Marie at The Boston Bibliophile asks this week’s question – How many books do you have catalogued in your LibraryThing account? How do you decide what to include- everything you have, everything you’ve read- and are there things you leave off?
I’ve catalogued 815 books so far, including books I’ve read and have yet to read. Nearly all the fiction books are in and I’ve started on the non-fiction. I’m aiming to include all the books I own and my husband’s as well.
I spent about half the day today sorting out some books to give away as there is no more room on the bookshelves to keep them all and I was tired of seeing all the piles of books all over the house. They’re still double shelved and there is still one pile of oversize books that just won’t go on the shelves. It looks like we need at least one more bookcase – but where to put even one more is the big question.
Now I have several piles of books on the dining room table waiting to be boxed and taken to the charity shop and I’ve been wondering about deleting them from LibraryThing first, so this question is very appropriate. I see that Marie keeps books in her LT catalogue even if she’s got rid of them if they have reviews attached. I don’t think I’ve reviewed the ones I’ve weeded out today but I think it’s a good idea to keep them in LT if I have. I’ve only written a few reviews and rated only a handful. I hadn’t noticed the rating system at first in my rush and enthusiasm to add books. I don’t include wish-list books.
BooksPlease 
I guess I haven’t thought that far ahead. I’m not sure if I’d delete books I’ve given away or not. I guess I’d need to think about why I put them up in the first place.. as an early reviewer, don’t they use the books in your library as a way to figure out which books to give you for review? To decide which reviewer is best for which book? If that’s the case, I think I’d leave the books you’ve given away in your LT account. But I’m new, so I’m not entirely sure how it all works.
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I’ve got a big pile of books on the dining room table right now, too! Have to get them catalogued and back on the shelves if we’re going to have any place to eat tonight.
So you’ve moved to WordPress – I’ve been toying with the idea of doing that myself, but it would mean getting used to something new and I’m not really good at that!
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I enter all of my books even if I give them away. I just wanted a place to enter everything and tag them appropriately. I hope to add tags in the future with an indicator on whether or not I still own the book.
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I use LT for recorded books I’ve read since joining. Some of those are library books. It’s a way for me to keep a record of what I have read.
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Ah the doubleshelving… it happens to all of us 🙂
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oh, yes…there will always be work to do! it takes a long time to catalogue!
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Lisamm, I’m not sure how it works either, but I want to keep my reviews, so I won’t delete books if I’ve reviewed them.
JLS what a coincidence – having piles of books on the dining room table at the same time. It has been quite a change moving to WordPress, but I’m glad I have, even though it’s taking a while to get used to everything.
Erin, I wondered about just leaving them in there when I’ve given them away and there are probably some in there now as I don’t always remember to do it.
JK it’s a good place to keep records. I had mine in a database on a laptop and it was stolen.
Kathleen, double shelving is awful, it’s always the books at the back I want to read.
Bethany, it’s enjoyable though and I keep getting sidetracked into reading the books.
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Very few of the books on my Library Thing list are books I actually own. I use it simply to record the books I’ve read so most of the ones on it have been returned from whence they came, namely the library. So I shouldn’t worry about deleting those you get rid of. They’re books with which you have an acquaintance and that should be enough.
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Well, the whole reason I started up with LT was to get a record of all the books I actually owned. We had some friends who lost everything in a fire, and it made us realize we needed actual lists of the things we would like to replace. So I am hesitant to keep books in my catalog that I do not actually own anymore – that has been my philosophy so far. I guess I like being able to look and see exactly what I have at any one time. I’m weird, I know. =)
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I have over 1,000 books listed on my LT account, but I have more to add and am lazy about doing it. I always wonder, too, about removing books I get rid of. I tend to be anal about things like that and want LT to reflect what I actually own. I am not very good about adding reviews, though. I suppose I could link back to my blog, but again, am too lazy. I do find it really helpful to have LT and all those tags–it’s nice to be able to search my books and see what I own and don’t (though would be more helpful to have them all listed…).
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I have 511 at the moment but that’s not all of them. I’ve just ground to a halt for a while on the cataloguing front. I don’t get rid of books if I can help it, I’m a book hoarder so that problem won’t apply to me not until I’m absolutely swamped that is.
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Ann, I did put library books on at first and took them off when I returned them. I think I may start adding them again with a tag “library book” or something to distinguish them from my own books, although I do keep a list of Books Read as well – see the tab above.
Elizabeth, that’s a good reason. I would hate to lose my books like that.
Danielle I’m a bit of a purist so if I do add borrowed books to LT I would have to distinguish them in some way. I’ve only recently added reviews – I thought I better had because I had an Early Review book sent to me.
Jacquie, I am swamped – or at least that’s what my husband tells me. I am a serious hoarder too and find it really hard to get rid of any.
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I signed up to this, but gave up quite quickly, when I found I’d have to pay to catalogue more than 100 or so. I should make a proper list of my books somewhere, for reference when away from them if nothing else – indeed, Mum and Dad gave me card catalogue system to do this at Christmas, but tis such a laboursome process…
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I’ve had the same questions about LT and books I’ve gotten rid of. I decided to leave them there, since in most or even all cases they are books I have read. I don’t add wishlist or library books though – I guess my ‘personal’ rule is that I only post books I own/ed.
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I had the same dilemma, whether to delete books I’ve swapped on Bookmooch. Even where I haven’t reviewed them I decided to simply tag them Bookmooch, then I know that a book is no longer in my library, and that I had decided I was unlikely to re-read it. It’s a very small proportion that I can bear to part with at all, so it seemed best. I can easily delete them if I change my mind. I don’t add wishlist books, that’s kept at Amazon and in a very haphazard sort of notebook. I do keep a list of books read since last year, but my LT catalogue is a better list, since I tag any fiction that I haven’t read as I catalogue it.
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