As an example of God’s abundant provision, I have a lot of books. Never before in history has a follower of Jesus had so many good resources at their fingertips as the modern-day English speaker.
My international travels have proven to me that many more resources are available in English than in any other language. Indeed, we are blessed.
Keeping track of all those blessings can be difficult. Searching which digital copies of books you have in programs like Logos and Kindle is relatively easy. But what about cataloging print books?
Several years ago, I began to catalog my print books on LibraryThing.com. To date, I have well over 2,000 print books in my database. I originally paid $25 for a lifetime membership. However, since then, Library Thing has moved to a free-to-all model. So, the program is 100% free to use. And best of all, no ads!
Why is it important to catalog your library?
One reason is so you don’t rebuy a book, forgetting that you already own it. If I am in Half Price Books and see a book that interests me, I quickly check my catalog on the LibraryThing app to ensure I don’t already own it.
Another reason is to help you search your library while preparing a sermon or lesson. If there is a topic that I am studying, I enter that in the search field, and a list of any books in my library associated with that topic will populate, and then I can quickly get my books opened and begin studying. More than once, I have searched, and the results revealed a book or two that I either forgot I owned or wouldn’t have thought to consult.
Finally, you can notate which books you loan out to others, so you be sure to get them back!
Entering books is as easy as scanning the barcode on the LibraryThing App or simply entering the ISBN manually if there is no barcode (e.g., older books).
I know other programs, such as GoodReads, are available, but my preference is LibraryThing. What about you? Do you enter your print books into a database? If so, which one do you use?
It’s a great tool.