How-To Geek

How to keep kindle library books past their due date.

It's technically not stealing from the library...

One of the best features of Amazon Kindle eReaders is the ability to borrow library books . However, just like physical books from a library, they come with return dates. We'll show you how to keep them past the due date.

It may seem strange, but digital eBooks from the library are treated the same as physical books. That means there are a limited number of eBooks to check out, and you typically only get them for 14 days. When those 14 days are up, you can check it out again, but there's usually a waitlist of people who you'll have to wait behind.

There's a very simple trick that will allow you to read a library book on your Kindle for an indefinite length of time. All you have to do is put your Kindle in airplane mode before the due date and never close out of the book. Wait, are we suggesting you steal from the library?

The best part about this trick is it's a victimless "crime." You're not preventing the next person in the waitlist from getting the book. The eBook has still technically been "returned," but your Kindle doesn't know that.

To enable airplane mode on your Kindle, tap the arrow at the top of the home screen. If you're in a book, tap toward the top of the screen to reveal the arrow.

Tap the arrow to open the menu

Next, tap the airplane icon to turn it on.

Tap the airplane mode icon to turn it on.

That's it! Now just open the book and don't leave it until you're done. That also includes if the eReader powers off due to a low battery. Theoretically, you should be able to read the book for as long as you need. Your Kindle can hold a lot of books , but sometimes one takes a while, and that's okay.

Finally, a way to organize your reading material.

library books keep

Avid readers know the struggle: You purchase a beautiful new copy of a book, only to realize that you already own it. If you’re having trouble remembering which tomes comprise your collection, you're going to love these free apps designed to help you keep track of your books — no matter how large your home library has become.

Sometimes, book nerds just can't resist the call of a free bin, a library sale, or a thrift store bookcase. It’s not so dramatic — you’ve likely never lost a job or put a relationship in jeopardy because of your reading, after all — but it’s still all too easy for your personal library outgrow your currently available shelf space. (Note that we said "currently." Feel free to continue holding out for gigantic home libraries, à la Beauty and the Beast .)

It’s all good for readers who can’t help themselves, however, because there are more than a few apps available for book nerds who want to catalogue their personal libraries. For the list below, we've picked out seven easy to use, free apps that you can download right now to help you keep track of your books.

Bookshelf: Your Virtual Library

Bookshelf: Your Virtual Library — not to be confused with the similarly named e-textbook app — is a newcomer to the market, but it’s already racked up a 4.7-star rating as of this writing. This handy program not only lets readers track their book collections on custom shelves, but it also analyzes users’ reading habits, all in one place.

With just three shelves available for categorizing — one for books already read, another for currently reading, and a third for yet-be-read tomes — Dante may seem overly simple for diehard book nerds. But don’t write this app off just yet. You can quickly and easily scan books into Dante via ISBN, and the app will gather pertinent data from Google Books, allowing you to track trends and statistics at your leisure. Dante will also select a TBR book for you to read at random, which is perfect for those rainy weekends when you just can’t settle on what to read.

You know Goodreads as THE site for rating and reviewing books, but its system of tags and shelves also allows you to sort your books in just about any manner you’d like— and there's an app that makes it easy to access from your phone.

Google Sheets

If you don't want or need any frills or fancy interfaces, Google Sheets can easily function as your go-to book-tracking app. Just enter the titles, authors, publication dates, and whatever other information you want, and sort to your heart's content.

Unlike some of the other apps on this list, Libib has a paid option for those who need to keep track of more than 5,000 items (yes, items : in addition to books, Libib can also catalogue movies, music, and video games). But if you’re still working up to that massive, 5,000-book strong home library, the free version should do the trick.

LibraryThing

In addition to helping users organize, LibraryThing is also fantastic reference: Just select a book you love, and you can find all of its associated tags and read-a-likes. LibraryThing lets personal users shelve 200 books for free, and memberships can be upgraded for $10 per year, or $25 for life.

If you're looking for an app that's a bit more interactive, try Litsy . Essentially Goodreads-meets-Instagram, Litsy lets you share "bookish moments" with your friends — anything from a photo of a novel to a favorite quote from your reading material. You can even share reviews and blurbs. And if you post something from every book you've read, you will get a very cool diorama of your reading history.

This article was originally published on July 12, 2018

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5 ways to keep track of your library books and avoid library fines

I love the library and I HATE library fines.

I know many libraries have done away with library fines altogether, but I’ve never been lucky enough to live somewhere with one of those magical libraries.

(Ours does have no fines on kids items, which is nice).

Anyway, if you’re trying to come up with a system for keeping better track of your library books and avoiding library fines, here are a few tricks that have helped our family.

Because I want my taxes to fund the library, not my library fines!

library books keep

Designate a spot for your library books to live This made a huge difference for us – I bought a large square basket at Home Goods 9 years ago and it acted as our library basket in every home we’ve lived in. Then a few years ago, we got this small bookshelf for our library books. Having a space designated for our library books means they don’t get mixed in with our personal collection and when they’re left out, everyone in the house knows where to put them. This basket keeps the picture books from the library, while I keep my books on a specific shelf in my office and the girls have a shelf in their bedroom for their library books so they can read at night before bed.

Set a calendar reminder Once a week, my Google Calendar reminds me “Renew library books!” and it’s a good nudge to hop on to my account and renew everything.

Go to the library weekly For the first few years we lived in Arizona, we didn’t have a good library routine which made it really hard to get books back on time. Once we committed to a story time day and attend basically every week, it’s much easier to renew my books in the morning before we head out and collect anything that’s due in the next few days. I think in general the library works much better for families who have it as a regular part of their weekly routine instead of trying to use it here and there (and then you get nailed by library fines and it becomes even LESS of a part of your routine).

library books keep

Have a bag or basket for books to return to the library In my office, I have a set of hooks where I hang my purse and my workbag. I also keep a tote bag hanging there and whenever we’re done with a book (whether it’s one we’ve finished or one we didn’t care for), I drop it right in that bag so it’s ready to be returned on our next library trip.

Ask for an extension Sometimes you KNOW you have a library book out and it’s due back and you can’t renew it anymore, but you just need a little extra time to find it. If the book isn’t requested, often the librarians can override the renewal limit and give you an extra 2-3 weeks. This little trick has saved my bacon more than once.

And a little PSA: Know the library isn’t perfect In a perfect world, no library book would ever get misplaced, but in my years of heavy library use, I’ve had more than one book go missing due to a library error. I remember in high school, I checked out four books for a political science class and the next time I went in, they told me I owed $16 in overdue fines. I was floored and went hunting in the stacks and returned with all four books which had been reshelved weeks earlier but never checked in (they quietly checked them back in, erased my fines and apologized).

I’d say at least once a year I have a book that I return that doesn’t get scanned back in and I have to have them find it on the shelf. I’ve had books go in the slot and then drop under the return bin instead of into it. It happens and I’ve found that the librarians almost aways want to do their best to help you out and get it straightened out quickly and easily.

If you have other tricks for keeping your library fines to a minimum (or even non-existent – teach me your ways!), I’d love to hear them!

If you liked this post about avoiding library fines, you might like these posts too:

  • 6 tips for visiting the library with children
  • How to get library books on your Kindle
  • How to build your home library on a budget

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Reader Interactions

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October 29, 2019 at 5:50 am

We always check out books in multiples of 5 so it’s easy to see if we are missing a couple! We have 13 to return? Keep looking, at least 2 are still missing!

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February 7, 2023 at 12:51 pm

I love this idea!

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October 29, 2019 at 6:30 am

We got rid of library fines on all our kids and teen materials, but it’s still tricky b/c we’re in a consortium and not all the member libraries went fine-free, or some went completely and others only kids’ stuff like us! I always tell people to pick their bossiest kid and put them in charge of the library materials (-:)

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October 29, 2019 at 7:28 am

One bad trick I learned. My library doesn’t charge a fine for the first three days it’s overdue. Then it’s 1.50. But it gives me a little leeway. My library also lets me sign up for email alerts of things almost due. And will auto renew books. I think those are just settings in my account.

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October 29, 2019 at 8:42 am

I totally understand the concern of never getting your books if there aren’t fines (I had that fear too!). However, our library did away with fines this past summer and I have not noticed an increase in wait time at all! As my library said “What starts as a tiny overdue fine can quickly snowball into a larger amount with each day that an item isn’t returned. Because people fear fines, they avoid coming back to the Library altogether. For many, this means they can’t access books for schoolwork and other vital materials or use essential services such as public computers or job resources. We would rather have you back visiting the Library instead of staying away because you owe late fines.” I am glad we can better support everyone in our community with this policy and would encourage more cities/libraries to look into fine elimination. Just for reference, I’m in Kansas City – so not a small town – and our policy is here if anyone is interested: https://www.kclibrary.org/finefree

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October 29, 2019 at 10:31 am

I’m not quite lucky enough to have a library that doesn’t charge fines but my library does have a library app available where I can keep an eye on what is due back and when, and if necessary – renew! I renew a lot…!

I check the app regularly as I often get alerts telling me a book has come in.

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November 13, 2019 at 7:17 pm

I would have the same worry if my library got rid of fines!! We’re a lot like you – we have a designated spot for library books, have a designated spot for books to return, we have a consistent library schedule (every Friday unless we are out of town!), and I semi-obsessively track my returns so I know when I returned something and it missed getting marked in. I also use our library app A LOT so I can see what is checked out on all our cards and get them returned or renewed in time! We maybe pay $1 in fines a year so it’s all pretty successful!

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December 10, 2019 at 12:38 pm

Our local libraries actually just announced that they are eliminating fines! Apparently libraries are showing a big increase in engagement when they do.

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September 7, 2021 at 2:12 pm

Encourage your library to go fine-free or at very least have an amnesty week/month. Fines prevent equitable access especially for low-income users (often those that need the library most). I have not noticed effects on availability or wait-times. Show them (the director, board, town council) the research! Here’s one study you can use: https://sfpl.org/uploads/files/pdfs/commission/Fine-Free-Report011719.pdf

February 7, 2023 at 12:50 pm

We also have a special spot for library books (one shelf in each of my kids bookcases), which I love. However, I mistakenly assumed my 3 year old could identify a library book in order to put it in the right spot. So we’ve had lots of conversations about how a library book looks different – it might have a plastic cover, a barcode (different from the sales barcode on the back), and maybe some identifying stickers. Before these conversations, she was stashing books all over the house and she’s much better about it now.

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February 21, 2023 at 11:46 am

First, see if your library is willing to go fine-less. Ours did away with fines during the pandemic, and its been really nice. Secondly, is there a fine donation program? Before the pandemic, our library would host a canned goods for fines drive, and donate all the items to the local food banks and shelters. Third, attach your email to your library account and they will send you a notice three days (at least ours is three days) before its due to remind you. Then, you can either sign on to renew it, or remember to bring it back in. 🙂

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November 14, 2023 at 1:54 pm

Check to see if your library has an app that can let you view your account anytime you want, or if they send text reminders, or if they do (or have plans to start doing) autorenewals!

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November 28, 2023 at 6:51 pm

Our city library system has eliminated fines for children and youth. If anyone loses a book, t Shey can replace it with ANY new book. So generous. Nonetheless, a fine here and there is still a drop in the bucket compared to what I would spend if I bought all of the books/materials that I borrow.

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Organizing Library Books at Home

  • Post published: January 24, 2015
  • Post category: Organizing your home and life

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My girls are old enough to start keeping track of their library books at home. Instead of chasing books all over the house and paying library fines, I’m coming up with a better system to organize library books at home. It has several parts, but they’re all easy steps.

How to keep track of Library Books at Home

Count library books.

My oldest daughter now reads one new chapter book every day or so. That’s great, but it means it’s time to start counting books at the library. I’m not sure what the right number is just yet, but we’ll start with taking out 10 items (books or movies) per kid each visit. If we check out the same number every time, in theory we’ll always be looking for the same number to return.

Get the perfect book tote for keeping library books organized at home.

At first, I was thinking I was going to DIY some sort of crate to keep at home, or maybe carve a special spot out of our book shelves in our living room. But a structured tote with a flat bottom is better for us, since it can easily travel to and from the library. I like this All-In-One tote from Thirty-One, with the size, the structure, the pocket, and the style we are looking for. I thought that we’d need one per kid, but we purchased one, and it’s worked out just fine. They love taking turns carrying it to the library.

tote to keep library books organized at home

Designate a home for a library book tote.

At home, the tote needs to be in the same spot all the time. The books themselves move around from our favorite family reading spots to their rooms to the car, which is what makes it so hard to keep track of library books at home. But they need a regular storage spot, otherwise they end up in the toy box or mixed in with our own library. The tote sits on the floor, easy for the girls to get into anytime. It’s just a bonus that’s it’s next to our TV. When they ask for screen time, we are reminded to ask if they’ve done their daily reading yet.

Finding the due date receipt at home.

The book tote has a pocket for the library due date receipt slip, which looks like a sales receipt. That sales receipt helps me know how many items we’re really looking for when it comes time to return.

Store the library receipt in the tote pocket  to track due dates

Unfortunately, the receipt isn’t an active, visible reminder. How about clipping a tag with the next due date to the front, so it’s easy to see? I’ve used my favorite card stock/binder clip/Sharpie combination here. Use what’s on hand.

clip the next due date onto the library tote

Schedule due dates on my calendar.

One reader mentioned that her library emails her a couple of days before books are due. Mine doesn’t do that, but it sure would be nice. Instead, it’s up to me, so I’m going to get in the habit of making an appointment to return books on my ipad calendar for 3 days before a batch of books is due. Some families might have a weekly routine (If it’s Wednesday, then it must be library day.), but we’re not that scheduled. We sometimes go several times in a week. But I can easily mark a return appointment while I’m standing in the check out line, or while the librarian is checking out our mountain of books. Another way to go would be to just snap a picture of the Due Date receipt and file it away in Evernote , adding a reminder on that note to ping me 3 days before the due date, and get rid of the paper altogether. (Great idea, but I haven’t actually started to do this yet.)

Make use of online renewals at the library.

Did you know that most libraries let you see what you’ve checked out via their online systems? If a book is already overdue, you can renew it online, which stops overdue fines. Check to see how your library does it.

Organize movies from the library.

We pay $1 to checkout each movie, and we only get to hold them for 1 week before $1/day overdue fees kick in, so having a place to keep the movies (in the library tote) and starting to make a reminder note for myself in my calendar should help keep those fines down, as well.

Organize all library books in the same place, no matter where they’re from.

My kids have at least two libraries they are responsible to, including the town library and their school library. You might have a church library or more than one school to track. We’re putting everything in one place, using the principle that it’s easier to look in one place for library books, than it is to look in multiple spots. (This works for adult files, as well, just in case you are wondering.)

We were already doing most of these steps to organize library books at home, but standardizing how many books we take out at a time and keeping them all in the same place will be a big improvement. It’s one more way to help my kids become independent, organized people while they are learning to love books.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, though. Even though I want to get the books back on time and in good shape, I really don’t worry too much about my public library. If I’m a day or two late, I’m happy to pay the fine. They get a little revenue, and I still pay a lot less than I would pay buying and storing the books long term.

Are you on top of library returns, or do you make peace with library fines?

Today’s Clutter-Free Living assignmen t: see if you need to apply any of these steps to help you keep track of your loaner library books.

New Year's resolutions, organizing goals, 31 day organizing plan

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This post has 2 comments.

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I LOVE our library! They now send us an email three days before a book or DVD is due as a reminder. That has has saved us lots of money. Especially when I was teaching (and taking library books to my school), we easily had 50 books out on three different cards. Fortunately we do not pay a lot of fines.

We have a place by the front door where finished books belong. We visit the library on average 3 times a week. We also take advantage of the online holds system.

Libraries are an awesome way to cut down on clutter because with them, we don’t feel the need to own every book, only special ones.

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We have a white bin next to her bookcase that is for library only books. It saves us from digging them out and wasting time. I need to put a reminder on my Google Calendar for when they are due though.

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6 Home Library Apps for Cataloging Your Book Collection

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Have you ever spent hours looking for a book that you’re almost positive that you own, but you just can’t find it amongst your cluttered bookshelves? Or have you ever purchased a copy of a book, only to get home and discover that you already own it? Most bibliophiles, myself included, can relate.

If you’re anything like me, you collect books from everywhere. The local library, secondhand bookstores, thrift stores, and online bookstores, not to mention all the books I’ve borrowed or been given by friends and family. But the more books on my shelves, the harder it is to keep track of them all.

That’s why I began researching apps that can help to organize and catalog my book collection. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until recently, but I’m so glad I’ve finally discovered a way to itemize my home library.

The following six apps are all free or cheap to download, and they can change the way you collect books. Most of them work with a barcode scanning feature that operates through the camera on your phone, making cataloging quick and easy.

These apps stop you from making repeat purchases or wasting your time searching for a book you don’t own. They also allow you to organize your home library into categories and even differentiate between hard copy books and e-books too.

So next time a friend asks you if you own a copy of a book they want to read, you can check your app and answer them with confidence.

Table of Contents

6 Home Library Apps

1. goodreads.

Goodreads is kind of like my online bible these days. I regularly visit the site to figure out which books to read next using their reviews, quizzes, and rankings, and I always check out the synopsis of brand new releases as they come in. But until recently, I had no idea that the Goodreads app lets you can collect and catalog all of your bibliographic information in one place.

Using the barcode scanning feature to quickly compile a database of every title you own, the app allows you to group your books into categories. Once you’re finished reading a book, you can add your own review and share your top-rated reads with friends, family, and anyone else with an account.

To get started, download the app (it’s free!) and sign up for an online account if you don’t already have one. Then begin scanning your books. Since Goodreads is one of the biggest library resources in the world, the app will pull up information about pretty much any book imaginable, but in case you have some older books without barcodes, you can also input information manually.

Once you’ve finished scanning your books, you can file them into different categories called “bookshelves.” There are three preprogrammed bookshelves; “currently reading,” “read,” and “to read,” plus, you can also make your own to categorize your books by things like author, date published, and genre.

  • Free to download
  • Barcode scanning feature
  • Manual entry options
  • Sort your books by category
  • Read and add reviews

Using the barcode scanning feature, the Libib app lets you scan up to 100,000 books, so no matter how massive your home library is, you should have plenty of space for new titles! As well as books, you can also catalog other items you collect, such as video games, movies, and albums.

Older books without barcodes can be entered manually, and every entry you make is 100% editable after it’s been saved; if you give it away or sell it, you can update your library right away.

The basic version of the app is free, or you can upgrade to the paid version, which has a ton of additional features.

There are tools to keep track of how often you read, so you can set daily, weekly or monthly goals if you’d like to challenge yourself.

You can also read and upload your own reviews for every book you own to share with the public. Plus, you can rate existing reviews for their accuracy or add your own personal opinion.

  • Free and paid options available
  • Store up to 100,000 books
  • Catalog movies, music, and videogames
  • Track your reading

3. iBookshelf

iBookshelf is currently the top-ranked book database app in the app store. It allows you to keep track of and organize your physical and digital books, all in one place.

Like the other apps on this list, you can catalog your home library using the barcode scanning feature. The app then immediately pulls up the details of each book you own from 16 different sources around the internet, including international sources. You can also search for books manually via the ISBN number, the title, and/or the author.

There’s also a handy feature that lets you locate books you want to read from libraries and bookstores in your local area. It will even compare retail prices so you can find the best deal, so if there’s something on your wishlist that you’ve been dying to get hold of, you’ll know the best place to find it.

One of the unique features of iBookshelf is the ability to track your book loans. If you’re the kind of person that loans borrows books to friends and family regularly, this is a really handy way to keep track of who has what book at any given time.

Plus, if you’re unsure which books you’d like to read next, there’s a built-in random book generator that chooses one for you.

  • Track your book loans
  • Random book generator
  • Find a book in your local library or bookstore

4. Delicious Library

Delicious Library doesn’t just allow you to categorize your home library; it also breaks down every book, bookshelf, and section of your book collection into a retail value, so you know exactly what your books are worth.

You can also track any changes in the value of your books as they increase or decrease over time.

The app doesn’t just do this for books; you can catalog and evaluate all kinds of things, like music, movies, games, toys, pokemon cards, and much more.

Delicious Library also has a handy feature that allows you to share your home library with friends. If you sync up your collection with others, you can borrow and loan books while always keeping track of which book is where.

Once you’ve cataloged your book collection into the app, you can rate the books you’ve already read and receive tailored recommendations for new titles based on your reading taste.

  • Know the retail value of what you own
  • Catalog games, movies, music, and more
  • Personalized recommendations for your next read

5. Library Thing

Library Thing is a free traditional book cataloging app that works in a similar way to the Goodreads App. It allows you to catalog a huge number of books using the barcode scanning feature, but unlike Goodreads, you can also add CDs and DVDs to your collection.

Plus, like most of the apps on this list, you can also add your books manually using either the ISBN or the title and author’s name.

Library Thing places a strong emphasis on the social aspect of cataloging by making it easy to share your book collection and your book reviews with others around the world. There’s also a handy feature that lets you track the titles you’ve loaned to your friends and family, along with any books you have borrowed.

Visually speaking, I especially like the Library Thing app for its book cover feature. Add any cover to your library by browsing and uploading from online sources, or snap them from your real-life collection with your phone camera.

  • Catalog CDs and DVDs
  • Photograph and upload your own book covers

6. Book Crawler

Book Crawler uses its barcode scanning feature to quickly and easily log every book you own. Once you’ve scanned a title, the app will automatically generate in-depth information on the book from various sources around the internet, including Goodreads reviews.

And like most home library apps out there, you can input information manually, using the author’s name and book title or the ISBN number.

Book Crawler is another great, intuitive app for cataloging your own collection, but I also love how it helps to plan out my future reading, too, even for books I don’t own yet. You can create categories for books, authors, or even genres that you want to read, and the app will generate suggestions based on your past likes and dislikes.

And just like the iBookshelf app, Book Crawler helps you to locate any book through its database of local libraries and bookstores in your area.

  • Generates in-depth information about any book
  • Links to Goodreads reviews
  • Organize and plan your future reading

If you’re an avid reader, these home library apps can transform the way you organize your book collection and help you keep track of what you own. They’re also a great tool to use with friends and family, as you can monitor every book you loan out and keep track of all the titles you’ve borrowed too

Plus, many of these apps have handy additional features to inspire your next read, calculate the value of your collection, and locate the books you’ve been searching for. Plus, you can join a community of online bibliophiles who read, write, and rate reviews.

Do you have a favorite home library app that I haven’t mentioned here? I’d love to hear about it; drop me a comment below!

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8 Home Library Apps To Keep Your Book Collection Organized

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Erin Mayer is a writer and editor specializing in personal essays and musings about face creams that probably won't cure her anxiety (but hey, it's worth a shot). Her work has appeared on Bustle, Literary Hub, Man Repeller, Business Insider, and more. She spends her free time drafting tweets she never finishes and reading in front of the television. Find her at erinmayer.com .

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The great thing about books? You can never get enough of them. But if you find your book collection becoming unmanageable , there are plenty of home library apps to help you get it under control. Take stock of the tomes on your increasingly crowded shelves with these eight top-rated cataloging home library apps for iPhone and Android. Then you can carry your personal library right in your pocket for easy reference.

Keep your book collection organized with these 8 home library apps. book apps | home library | home library organization | book apps | great apps for book lovers

1. Goodreads

Like many avid readers, I use Goodreads to keep track of my TBR and read negative reviews of books I love to make myself angry for fun. But there’s a lesser-known barcode scanner feature that lets you add books directly to lists without having to search for them. This is a great way to keep tabs on what you’ve already read vs. what you hope to read in the future. And, it’s free!

Available for iOS and Android.

Finally, an app for amateur librarians (we’re out there, I promise). Libib  offers both paid and unpaid plans. The free option lets you scan and organize up to 5,000 books—plus movies, video games, and albums—while the pro plan has space for up to 100,000. Both versions of the app give users access to tons of additional features.

Available for iOS or Android.

3.  Delicious Library 3

Statistics nerds will fall for this app’s chart feature. It breaks down everything from the retail value of your book collection to the amount of pages currently on your shelves. Delicious Library also makes recommendations based on how you rate books you’ve read, so you always have inspo for your TBR.

While not a cataloguing app in the traditional sense, Reco  lets you keep track of recommendations from friends, and dole them out too. Think of it as your cheat sheet for when you can’t remember what books you wanted to read while you’re browsing at Barnes and Noble.

Available for iOS.

5. Library Thing

Library Thing is similar to Goodreads, but with a stronger focus on the cataloging aspect. Part social media platform, part library-style catalog, the app sources book info from more than 4,967 libraries worldwide (plus Amazon). There’s even a feature that tracks titles you’ve lent out to friends. If you’re generous enough to let any of your books out of sight, that is.

6. Book Catalogue

This app takes more of a bare-bones approach. It allows users to input titles manually or search by IBSN or barcode and sort using a variety of metrics including author name. It’s free and has a 4.4 rating on the Google Play store.

Available for Android.

Gerty is for readers who  really  miss taking literature classes in college. While primarily an ereader, it allows you to organize both physical books and ebooks on shelves. Note-taking and journaling features let you annotate your reading experience in myriad fun, interactive ways.

Available for iOS. 

8. Book Crawler

This is another stellar cataloguing app that helps you compile an easily searchable list of books you own, It connects with Goodreads so you can check out reviews of titles you haven’t read yet or see how your opinions on books differ from that of your friends.

What are your favorite home library apps?

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New Lincoln Library book vending machine provides 'food for the brain and the soul'

library books keep

Most vending machines dispense drinks or snacks.

A new lighted vending machine at Lincoln Library in downtown Springfield is stocked with take-home books.

The public library is trying to build home libraries for children and young adults, said Denise Fisher, the library's operations coordinator .

The vending machine, which became operable after library officials held a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday, is full of books from Manga and graphic novels to picture books.

'I feel like I'm coming back home': Springfield City Council approves new library director

It will be operated with special Inchy the Bookworm coins children can receive by performing certain tasks, such as reading so many books or getting good grades, Fisher said.

The vending machine is behind the first-floor circulation desk. It was purchased with funds received from the Lincoln Library Foundation and is stocked with new and like-new books provided by the Lincoln Library Alliance.

The vending machine, which the library has considered for almost a year, costs about $8,000, including the books in it, and features a personal wrap with the library's logo, Fisher said. It was purchased from Global Vending Group in New York.

The foundation and alliance are separate 501(c)(3) organizations that help support the library's operation, she pointed out.

According to Gwendolyn Harrison, the library's director, children can also earn coins through the library's Youth Services or its co-lab, a new maker's space in the library, Harrison added.

The idea of providing children with books they can keep versus the notion of a lending library isn't mutually exclusive, Fisher noted.

A book in the vending machine − The Last Kids on Earth − is part of a series. If a child reads that take-home book, he or she is likely to return to the library to read the other books in the series, Fisher said.

"I have books that are mine and I love that, but I still check out books from here every day," she said.

Harrison added that the books children are allowed to keep gives them a feeling of ownership.

"They don't have to bring it back to the library, so it's a beautiful thing," said Harrison, who has been director for just over three months.

Fisher wants people to get over the notion that the library is just about books.

It has a Library of Things − a collection of non-traditional materials including games, musical instruments, wellness tools, and electronics − plus audiobooks and an array of programming.

The vending machine is another tool in the toolbox, she said.

"We just want to make sure people feel motivated to come in and use what we have and if this helps, it's a win for us," she said.

Fisher said the staff will keep replenishing the vending machine.

"It's like any other vending machine. It depends on what people are hungriest for," Fisher pointed out. "Sometimes chips go. Sometimes pretzels go. We're going to keep filling it for what people are hungry for.

"(This) is food for the brain and the soul."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; [email protected]; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

The Best 4 Apps to Keep Track of the Books You Own

Keep track of what you've read, what you want to read, and what books you own with these Android and iOS apps for book lovers.

If you love books, chances are you've got a pretty hefty library of them. And if you're into physical books, they're probably all proudly displayed in bookshelves at home, as they should be. When you're at home, you can easily walk up to your books to see what you have and what you're missing, but what about when you're away from home?

Having a virtual library of the books you've read or purchased helps you keep track when you're at the library or a bookstore looking for your next obsession. Check out the four best virtual bookshelf apps you can download now.

1. Bookshelf

bookshelf app home screen

The Bookshelf app makes it incredibly easy to catalog all your books. If they're newer books with barcodes, you can scan them into your virtual library and it'll automatically input the relevant info, like the title, author, number of pages, publish year, and more.

There's even a batch scanner that allows you to scan multiple books at once instead of one by one.

And if you have a lot of old or rare books in your collection that don't have barcodes or don't show up in Bookshelf's app automatically, you can enter them manually.

For each book you upload, you can rate it and enter any notes you want to remember for the future, like what you liked about it and what you didn't. If you lend out your book to a friend, you can keep track of it on the book's entry as well.

Related: Tips to Remember More of Every Book You Read

You can add customized tags to the books you upload and also sort them in customized shelves, whichever works best for you.

You could have different shelves for genres, authors, book length, moods, or whatever else comes to mind. Or you can just upload all your books to one shelf and use the sort feature to sort your books by title, author, pages, rating, and more.

The app also allows you to explore current bestsellers to find your next read. If a book catches your eye, you can add it to your wishlist.

Download: Bookshelf for Android | iOS (Free)

2. My Library

my library app showing my different books

My Library is an Android app with a simple interface that makes it easy to add books by barcode or ISBN, or you can add a book manually if it's not in My Library's system. Then, you can put books you want to read in the future on a wishlist within the app. You can also keep track of comics and video games if you're into those as well.

Although many of the books come with cover art already displayed as soon as they're scanned, you can also upload a custom image for each book. You can also add any notes you had for that title for future reference or even add a short summary for the book.

Once everything is added, you can sort through your books to find things easily. You can sort by title, author, category, series, and more. Or you can just scroll through your long list of books and easily see the title, author, page number, and publish year.

Download: My Library for Android (Free)

libib app adding a new library for books

With Libib, you can add different libraries for your favorite books, movies, video games, and music. You can add as many libraries as you need with customized titles, so you can sort out your favorites however you want. Then, you can choose to keep your library private or make it public and share it with the world.

With a free Libib account, you can add up to 5,000 items at once.

Related: The Best Book Subscription Boxes

In Libib's settings, you can change your libraries to sort by title, creator, or date added; this will change all of your current libraries. There's no current way to sort individual libraries, but there is a built-in search function.

The app also works in tandem with Libib.com , which offers the same library management service the app does, just in a different format. On the site, you can tag, review, rate, and make notes on each of the titles in your libraries.

Download: Libib for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

4. Handy Library

handy library app favorite fiction bookshelf

Handy Library allows you to add up to 100 book titles to the app by barcode, ISBN, or manual entry. If you have a lot of books to upload at once, you can make it easier on yourself with a batch upload.

Once you have books added, you can track when you lend books out to friends. You can also add books to your wishlist to make sure you don't forget to read all the books you want to.

Handy Library also has a statistics section that gives you insightful information on your reading patterns and book ownership. It shows you the number of books you own, their total value based on estimates from Google and other sources, the most common genres you gravitate toward, and the read status of your library.

You can also view your purchase report over the last six months to see exactly how much you spent on new books.

If you have a small library of books under 100, Handy Library's free version of the app is great. If you have more than that, you should consider investing in the premium version that costs you a one-time fee of $7.99. The premium version allows you to add an unlimited number of books and, let's be real, a lot of book lovers are bound to own over 100 books.

Download: Handy Library for Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

Add More Books to Your Library

After you have all your books documented, all that's left to do is add more books to your collection. Being able to add notes to each book entry will help you remember what you liked about each book you've read in the past, making it easier to choose future books.

And if you're struggling to find a new book to get into, that's nothing a book recommendation app or a stroll through the library or bookstore can't fix. You'll be enjoying your next read in no time and get to see your virtual library expand.

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How to Keep Books in Good Condition, According to a Museum Conservator

Store, clean, and care for your library with these professional tricks.

Brigitt is a freelance writer for MarthaStewart.com.

library books keep

You already know the importance of properly caring for family heirlooms (like your wedding veil) and antiques (like paintings and sculptures) to preserve their value , but there's another treasured item in your home that deserves special care: your books. The way you store volumes of text—everything from hardcover cookbooks to paperback novels —can impact how well they age over time. While you may not care how long your latest book club read lasts , anything with value, whether emotional or monetary, can benefit from special considerations.

To help guide you, we asked Sarah Melching, the Silber director of conservation at the Denver Art Museum and a member of the American Institute of Conversation 's board of directors, to share her best tips for keeping books in tip-top shape.

Avoid direct sunlight.

Much like a valuable painting or an heirloom tapestry , one of the most important things you can do to preserve a book is monitor the environment in which it's stored. "Most books are primarily organic material," Melching explains. "Those kinds of components are really vulnerable to breaking down when environmental conditions are not maintained." And sunlight is one of the biggest disruptors, she says. Over time, it can not only cause discoloration, but it can also affect the temperature in the room—another important factor in extending the life of your most beloved books . Store books in a darker part of your home—maybe a north-facing room or one that's windows are shrouded in trees. Alternatively, you can pull shades or drapes closed during prime hours of daylight to help reduce exposure.

Keep an eye on the temperature.

To keep precious volumes away from sunlight and prying hands, many store their books in spaces like attics, basements, or garages , but these areas are generally among the worst places to stash anything worth preserving, says Melching. Why? Because they aren't typically climate-controlled, you risk exposing text to harsh conditions that can cause long-term damage. If you must use these areas, do what you can to stabilize both temperature and relative humidity. This might include adding a dehumidifier in particularly sticky locales; or, conversely, utilizing a humidifier in particularly dry areas.

Consider air quality.

If you live in an urban area with poor air quality , an abundance of nitrogen and sulfur components in the air can speed up deterioration, says Melching. There are some great storage boxes that can seal out these elements (more on that later). Alternatively, placing an air purifier in the room in which your books are stored can help improve the air quality and prolong shelf life.

Don't grab a book from the top of the spine.

If the spine is in good condition, most books can—and should—be stored upright , says Melching. When it comes time to grab the book you want off the shelf, most people go about it all wrong, she explains. Tugging books by the upper lip of their binding can compromise and ultimately damage the spine over time. Instead, push in the books on either side of the volume you want. Then, grasp the desired tome by either side of its spine, gently pulling towards you.

Handle with gloves.

"The oils from your hands can also contribute to deterioration," says Melching, who explains that the experts use cotton gloves to handle valuable text in museums . "This provides a nice, clean layer between your skin and the object you're handling." If you don't have a suitable pair of gloves at your disposal, hand-washing with soap and water is the next best thing, she says. Skip the hand sanitizer , though: "There's some research that suggests hand sanitizer can transfer onto paper and cause it to yellow over time," says Melching.

Make a digital copy.

If you have a book that's already beginning to show signs of wear, do what you can to limit handling of any kind —even with gloved or washed hands. When paper begins to wear and break down , it can be extremely brittle and prone to breakage, says Melching. For documents you need or want access to—like, say, a family cookbook—work with someone who can carefully digitize the book or document in question, she says. If you're not quite sure where to find an expert who can help, contact a book conservator. You can find one in your area through the American Institute for Conservation .

Use wrapping or a storage box.

If preservation is your main goal, consider placing archival wrapping —similar to the plastic film on library copies—on books with jackets , particularly any first editions. This not only the book, but also the jacket, says Melching. A conservation-standard (also sometimes referred to as archival-quality) box can also help. These bins are manufactured to fit a vast array of book sizes and protect your most precious tomes from any unfavorable or unstable storage conditions. To ensure the highest level of protection, look for reputable brands, like Gaylord or Hollinger Metal Edge , says Melching. Just be mindful of how you store volumes inside these boxes. You don't want to find yourself digging through a box to find what you need, lest you risk unnecessary damage, says Melching.

Good e-Reader

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How to keep a library book past the due date on the Kindle

7 February 2023 By Sovan Mandal 1 Comment

library books keep

Borrowing an e-book is much the same as a physical book. That means, there is a specific return date to adhere to. You will be required to return the borrowed title on or before the return date so as not to attract a fine or other penalizing action. This is done to ensure those who have wish-listed the particular title are able to borrow the same after you have returned it to the library. If you wish to continue reading the same title, you will have to borrow it again.

Or maybe not. As the staff writer Joe Fedewa at HowToGeek revealed, there is a way to continue reading the same title for as long as you’d like to without attracting the ire of the library authorities. Joe however stressed the method is perfectly legal and does not amount to an act of stealing from the library.

Here is what you will have to do to continue reading a library book even past the due date. All that you need to do is put the Kindle in airplane mode. However, you got to do this before the due date is over. Also, make sure you never close out of the particular title. That way, whenever the Kindle wakes up, you can continue to read the book for as long as you’d want to. This applies even if the e-reader powers off due to a low battery. Once it is charged up and resumes operation, you will still have the book available, that is until you have manually closed out of the title.

Now, if the above seems an immoral act to you or strikes your consciousness, the thing to keep in mind here is that the book has technically already been returned to the library. That way, the next person who might have queued up to borrow the same will also have access to the book. Everything is working as it should behind the scenes. It is just that your Kindle isn’t aware of it all since in the absence of an active Wi-Fi connection, it has been shut off from the outside virtual world. In other words, it can be viewed as a loophole that you can make good use of if you wish to.

Meanwhile, weird as it may sound but just in case you’d like to know how to invoke airplane mode on your Kindle, here are the steps.

  • Tap around the top of the Kindle’s display. This will reveal a downfacing arrow at the top of the display.
  • Tapping on the same will reveal the notification bar containing the shortcuts for several actions.
  • Here, just tap on the airplane icon to invoke airplane mode. This will ensure the Kindle loses all connectivity with the outside world.

So, the next time you miss out on the library submission date but haven’t completed reading a book, you can now do so easily.

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Sovan Mandal

With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad.

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How Many Books Does It Take to Make a Place Feel Like Home?

There’s a reason that some people won’t let go of their physical books — and a new term for it: ‘book-wrapt.’

What It Means to Be ‘Book-Wrapt’

View Slide Show ›

library books keep

By Julie Lasky

At the turn of the millennium, Reid Byers, a computer systems architect, set out to build a private library at his home in Princeton, N.J. Finding few books on library architecture that were not centuries old and in a dead or mildewed language, he took the advice of a neighbor across the street, the novelist Toni Morrison.

Ms. Morrison “once famously said if there is a book you want to read and it doesn’t exist, then you must write it,” recalled Mr. Byers, 74, in a video chat from his current home, in Portland, Maine.

The project stretched over a generation and culminated this year in a profusely illustrated, detail-crammed, Latin-strewn and yet remarkably unstuffy book called “ The Private Library: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Bookroom ,” published by Oak Knoll Press.

The opus arrives at an ambivalent time for book owners. As the pandemic’s social and economic disruptions have nudged people into new homes, some are questioning whether it is worth dragging along their collections. Given the inflated costs of real estate and the capacity of e-readers to hold thousands of titles, maybe that precious floor and wall space could be put to other uses?

library books keep

Lisa Jacobs, the founder and chief executive of Imagine It Done, a home organization service in New York City, said that out of hundreds of projects in the past few years, she can recall only three requests to organize books. In one of those examples, the arranged books were treated as a backdrop — to be admired, but not read. “The clientele that has collected books through the years are not as numerous for us,” she said.

And yet there are clear benefits in a pandemic to having a private sanctuary programmed for escapism.

“The tactile connection to books and the need for places of refuge in the home, both for work and for personal well-being, have made libraries a renewed focus in residential design,” said Andrew Cogar, the president of Historical Concepts, an architecture firm with offices in Atlanta and New York.

Morgan Munsey, who sells real estate for Compass in Brooklyn and Manhattan, has seen well-groomed libraries in brownstones help spark bidding wars. “Even when I stage a house, I put books in them,” he said.

In “The Private Library,” Mr. Byers goes to the heart of why physical books continue to beguile us. Individually, they are frequently useful or delightful, but it is when books are displayed en masse that they really work wonders. Covering the walls of a room, piled up to the ceiling and exuding the breath of generations, they nourish the senses, slay boredom and relieve distress.

“Entering our library should feel like easing into a hot tub, strolling into a magic store, emerging into the orchestra pit, or entering a chamber of curiosities, the club, the circus, our cabin on an outbound yacht, the house of an old friend,” he writes. “It is a setting forth, and it is a coming back to center.”

Mr. Byers coined a term — “book-wrapt” — to describe the exhilarating comfort of a well-stocked library. The fusty spelling is no affectation, but an efficient packing of meaning into a tight space (which, when you think of it, also describes many libraries). To be surrounded by books is to be held rapt in an enchanted circle and to experience the rapture of being transported to other worlds.

So how many books does it take to feel book-wrapt? Mr. Byers cited a common belief that 1,000 is the minimum in any self-respecting home library. Then he quickly divided that number in half. Five hundred books ensure that a room “will begin to feel like a library,” he said. And even that number is negotiable. The library he kept at the end of his bunk on an aircraft carrier in Vietnam, he said, was “very highly valued, though it probably didn’t have 30 books in it.”

“What’s five times 40?” Alice Waters, the chef and food activist, recently asked. (The question was rhetorical.) “Two hundred, 400, 600, 800,” she calculated, apparently scanning the bookcases around her and adding up their contents (she was speaking on the phone). “And then probably another 800,” she said, referring to other rooms in her Berkeley, Calif., bungalow.

Yes, Ms. Waters, 77, who opened a new restaurant in Los Angeles called Lulu last month, is officially book-wrapt. She owns hundreds of cookbooks organized by cuisine, as well as volumes on farming, nutrition, education, environmental calamity, victory gardens, chef memoirs, French gastronomic terminology, art, architecture, design and fiction. The author of more than a dozen of her own books, she recently published “ We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto ,” written with Bob Carrau and Cristina Mueller.

Taking inventory in the room where she works (she added three of the custom bookcases last year), Ms. Waters verbally enacted the capricious browsing habits of a book lover on the loose, for whom all authors are alive, even when they are not. Her references skipped from the journalist Michael Pollan to the graphic and product designer Tibor Kalman to the environmentalist poet and novelist Wendell Berry to Patti Smith. (Ms. Waters bought 25 copies of the rock star’s memoir, “Just Kids,” to give away as Christmas gifts.)

She uses a library ladder — her shelves rise that high. “But I’m not a reader; I’m a film person,” she said. “I like to be able to pull out a book and read a passage and be inspired.”

Reader or not, Ms. Waters’s sparrow-like style of dipping and hopping is one of the great joys of library ownership, in Mr. Byers’s view. “The ability to browse among your books generates something completely new,” he said. “I like to think of it as a guaranteed cure for boredom.”

Alexandre Assouline’s loft in the NoLIta neighborhood in Manhattan is not technically book-wrapt, yet Mr. Byers would almost surely cut him slack. Chief of operations, brand and strategy at Assouline, the publishing company founded by his parents, Prosper and Martine Assouline, he recently designed a library of 400 books that fills a wall of the unit, clear to the 15-foot ceiling.

“Every day when I wake up, this is the first thing I see,” Mr. Assouline, 29, said of his collection, which is dominated by glamorous coffee-table books — the company’s specialty — and is visible from most spots in the one-bedroom apartment. Because he leases the unit, he had to erect the solid walnut shelves without drilling into the wall; they are supported by posts compressed between the floor and ceiling.

Mr. Assouline designs private libraries for other people, too, and said he treats each as a mirror of the owner’s personality, giving weight to both books and objects. Gazing into Mr. Assouline’s own reflected depths, one finds whimsical Italian porcelain monkeys and rare antique brass lions, a miniature statue group of the Three Graces and an ailing juniper bonsai tree that raised a sigh from him when its condition was pointed out. (He acknowledged that it really should not be indoors.)

“I want it to be alive,” he said of his display, meaning not just organic but changeable. “To me, a library is never done.”

It is easy to fall into a semantic swamp figuring out exactly where a jumble of books ends and a library begins, but we have clear ideas of what a room designated as a library should look like. You can thank the English country house for that, Mr. Byers said.

Having begun 4,000 years ago, as “strange little rooms in modest Mesopotamian houses” storing cuneiform tablets, libraries reached their Western European apotheosis by the 18th and 19th centuries as grand paneled spaces with fireplaces, ornate ceilings, built-in shelves, hard and soft chairs (for serious and relaxed reading), plush carpets, game tables, maybe a grand piano and secret doors (through which servants discreetly entered to tend fires).

“Libraries always refer to earlier libraries,” Mr. Byers said. Influencers include the 45-foot-long Italian Renaissance room with a barrel vault built in the mid-15th century by Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and, to a lesser extent, the bookcase-lined refuge of the British diarist Samuel Pepys, who died in 1703. Asked to describe what the library of the future might look like, Mr. Byers flashed a photo of a room at Highclere Castle in England, the setting of the television series “Downton Abbey.”

Indeed, private libraries hew so closely to convention that it is often hard to say at a glance when any particular one was completed — even roughly. (In this way, libraries are the opposite of kitchens, which a practiced eye can date to within half a decade.)

“It is often a woody room, or a room that has a deeper color sometimes, if painted,” said Gil Schafer III, a New York architect, of the libraries he routinely incorporates into residential projects. (However, when Mr. Schafer added a small library to his own retreat in Maine several years ago, he covered the walls in sheets of oak plywood rather than traditional paneling, to create an effect that was “beautiful but not fancy.”)

Even a postmodern sensation like the inventor and entrepreneur Jay S. Walker’s library, built in 2002 in Ridgefield, Conn. — which is dedicated to the history of human imagination and laid out like an M.C. Escher labyrinth, with books stacked 26 shelves high — makes clear references to antecedents, Mr. Byers points out in his book. “The recessed and paneled wall frames might have come from Kedleston,” an English country estate in Derbyshire, designed in 1759 by Robert Adam. And “the barrel vault over the library distinctly recalls Stourhead,” an 18th-century Palladian house in the English county of Wiltshire, he noted.

Which is not to say that if you build a library, it will be used as one. Roger Seifter, a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, in New York City, typically designs houses that contain a main-floor room with bookshelves, which he described as “a more intimate type of living room.” The space is labeled a library on the plans, but might morph into a den, study, media room or — especially now — home office. (Definitions quickly get murky, but architects seem to agree that libraries are rooms buffered as much as possible from noise and traffic, and thus are naturally suited as work spaces.)

Conversely, rooms intended for non-bookish purposes are finding new lives as libraries. Mr. Schafer was not a maverick when he chose to put a sofa, bookcases and a television at one end of a dining room in one of his projects. “Dining rooms can be deadly rooms where there’s a table and chairs and no other use,” he said.

“Any large room looks wrong without the appropriate number of people in it,” Mr. Byers writes. “An unused living room looks empty. An empty ballroom is absolutely creepy; it looks as if it is waiting desperately for something to happen. A library, on the other hand, is delightful when full but still especially attractive when empty.”

And masses of books, he said, represent “delights that we hold in possibility” — the joy of being able to lift a hand and tap unexplored worlds. (Because who among us has read every single book in our libraries?) “I like to be in a room where I’ve read half the books, and I’d like there to be enough books that I cannot possibly read them in my remaining years,” he said.

Still, one can dream of completion, as Mr. Byers, who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, apparently did when he inscribed this verse inside volumes from his own collection:

This book belongs to the

Rev. Reid Byers,

Who still hopes to read it

Before he expires.

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15 Best Book Reading Trackers (Print & Digital!)

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Looking for the best book reading trackers? Tracking your reading has many benefits and can help improve many areas of your reading life—from setting and reaching reading goals , to helping you form good reading habits , to even helping you enjoy reading more !

But whatever your reasons are for looking for a book tracker, the simple addition of keeping track of your reading will quickly and easily improve your reading life. So here are the best reading trackers to help you choose the best one for you!

Want more info on reading trackers? Discover what a reading tracker is and why you need one here!

Books to Read Printable on a journal

15 Best Reading Trackers

There are a lot of reading tracking methods, and here we will explore these different ways of tracking your reading. Whether you want a physical or digital tracker, a community-based tracker or a private one, and what features you want to track are all important in deciding which method is best for you.

1. Goodreads

Goodreads is a popular and easy-to-use book tracker that allows you to create “shelves” or lists of books you’ve read, books you’re currently reading, and books you want to read. You can also create custom lists to track your books other ways if you want, though these three categories are great for getting you started.

This is a social reading tracker where you can interact with other readers, get suggestions for what to read next, and more…and it also offers an annual reading challenge which is a fun way to set and reach your reading goals !

2. Book Tracking Spreadsheet

While Goodreads is a great social reading tracker, what if you want more control over your reading tracker or want your book tracker to remain private? In this case, I recommend a book tracking spreadsheet !

Spreadsheets are great because they allow you to have complete control of your data and you aren’t at the whims of developers who sometimes choose to discontinue apps (like Shelfari in 2016. RIP). You can create your own spreadsheet from scratch, or if you want to skip the hassle of creating your own you can steal the exact spreadsheet that I created and use to track my books, reviews, ratings, notes, etc.

library books keep

Buy or learn more about the Book Tracking Spreadsheet here!

3. Reading Journal Printables

Are you old school and want to use a physical medium for tracking your books? If so, a printable reading journal could be an excellent option. This method allows you to print out the exact pages (and however many pages) you want to use for your tracker, so it’s always exactly what you need. If you want to give this method a try, I have a free printable reading journal you can get here!

4. Book Reading Tracker Bullet Journals

If you like the physical aspect of the reading journal printables but want an actual journal instead of loose papers you have to collect yourself, then a reading tracker bullet journal is a great choice!

For my bullet journal, I use and love the Leuchtturm1917 dotted journal . It’s a beautiful, quality notebook that comes in a variety of cover colors and works great for creating your own reading tracker bullet journal spreads inside.

5. Premade Book Journals

Like the idea of a journal you can have and hold but you aren’t the artsy type? Never fear, there are also premade book tracker journals that are already set up for you! The My Reading Life journal is probably my favorite, but some other options include The Book Lover’s Journal , the Ex Libris Private Reading Journal , and this Reading Journal for Book Lovers .

Libib is another great method for keeping a reading log. It’s free and allows you to track and record up to 5,000 items in a professional, clearly-organized way. This is a cloud-based method that allows you to access your collections via app or web browser, which means it’s handy for tracking your reading on-the-go. It’s also fantastic (perhaps even better!) for cataloging your home library or other large book collections!

7. LibraryThing

LibraryThing is another cataloguing site, similar to Libib, that allows you to record your reading or record collections of books, movies, and music for free. It’s similar to Goodreads in that it’s a public place to keep a reading log, and it’s also social so you can interact with others on the platform using your web browser or their reading log app on your phone.

One thing that also makes this app stand out is it works by searching libraries to find the book you’re inputting, so you don’t have to enter all the information from scratch!

8. Bookshelf Reading Tracker Bookmarks

If you’re looking for a simple, fun and exciting, and/or supplemental way to track what you read, then these printable bookshelf reading tracker bookmarks are perfect! They have blank spaces on the book spines to color in and add titles of the books you read, and once you buy the file you can print out and use as many as you want.

library books keep

Buy the Bookshelf Reading Tracker Bookmarks now!

9. The StoryGraph

The StoryGraph is a newer social app that can be used to track your reading as well. While it tracks your reading, it’s also especially stellar for helping you choose your next read with its machine learning AI that understands your reading preferences to help you choose your next book. It’s also great for socializing with other readers and can help suggest reading buddies on the app if you don’t have reading friends IRL.

Bookly is another somewhat-popular option on the market, and it allows you to track your books, track your reading time (to know how long it takes you to finish a book), and unlock badges and achievements in the app as you make progress toward your goals. This is great if you need a little reading encouragement, and you can also save thoughts and quotes about the books you’re reading as you read them.

However, one of the downsides compared to other apps on this list is that you can only add 10 books before you have to pay a monthly subscription fee to use this app. So if you’re looking for a free or one-time cost reading tracker, Bookly is not the option for you.

11. Instagram/Bookstagram

Want a social reading tracking experience that is also visual and doesn’t require learning new apps? If so, then Instagram/Bookstagram could be a great choice for you!

There’s a huge book-lover presence on the Instagram app, and you can easily join in by creating an account for your book tracking. You can take pictures of the books you’re reading and save your thoughts and reviews in the captions, and also find other readers by searching hashtags like #Bookstagram. This is a free and very social way to track your reading and swap opinions and reading recommendations with others!

12. Book Breeze

Looking for a motivational reading tracker to try? Book Breeze could be a great option for you! Their philosophy is that “what gets measured gets improved,” so they help you set goals and track your progress visually, with statistics, pace tracking, smart predictions for how long it will take you to read a book, and more.

Litsy is a bookish social media/community of readers that has been around for a while, and is kind of like a dedicated Instagram for book lovers. It allows you to track your reading by sharing “bookish moments” with quotes, reviews, blurbs, etc. and gives recommendations from readers—not from algorithms. This means that you know you’re getting the best recommendations from other readers and not from a machine!

For those wanting more tracking features, they also have “stacks” for organizing your reading list. It’s a fun medium if you’re looking for a visual, social way to track your books!

Looking for a non-social book tracker? That’s what Candl prides themselves on being—in fact, it’s right in their tagline! With this app, you can add books to your personal collection and keep track of your progress, books you want to read, your completed books, and more. You can also set reading goals and stay on top of your goals with customizable reminders, as well as taking notes and finding them again with full text search. It’s a pretty simple way to track, rate, and review the books you read!

15. Notes App on Your Phone

Last but not least, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the options, why not start small with something you already know? The notes app on your phone can be a great way to keep a basic list of the books you want to track. No bells and whistles—just the information you want to track about each of your books. Then, if you want to upgrade to something fancier later, you already have at least a basic log of your reading to transfer over!

Ready to get started with a reading tracker? Here’s a quick-start guide to starting your own reading journal!

22 thoughts on “ 15 Best Book Reading Trackers (Print & Digital!) ”

You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful for you!

I didn’t realize there are so many resources for tracking all my books and reading, excited to try one or two out and get organized….thanks Bona Fide Bookworm.

There definitely are a lot of methods – hopefully you’ll be able to decide on one that will work well for you!

I’m wanting to organize my “books I’ve read/want to read” better, & I was wondering, between the different digital options you listed, is there something that can organize books by their series AND will either add or let me know when there are new books to the series. Is there such a thing? Thank you for all of this information in your article!

Hi Angie! That would be incredible! Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any reading tracker at this time that has both those features. Libib is good for organizing by series, but I don’t think there are any reading trackers currently that will let you know when new books are released. One option would be to use a tracker like Libib and then use another service (like Google Alerts , perhaps) to get notified whenever a new book is added to a series. But hopefully sometime in the future someone will come out with a reading tracker with this functionality, as that would definitely be useful!

I like https://www.fantasticfiction.com quite a lot, I don’t know how to track the “want to read” better, except maybe using their wishlist feature but they track series and send me emails when a new book is released by the authors I follow. I am not in any way affiliated with them, just discovered recently and liked them.

That’s awesome, Claudiu! Thanks for sharing!

Hi! I’m setting up this year’s tracker–yours–for the 3rd year. I was wanting to browse some of the other options you talked about. Libid keeps directing me to sites about libido…. Amusing, but not helpful! Any suggestions?

Hi Sherry! How fun to hear you’ve been using my reading tracker for several years now! If you want to scroll up to the section on Libib, you can just click the link and it will take you directly to their site to learn about it. Or if you’re looking in an app store or searching on Google, I think your problem might be the spelling. I know it’s a weird made up word so it’s easy to mix up the spelling on it, but it’s actually Libi b – as in a combination of “ li brary” and “ bib liography”. If you change the “d” at the end to a “b”, I think you should get more helpful results!

I know TheStoryGraph which is new but good although it is mainly for book suggestions. Thanks, Abi.

You’re welcome, Ali!

hi! thank you so much for this!

You’re welcome!

Wonderful resource… Thank you for making this. I just started to organize my books through google sheets. I can now access my book tracker across platforms.

That’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear it!

Hi Abi! Thank you so much for this post! It’s really helpful! 🙂 Happy New Year!

You’re welcome, Cristina! Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for your information on reading trackers. I have been wanting to log the books I read and the ones I want to read. However I really did not know where to start.

You’re welcome, Carolyn! I’m glad you found the information here to be helpful in getting you started!

I found a tracker in the iOS app store earlier this year called Reading List. They do have a premium option but if I remember correctly there’s a free version as well. Like Goodreads, you can track your started/finished books with the dates you read them, and it will also give you the total number of pages you’ve read. It’s very user friendly and I highly recommend it!

Thanks for sharing, Melanie! So happy you found one that works well for you!

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  • Caring for Books

How to Keep Books in Good Condition

Last Updated: February 16, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Kim Gillingham, MA . Kim Gillingham is a retired library and information specialist with over 30 years of experience. She has a Master's in Library Science from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, and she managed the audiovisual department of the district library center in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for 12 years. She continues to do volunteer work for various libraries and lending library projects in her local community. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 129,517 times.

Books are truly intriguing objects. They link our physical selves to the reality stored within the book's pages. They serve as memories, as lessons, and so much more. They can contain stories meant for children to complicated methods of hacking. There are many ways to treat and care for your books, whether you have a collection of rare books or simply want to keep your existing books in a good condition. Learning how to properly handle, care, and store your books will help them remain in an ideal condition and preserve their memory, importance, and quality.

Best Ways to Preserve Books

  • Shelve your books upright to avoid warping and damage.
  • Store your books in a cool and dry room, out of direct sunlight.
  • Dust your books regularly to prevent natural wear and tear.

Handling and Caring for Books

Step 1 Handle books hygienically.

  • Avoid using saliva to turn pages. Use a sponge instead. [1] X Research source
  • Use cotton gloves if you are handling a rare, old, or fragile book.
  • Don't eat or drink anything while you're reading.

Step 2 Remove large or bulky bookmarks.

  • Try using a piece of thread or silk ribbon as a bookmark to avoid any unwanted damage.
  • If you wish to keep the bookmark with the book, place the bookmark in an acid-free envelope next to the book or inside an insert. [2] X Research source
  • Avoid folding, or “dog-earing,” the corners of pages as they can cause lasting damage. [3] X Research source

Step 3 Avoid damage to the binding.

  • Use caution when opening new hardbacks as they often have a stiff spine and are prone to cracking. [4] X Research source

Step 4 Turn pages carefully.

  • Don't bend paperback covers while reading. It can be difficult to get them to resume their original shape and it often causes spine damage. [5] X Research source
  • Invest in reading copies if you have a book you can't put down and want to preserve.

Step 6 Send rare and fragile books to a specialist in book conservation.

  • Book conservationists can have many specializations, from historic preservation to binding and material repair. Consult national book conservation organizations, like the Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP) or the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), to find out which local conservationists can provide you with a consultation.

Storing Books

Step 1 Shelve books upright.

  • Placing a book flat is an alternative to upright shelving. However, when shelving a book horizontally be sure to put as little weight on top of it as possible.
  • Grab the middle of the spine when removing a book from a shelf to avoid damaging the head (top) and foot (bottom) of the spine.

Step 2 Keep books out of direct sunlight and in a cool area.

  • Humidity can cause mildew to grow on your books. If you live in a particularly humid environment, and mildew begins to grow, simply wipe the mildew with a very dry cloth and leave the book in sunlight for 30-45 minutes. Be careful not to leave it longer as sunlight can cause the cover to fade. [6] X Research source
  • If a rare or fragile book grows mildew bring it to a specialist in book conservation.

Step 3 Keep your books clean.

  • Make sure to dust your books from the spine outward so dust does not settle behind the spine. [7] X Research source
  • Avoid storing books in plastic bags. Books need to breathe and plastic can cause molding or warping. Instead, try wrapping the book in acid-free cloth or purchases a book storage box.

Community Q&A

Community Answer

Video . By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube.

  • Always place your books in a safe place, free of hazardous materials to maintain optimum quality. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
  • Handle precious and fragile books with extreme care. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 2
  • Keep your books out of reach from small children and pets so they stay in great condition. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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  • ↑ http://lifehacker.com/how-to-keep-your-paperback-books-in-good-condition-1666998626
  • ↑ https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/care-preservation/storing-books/
  • ↑ https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/5-ways-to-care-109910

About This Article

Kim Gillingham, MA

If you like to keep your books in good condition, there are a few rules of thumb you should follow to avoid damaging them. Wash your hands before touching your books and keep them away from food and drink. Try not to open your books too wide when you’re reading them so you don’t crease the spines. You should also avoid using bulky bookmarks, since these can put extra pressure on the binding or glue and leave an indentation on the pages. Store your books out the way of direct sunlight so they don’t fade. You can also dust the exteriors regularly to keep them looking as good as new. For more tips, including how to get old and fragile books repaired, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Collection Maintenance and Weeding

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Selection & Reconsideration Policy Toolkit for Public, School, & Academic Libraries

Regardless of the type of institution, collection maintenance and weeding are important components of a library’s collection management system and are often related to the goals and mission of the organization. Regardless of format, an optimal library collection is one that is reviewed on a consistent basis for accuracy, currency, usage, diversity, and subject area gaps. When evaluating print or another tangible medium, collection maintenance usually involves the continual care of the materials, including accurate and efficient shelving (and re-shelving), shelf-reading, shifting, and cleaning. With digital materials, collection maintenance includes consideration of continued sufficient coverage of databases or other electronic reference sources, checking for dead or broken links and evaluating these links for accuracy, currency, and relevancy.

Weeding or the deselection of material is critical to collection maintenance and involves the removal of resources from the collection. All materials are considered for weeding based on accuracy, currency, and relevancy. Space limitations, edition, format, physical condition, and number of copies are considered when evaluating physical materials. While weeding is essential to the collection development process, it should not be used as a deselection tool for controversial materials (see the Library Bill of Rights). Note: Step-by-step guidelines on weeding and removal procedures are not typically found in a policy but in a procedural manual. There are many weeding resources available online to provide guidance to library staff.

Public Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

Weeding and collection maintenance are based on the availability of newer, updated resources or the circulation statistics and use of materials. Policy language that references weeding should highlight objective criteria used in making decisions, such as publication date, circulation history, and the physical condition of the resource. Public libraries may decide there are areas of the collection that are important to the community (e.g. genealogy collections and local history collections), and material may not be regularly weeded from these identified collections. The policy should note areas that are not reviewed for weeding.

While reports and automation have made weeding easier, evaluating collections should be executed with a trained librarian, as certain titles (classics, local interest, backlist for authors about to release a new title after a long hiatus) may be worth keeping on the shelves despite low usage statistics — especially if only one library in the consortium or interlibrary loan group owns and will loan a copy.

Example: Public Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding Policy

The library continually withdraws items from the collection, basing its decisions on a number of factors, including publishing date, frequency of circulation, community interest, and availability of newer or more valid materials. Items dealing with local history are an exception, as are certain classics and award-winning children's books. Fiction that was once popular but no longer in demand and non-fiction books that are no longer useful are withdrawn from the collection,

Withdrawn books are donated to the Friends of the Library for book sales. The proceeds from such sales are used for the benefit of the library. Books that are not sold will be disposed of at the discretion of the Friends of the Library.

School Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

School librarians should develop policies to guide collection maintenance and weeding to ensure that materials and resources are available to students and staff and also to more efficiently manage the collection. These policies should include guidance on repair, replacement, and removal of materials. Weeding of the collection should also be guided by clear policies to determine when items should be removed and if they should be replaced with newer, updated content. Conducting regular inventories of the collection is also an essential component of collection maintenance and weeding.

Collection maintenance and weeding policies should also specify who repairs materials and is responsible for weeding and inventory. Policies should provide guidance about disposal of weeded items.

Example: School Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

Annually, the school librarian will conduct an inventory of the school library collection and equipment. The inventory can be used to determine losses and remove damaged or worn materials which can then be considered for replacement. The inventory can also be used to deselect and remove materials that are no longer relevant to the curriculum or of interest to students. Additionally, school librarians should develop a collection maintenance plan that includes systematic inspection of materials that would result in weeding outdated, damaged, or irrelevant materials from the collection.

Academic Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

In an academic library, collection maintenance and weeding are usually driven by library faculty and staff and reflect the college/university’s mission, goals, and curricula needs. In most academic libraries, the subject specialist librarian and/or departmental liaison plays a significant role in weeding the collection.

Academic library policies addressing collection maintenance and weeding can be quite lengthy and often describe a detailed set of criteria for each format and collection area. Academic libraries use circulation, publication, and subject-specific data to determine binding needs and weeding processes. Academic libraries usually engage in a multi-step approval process when items are being considered for weeding. Academic libraries frequently employ a methodology for weeding such as MUSTIE (misleading, ugly, superseded, trivial, irrelevant, or obtained elsewhere) or CREW (continuous review, evaluation, and weeding). The review process may include multiple librarians, faculty outside the library, and/or the library’s dean.

Example: Academic Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

The library's collection should be reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that the collection is meeting the current curriculum, research and informational needs of faculty and students. Materials that no longer meet the needs of the university community may be removed from the collection. Librarians are assigned as liaisons to specific departments, and they are responsible for tracking research trends and working with faculty in their assigned departments to ensure the library’s collection is maintained in a manner that meets the research needs of students, faculty, and staff.

Home | Introduction Why Do I Need a Policy? | Politics and Timing of Policy Creation | Selection Policies for Non-Public Institutions

Basic Components of a Selection Policy Library Mission | Support for Intellectual Freedom | Objectives | Responsibility for Selection | Selection Criteria | Acquisitions Procedures | Special Collections | Selecting Controversial Materials | Gifts and Donations | Collection Maintenance and Weeding | Policy Revision | Reconsideration

Reconsideration Procedure Guiding Principles | Statement of Policy | Informal Complaints | Request for Formal Reconsideration | Sample Reconsideration Form | Sample Letter to Complainant | Reconsideration Committees

Appendix Intellectual Freedom Core Documents | Challenge Support and Reporting Censorship | Bibliography of Additional Selection and Reconsideration Policy Resources

Updated January 2018 by ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom

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Q: I read in Susan Orlean’s The Library Book that libraries fumigated books for public health reasons. Do they still do that? — Carol Frank | Los Angeles That practice was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when book-borrowing was seen as a possible disease vector. Today, collections use nonchemical methods, like freezing, to treat mold and insect infestations. The observation that the coronavirus can survive on paper and cardboard for up to one day is leading libraries to disinfect nonporous surfaces and quarantine recently circulated materials for 24 hours, says Vanessa Haight Smith, the head of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Preservation Services Department .

Q: Given the science of plate tectonics, can we predict what the continents will look like in, say, 100 million years? — Claire Bugos | Chicago Scientists are actually able to predict even further out—to about 250 million years. Although a tectonic plate moves very gradually, at about the rate a fingernail grows, and the movements of the various plates are complex, scientists can still estimate how those vast pieces of the Earth’s crust will rearrange, explains Ed Venzke, a volcanologist at the National Museum of Natural History . For example, in 50 million years, Africa will move so far north that the Mediterranean Sea will disappear, and 100 million years in the future, Europe, Asia and Australia will all be stuck together. Christopher Scotese at the Paleomap Project has predicted the formation of Pangaea Proxima, a supercontinent that will be created when a combined North and South America eventually collide with Africa.

Q: Did painters living during the 1918 influenza pandemic portray the experience? — Chase Carter | Washington, D.C. Some, but not many, documented their personal experiences with influenza: In 1918, the Austrian artist Egon Schiele sketched his wife, Edith, and his mentor Gustav Klimt, both of whom succumbed to the flu. Schiele died from it soon after. In 1919, the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch created self-portraits during his illness and after his recovery. Robyn Asleson, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery , says the American artist John Singer Sargent was painting a mural in Europe when he came down with the flu. The 62-year-old recuperated in a French military tent, which he rendered in his 1918 watercolor The Interior of a Hospital Tent . He wrote of “the accompaniment of groans of wounded, and the chokings and coughing of gassed men, which was a nightmare. It always seemed strange on opening one’s eyes to see the level cots and the dimly lit long tent looking so calm, when one was dozing in pandemonium.”

Q: Why aren’t clouds affected by gravity? — Mike Ellis | Charleston, Missouri The water or ice particles that make up clouds are too small—they’re measured in microns (one-thousandth of a millimeter)—to fall at any significant speed, so they can stay up in rising or turbulent air. But, says Ross Irwin, geologist and chair of the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies , if the clouds acquire too much moisture, then raindrops form and fall out. Clouds also tend to grow in upward-moving air. The updrafts in the atmosphere help counteract the downward velocity of the particles and keep the clouds afloat.

It’s your turn to Ask Smithsonian .

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Anna Diamond | READ MORE

Anna Diamond is the former assistant editor for Smithsonian magazine.

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Demco® Shelf Backstop Adapter

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Demco® Shelf Backstop Adapter 184481

Unobtrusive solutions prevent books from falling out of place

These crystal-clear, acrylic plastic library shelf backstops are a sleek way to keep books and other media where they belong. Place the backstop where you need it to align your collection precisely on your library’s deep shelves. You take the time to organize your library shelving in an attractive, easy-to-browse way; these modern, minimalist backstops can help keep it that way no matter how hectic your space gets during the day. Economy Adapter: Place this “block” behind books and media to keep items at the front edge of shelving.

  • Crystal-clear, acrylic plastic construction

Deluxe Adapter: This shelf-style unit features a 3/4"H lower lip that extends over the front edge of wood or steel shelving up to 3/4" thick to keep it securely in place. A 4-1/2"H backstop prevents paperbacks and media from sliding backward. Recommended for open-back shelving.

  • Demco® Shelf Backstop Adapter Reviews - page 2
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MUO

How to Use Collections on Your Kindle to Keep Your Books Organized

I t's easy to lose the book you want to read in a vast Kindle library. So, if you download many books on your Kindle, set up Kindle Collections to find that specific book quickly. Collections also have a use beyond their organizational need. For instance, you can set up Kindle Collections if more than one person uses the same Kindle. These special folders are also an excellent way to keep track of anything you are learning about.

Start early with Collections. And if you still haven't used a single Collection on your Kindle, learn about them now.

What Are Collections in Kindle?

Collections are folders you can create on your Kindle to organize similar ebooks together . For instance, you can keep books from the same genre in one Collection. You can easily make another Collection of your "Next Reads" in order of priority. Even a group of documents you read from the web or your PC can help to find them easily. There's no limit to the number of books or documents you can categorize with Collections.

In some ways, Collections are better organizational tools than folders. You can keep the same book in multiple collections, which is useful when a book straddles two close genres. For instance, action and spy thrillers are sometimes tricky to tell apart.

Also, Collections can quickly be deleted without erasing the books in them.

How Can You Access Kindle Collections?

Once you create a few collections, you can see them on the home screen. A Collection is represented by a gray box with the name of the collection on top and a folder icon. In addition, a number suggests how many eBooks you have in that Collection.

One of the best ways to view Collections on the Kindle is by organizing them by Grid and Collection . Go to Sort > Collection from Your Library screen.

How to Create Kindle Collections on a Kindle?

Moving through screens of books on a Kindle is often irksome when you want to open a book and read it instantly. Here's how Kindle Collections can reduce the bother.

  • Go to the Home screen > Menu (the three-dotted kebab icon) > Create New Collection > Name your collection.
  • If you are not connected, a screen message will inform you that your collection will not be updated on the cloud until you connect. In short, your Kindle collection is local for the device. Choose to Ignore or Connect as you desire. Also, any book added directly to the Kindle from a computer will not sync to the cloud, so you will not see the book in the Kindle app or on other devices.
  • Populate a collection by long-pressing on a title or the book cover and choosing Add to Collection . Select the particular collection and tap on Done at the bottom of the screen.

Tip: Give them creative names and purpose. For instance, you can create a Collection of ebooks you would like to refer to often.

How to Create Kindle Collections on Amazon?

When you buy all books from Amazon, organizing your ebook purchases from the Amazon website can be easier. It's easy to start new Collections and add or delete books from them.

  • Log into your Amazon account and select Manage Your Content & Devices from the menu.
  • Select the dropdown for All content on the Digital Content page and choose Collections .
  • Select the Create new collection button. Next, give the new collection a name and select the Create new collection button.
  • Return to your book list from the dropdown for All content > Books . Now, you can batch-select several books and add them to a Collection or select an individual book and add it to a specific Collection.
  • To select several books, use the checkbox next to the book titles and choose the Add to Collections button on top. Then, select the Collection or multiple Collections from the list before you click on Make Changes .
  • For placing an individual book in a Collection, select the checkbox next to the title. Then, go to More Actions > Add or Remove from Collection . Remember, you can use more than one Collection for a book.
  • To sync the Collections and any changes to your Kindle device — Open the Kindle on the home screen and choose Settings > Sync Your Kindle .

How to Manage Your Kindle Collections?

To manage a Kindle collection and the books from the ebook reader, press and hold on the Collection to display the pop-up. You can also display the pop-up option within a Collection by tapping the three-dotted menu icon.

The pop-up menu displays four options:

  • Add/Remove Items : Select or deselect a book from the book list with a checkmark. Use Filter and Sort to help manage the list.
  • Rename : Change the name of the Collection.
  • Remove from device : Deletes the Collection from your Kindle, but it will remain in the Cloud. You can sync it back later if you want.
  • Delete: This will erase the Collection folder but not remove those books from your device.

When your Collections are created, you can sort your Home Screen to keep them front and center. On the Home screen, select Recent > Collections .

The Manage Your Content & Devices page on the Amazon website also provides the same facility to add or remove, rename, and delete Collections.

Other Methods to Create and Manage Collections on the Kindle

For the sake of brevity, we have kept the methods down to the two main ones. But you can also manage Collections on the Kindle for PC/Mac desktop app or any ebook management software like Calibre .

Put Your Books in Order

Sometimes, those who love books aren't particular about the mess on our shelves, desks, or even our Kindle screens. But there's something to be said about clearing up the clutter because it makes finding the book or a document much more manageable. So think about this the next time you buy a book on Amazon or download its sample. Wouldn't putting it in the proper collection from the onset be better?

How to Use Collections on Your Kindle to Keep Your Books Organized

Season of Discovery Quality of Life Books Discovered - SoD Phase 2

Druid skillbooks: 3 out of 3 discovered, hunter skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, mage skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, paladin skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, priest skillbooks: 2 out of 2 discovered, rogue skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, shaman skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, warlock skillbooks: 2 out of 2 discovered, warrior skillbooks: 1 out of 1 discovered, comment by alexwaff.

10 minute blessings vs 45 minute buffs, lmfao.

Comment by Xathian

Classes with 30 minute base buffs get boosted to 45 minutes (and keep their later 60 minute version) and Paladins get a WHOPPING 10 minutes, with their later Greater Blessings now being worse duration than the literal level 1 buffs of other classes. 😂

Comment by wazz

Classes with 30 minute base buffs get boosted to 45 minutes (and keep their later 60 minute version) and Paladins get a WHOPPING 10 minutes. 😂 10 minute blessings vs 45 minute buffs, lmfao. You know for a fact that all guides are found?

Comment by greenegg

don't worry guys, once we get greater blessings they'll be 22.5 minutes long!

Comment by Qutut

Classes with 30 minute base buffs get boosted to 45 minutes (and keep their later 60 minute version) and Paladins get a WHOPPING 10 minutes. 😂 Boo Hoo, come back when Blizzard's "Quality of Life" means keeping your 2 minute Shouts at 2 minutes.

Comment by Paytime

They should've really added a teleport for Alliance to get to SM, considering how important it seems to be for this phase.

IMAGES

  1. Library-aisle-with-wooden-shelves-and-hundreds-of-books-539673956-hd

    library books keep

  2. Bookshelf Styling Ideas to Transform Your Home Library

    library books keep

  3. 15 Best Collection of Library Wall Bookshelves

    library books keep

  4. Library Quickie: Organizing Bookshelves

    library books keep

  5. Free photo: Books in shelf in library

    library books keep

  6. 15 Best Collection of Library Bookcases Lighting

    library books keep

COMMENTS

  1. How to Keep Library Ebooks Longer (and the Drawbacks)

    If you rely on a smartphone to read and want to keep your library ebooks longer, putting your phone in airplane mode essentially turns it into a brick (or, you know, just a regular phone that also has reading capabilities and a limited library and maybe some games).

  2. All Those Books You've Bought but Haven't Read? There's a Word for That

    A library is a collection of books, many of which remain unread for long periods of time. ... I think it's a good idea to keep your shelves stocked both with books you've read and books you ...

  3. How to Keep Kindle Library Books Past Their Due Date

    To enable airplane mode on your Kindle, tap the arrow at the top of the home screen. If you're in a book, tap toward the top of the screen to reveal the arrow. Next, tap the airplane icon to turn it on. That's it! Now just open the book and don't leave it until you're done. That also includes if the eReader powers off due to a low battery.

  4. 7 Book Tracker Apps That Will Help You Organize Your Reading Life

    Libib Unlike some of the other apps on this list, Libib has a paid option for those who need to keep track of more than 5,000 items (yes, items: in addition to books, Libib can also catalogue...

  5. 5 ways to keep track of your library books and avoid library fines

    Ask for an extension. Sometimes you KNOW you have a library book out and it's due back and you can't renew it anymore, but you just need a little extra time to find it. If the book isn't requested, often the librarians can override the renewal limit and give you an extra 2-3 weeks. This little trick has saved my bacon more than once.

  6. Libby App: Free ebooks & audiobooks from your library

    A state-of-the-art reading experience. Libby's ebook reader makes it easy to customize how you read. You can adjust an ebook's font size, book layout, and lighting. As you read, you can also add bookmarks, create notes and highlights, and define words. "Libby is one of the best resources out there in the e-reader world."

  7. Organizing Library Books at Home

    Designate a home for a library book tote. At home, the tote needs to be in the same spot all the time. The books themselves move around from our favorite family reading spots to their rooms to the car, which is what makes it so hard to keep track of library books at home. But they need a regular storage spot, otherwise they end up in the toy ...

  8. 6 Home Library Apps for Cataloging Your Book Collection

    1. Goodreads Goodreads is kind of like my online bible these days. I regularly visit the site to figure out which books to read next using their reviews, quizzes, and rankings, and I always check out the synopsis of brand new releases as they come in.

  9. 8 Home Library Apps To Keep Your Book Collection Organized

    Libib Finally, an app for amateur librarians (we're out there, I promise). Libib offers both paid and unpaid plans. The free option lets you scan and organize up to 5,000 books—plus movies, video games, and albums—while the pro plan has space for up to 100,000. Both versions of the app give users access to tons of additional features.

  10. Vending machine at Springfield library gives children books to keep

    The idea of providing children with books they can keep versus the notion of a lending library isn't mutually exclusive, Fisher noted. A book in the vending machine − The Last Kids on Earth − ...

  11. The Best 4 Apps to Keep Track of the Books You Own

    Having a virtual library of the books you've read or purchased helps you keep track when you're at the library or a bookstore looking for your next obsession. Check out the four best virtual bookshelf apps you can download now. 1. Bookshelf The Bookshelf app makes it incredibly easy to catalog all your books.

  12. 3 Ways to Care for a Library Book

    Method 1 Handling Library Books Download Article 1 Wash your hands before touching your book. The slightest bit of dirt or oil on your hands can discolor or damage the pages and binding. Work up a good lather with the soap. Focus on your fingertips and the palms of your hands. Rub your hands together long enough to sing the "Happy Birthday" song.

  13. 8 Best Apps for Cataloging Books in Your Home Library

    5. Delicious Library 3. Another of the best book inventory apps for Apple users is Delicious Library, so if you're wondering how to catalog a home library then you might want to pick up this app. This app allows you to easily create your full inventory and then easily share it with friends!

  14. How to Keep Books in Good Condition

    Much like a valuable painting or an heirloom tapestry, one of the most important things you can do to preserve a book is monitor the environment in which it's stored. "Most books are primarily organic material," Melching explains. "Those kinds of components are really vulnerable to breaking down when environmental conditions are not maintained."

  15. How to keep a library book past the due date on the Kindle

    All that you need to do is put the Kindle in airplane mode. However, you got to do this before the due date is over. Also, make sure you never close out of the particular title. That way, whenever ...

  16. How Many Books Does It Take to Make a Place Feel Like Home?

    Byers cited a common belief that 1,000 is the minimum in any self-respecting home library. Then he quickly divided that number in half. Five hundred books ensure that a room "will begin to feel ...

  17. 15 Best Book Reading Trackers (Print & Digital!)

    13. Litsy. Litsy is a bookish social media/community of readers that has been around for a while, and is kind of like a dedicated Instagram for book lovers. It allows you to track your reading by sharing "bookish moments" with quotes, reviews, blurbs, etc. and gives recommendations from readers—not from algorithms.

  18. Stop Picking on Public Libraries

    Contemporary book-banning efforts extend beyond school libraries, where reasonable people might differ (a little!) about what books should be available to children, to public libraries, where book ...

  19. Tucson librarian helps children build valuable skills

    The top book checked out at the Pima County Public Library last year was a mystery read, which was checked out by 3,136 cardholders. Bisbee's last remaining bookstore is for sale

  20. How to Keep Books in Good Condition: 9 Steps (with Pictures)

    2. Keep books out of direct sunlight and in a cool area. Place your books in a controlled climate to help prolong the book's quality. Sunlight, heat, and humidity can all have negative effects on the book's binding, structure, and page quality. Humidity can cause mildew to grow on your books.

  21. Collection Maintenance and Weeding

    Every library — academic, public, and school (public, private, charter, independent, and international) — should have a comprehensive written policy that guides the selection, deselection or weeding, and reconsideration of library resources. The most valuable selection policy is current; it is reviewed and revised on a regular basis; and it is familiar to all members of a library's staff.

  22. How Do Libraries Clean Books? And More Questions From Our Readers

    Fumigation was used on library book collections in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when book-borrowing was seen as a possible disease vector. Illustration by Fatinha Ramos

  23. Tidy Up: How to Manage Your Amazon Kindle Devices and Content

    Sign into Amazon's Manage Your Content and Devices page and click the Content heading at the top. You will see different categories for books, audiobooks, apps, and video. Click the Books category ...

  24. Demco Shelf Backstop Adapter

    These crystal-clear, acrylic plastic library shelf backstops are a sleek way to keep books and other media where they belong. Place the backstop where you need it to align your collection precisely on your library's deep shelves.

  25. How to Use Collections on Your Kindle to Keep Your Books Organized

    It's easy to lose the book you want to read in a vast Kindle library. So, if you download many books on your Kindle, set up Kindle Collections to find that specific book quickly. Collections also ...

  26. Massachusetts librarian hides burner phones in books to help ...

    Some victims of domestic violence can't summon help because their partners keep watch over their phones. So a Massachusetts librarian launched an initiative to hide burner phones, pre-loaded ...

  27. How long do downloaded Libby books stay on your Kindle devices?

    oolongteagarden. • 2 yr. ago. If your wifi is on then the book will probably return at the end of the loan period. So even though you returned it on Libby, if the book wasn't set to expire for another 10 days then you will have it on your kindle until then. However, if you use the return book option on your Kindle then I believe it returns on ...

  28. Does Airplane mode prevent books getting returned to LIBBY?

    • 5 mo. ago Klutzy_Business3585 Does Airplane mode prevent books getting returned to LIBBY? I got 3 books through LIBBY that I've been waiting for a while. I plan on getting them read in 2-3 weeks however I got the 3rd book of a series before the 2nd book.

  29. Season of Discovery Quality of Life Books Discovered

    Comment by AlexWaff on 2024-02-08T22:19:35-06:00. 10 minute blessings vs 45 minute buffs, lmfao. Comment by Xathian on 2024-02-08T23:14:08-06:00. Classes with 30 minute base buffs get boosted to 45 minutes (and keep their later 60 minute version) and Paladins get a WHOPPING 10 minutes, with their later Greater Blessings now being worse duration than the literal level 1 buffs of other classes. 😂