Library Thing

I've stumbled upon this really cool site called Library Thing. I wish I could credit someone for my discovery, however, I cannot recall where I found the link to it. I found it somewhere while searching for various ways to organize my classroom library. Although I don't actually have a classroom to place my 300+ books in just yet, I wanted to organize it in some way so I could see which areas I was lacking books (I'm on a book buying kick, and I'm trying to at least be semi-smart with my purchases.)

I had thought about making an Excel spread sheet for all my books, but the idea of entering alllllllll that information in manually completely freaked me out. In walks Library Thing.

My library has grown a lot since it's humble beginnings a year ago.
Back in the day, it all fit in a large tub, with various other items.

Library Thing is free for up to 200 books, or $10 a year, or $25 for a lifetime membership after that. It's so easy to use, and it took me, at the most, 3 hours to enter in all 300+ books. All you do is type in the books title, and it pulls up a variety of choices for you to choose from. When you find the one you want, you just click it, and viola!, it's been added to your library. You can also add tags to note various things about the book; I noted when I had more than one copy, for example. I also took the time to go in and change the covers to match the one I actually had. Some of the copies I own of very popular books (think Beverly Cleary) are old, so I had to change the cover back to one from the '90's or even the '80's in some cases. This makes it a lot easier to search and then go find the books, since I know I tend to skim for a cover that looks like what I saw.

The one thing I really, really love about Library Thing is that it's so searchable without me having to go through and make it that way. It adds all the info I could need for most all books (some books just aren't popular enough), including the author, illustrator, major themes and topics, and a lot more, which I can then search.

It can also be shared, and others can see what is in your library. Stop by and take a look and my library and share the link to yours!

Do you store any information on your books electronically? If so, how do you do it?