again. Or flip through a photo album of each individual figurine.

Book collections are really no different. You can mentally flip through your collection in your mind until it hits a certain size, and then you're bound to miss some. But if you use book cataloging software to list them all (but you'll do SO much more than just list—you'll see!) then you flip your virtual “stacks” anytime and be reminded of all the great volumes you own.

Book cataloging should be fun, and the best software makes it fun—probably more fun than you imagined it would be. That's because the software makes it so simple to do the “task” part (actually adding the books and organizing them) and so rewarding to do the “fun” part (namely browsing all those great books).

The best book cataloging software will let you add a book in a couple of simple steps like entering a keyword, title, author name or some other known word associated with the book. The software then brings up a list for you to choose from. Select it and then add. And look, the cover image is even there along with more information than you thought you ever wanted. Not bad, right?

Beats actually dusting all those books! So that was the “hard” part. Now, on to the fun. Add the information you want, in the way you want, to the books you want. Yep, it's all about you. Book cataloging can be as personal to you as the books you choose with the right software.

So you've got your books added, you've labeled the ones you want to label, sorted, organized and had a grand old time. Don't worry, you're not done playing. You'll buy more books (and you'll uncover some that you already have another time)!