Organizing Books, Again

Today I hope to finish digging out from this book organization project.

(We went to church, and I did a gardening project with my younger son outdoors. We had great time alone together. And despite the fact that it is absolutely gorgeous outside and spring is in full bloom, I must sit inside today and just get this project done once and for all).

It started with trying to figure out levels of books for independent reading, fiction books, using the Lexile scores. I took boxes and boxes of books out of a closet (I think about eight boxes) and looked up the scores. I needed an easy way to find books of the right reading level for my children to read from. Having a mixture of books from grades one through twelve all together in one place was just not working. What good is owning all these books if we can't access them or make use of them in an easy manner?

I then entered those into my LibraryThing account, noting the Lexile score as a tag.

I then sorted them into boxes by Lexile score groupings (700s, 800s, etc.).

My library, where my computer is, looked like a book bomb had gone off. Whole parts of the room were covered in stacks of books and we could not get to most of the book shelves. Books were on the coffee table, on the end table, on the floor in stacks and fallen piles, in boxes, and even stacked on my computer printer and on my desktop.

So today I am digging out.

But before I put these books somewhere else in an organized fashion I am making sure they are all entered into LibraryThing now that I am using my account again. That left me with piles of "entered into LibraryThing" versus "need to enter into LibraryThing". I also have stacks of "sorted by topic (science, etc.) vs. "need to sort". What a mess!

I need to access these book shelves and we need to be able to walk and sit in here. So for the book sort my foyer is full of open cardboard boxes with books overflowing out of them. For the purpose of this blog post I just counted 17 boxes of books. Groan.

At this point I am wondering if having all these books is insane. I am serious.

I am right near the end now, where it really looks bad but really the end is so close that the wrap-up of putting stuff where it belongs will take place. Then miraculously, the room will be spotless and look soothing and inviting. Then I will sit back and relax on the loveseat or in the armchair and look at the shelves and say, "I love books, this is great to own all of these books and to use them in our homeschooling, how lucky are our children?!". I wonder what I would have been like if I had a room like this or this many books in my home when I was a child?

So I had better get to work now and finish this up. If I do get it done today I may celebrate with a glass of champagne, right here in the library.

Update 5/07/07: I think I neglected to mention that at this point the project is no longer fun. I just want it over with.

I didn't finish it on this day. I am putting the finishing touches on the project right now and in a little while the books will be carted back up to the closet. Hooray!