I have thousands of books too, at least 400 of which are costume related.
I also have thousands, and over 1,000 costume related.
I don't need an insurance inventory, fortunately!
Well, everybody might need to claim insurance some day. My in-laws' house burned down in the firestorm in the East Bay some years ago, and it turned out their policy required listing every single item they wanted to claim, down to the skillets and the towels--along with current values. I'm well aware how much work that is, because I did most of it. And they had no collector instincts whatever--that house was like something out of a magazine, it looked like no one even lived in it. (Fortunately, they used the insurance money to build an even fancier house that looks like no one lives in it.)
However, the quick way to document your book collection--assuming you have it on shelves or otherwise visible--is to pan a video camera over it. That way you can at least prove to the insurance company that you did own these books. If your house burns down or whatever, then you can look up the current values on the net.
I already know lots of people with similar interests, and don't have time to keep up with them all.
True, but it's heartwarming to see a lot of people get together because they love books.
With the "tags", it also helps with organization... so I can find a particular book again! Most systems were just too cumbersome and slow.. you have to enter ALL the info by hand.. that I kept putting it off.
The Librarything system is easy, because you can just click on something to add it. However, I don't want any of my data stored on someone else's machine, and therefore be dependent on their backup system, site availability, continued existence, etc.
We have Microsoft Access, and it would be easy to build a little cataloging application for it. (My husband is a programmer, and he built the databases for our publishing business on access.) We just have not gotten around to it. Entering all this stuff in any system is so much work, when there is so much else to do. But it would keep me from buying duplicates of books I already have, which I do on occasion.
Maybe I'm lucky? I already file in types/kinds, like factual reference/sci fi.classics/ historical fiction etc., and authors and dates, and my costume related books are in my work room, so I never have trouble finding a book, unless I haven't put it back where it belongs.
Those were the days, when I had enough shelf space for that. Now about half my books are in stacks all over the floors in every room. They're sort of categorized, but no way can I keep them all alphabetized by author name and so on. Luckily I'm good at remembering titles, author names, and approximately where things are.
As for lending out books, I learned long ago that lending someone something is tatamount to kissing it goodbye. I don't bring people in for viewings either--not since that time years ago when someone took the opportunity to steal some of my books and then brag to other people about how clever she was to have done it. Smuggled them out under a long cape--it's not like I strip search guests before they leave.
Fran Lavolta Press Books on Historic Costuming http://www.lavoltapress.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
