How Can I Make a Book Catalog at Home?

Take the old-fashioned -- think of it as classic -- approach and create your card catalog on index cards. All you'll need for this are blank index cards; a pen, pencil, typewriter or printer; and a box or cabinet with drawers to hold the cards. Write the name of each book on the card and include as much other information as you need, including author, publisher, date of publication, number of pages and personal notes, such as whether you've read the book. It's easy to add new books as you acquire them. You can have as many cards per book as you like, depending on whether you'd like to categorize your books not only by title but also by author, subject matter or even a Dewey Decimal Classification or Library of Congress Classification numbering system.

Use a computer program to catalog your books. You can keep a simple list in an Excel file, a more complex record in a database file, or download one of the many programs designed specifically for cataloging. A computer program will allow you to sort your list with a click of your mouse. You'll also have the option of selecting a portion of your catalog to analyze or print out. For example, you may want a list of books by a favorite author to carry with you so you can complete your collection as you come across books you don't already have in a bookstore or at a yard sale.

Enter your book catalog on one of the online websites designed for the purpose. LibraryThing.com and Goodreads.com are two of the best known. LibraryThing allows you to search for books by title or ISBN and add them to your catalog with one click. You can tag your books in any way you like, such as by genre or location in your home, and you can organize your books into separate collections, such as a wish list or "read but unowned" for library books. Goodreads.com allows you to organize your books by virtual shelves. Both sites allow you to rate the books you've read and to look at the covers as well as lists that you can customize to show the information you want. The advantages in using the online sites are that you can access your catalog from anywhere you have Internet access and, since the information is stored on the site, you'll never lose it as long as the site is in existence.