Organizing Book Collections

On Sunday morning, I was in one of my “I need to get rid of stuff” moods. This started as I was looking for an important document in our office storage cabinet. I quickly found the document, but noticed that our book collection was starting to over-take our office cabinet. This realization prompted an all-out organization session of our book collection (much to Joel’s dismay, as he was fearful of which of his books I might suggest we lose).

We soon realized that several of the books had already been read and would probably not be looked at ever again. There were out-of-date travel books, non-helpful language learning books (at least to us), and several of our one-time favorite books that we just didn’t need to hold on to any longer.

We quickly discussed each book and placed it in either of two piles, “keep” or “sell.” We organized the books to “keep” by subject and then by size, as this book organization system works best for us. Organizing by subject allows us to easily locate a book when we need it and then organizing by size allows the books to fit nicely into our cabinet. Therefore, it’s both efficient and effective. We put the books to “sell” into large, brown paper grocery bags (boxes work too) to take to our used book store to sell. We are very fortunate to have several used book stores in our area that will buy almost any used book in good condition. Books that they are unable to buy, they will donate or recycle. It’s a one-stop shop to getting rid of books. Plus, we can make some quick cash for books that we no longer use and were taking up precious storage space in our home!

Quick tip:
If you have a book collection, it is great to go through it at least once a year to determine if there are any books that you can sell, donate, or toss. Books can take up a lot of space in your home or office. Space means $$. Plus, almost every book is sellable, so you can even make some extra cash while clearing your book clutter! Or, if you prefer to donate, check out your local library as some will accept donated books. Also, there may be some organizations in your area that collect used books for an annual fundraising book sale.

Books you want to keep can be organized by subject, size, color, etc.. Organizing books by subject makes them easier to find, by size helps them to fit nicely into a shelf or cabinet, and by color may be the most eye pleasing if your books are visible. Make sure to pick an organization system that works best for you and stick to it! And remember, if you take a book from your collection to use, put it back where you found it when you’re done; this will save you a lot of time when you go to look for it in the future.

Happy Reading!