If I'd known how big a project book cataloguing would be, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to start, but now that it's done, I'm quite pleased with it. There's a link to it here, and on the sidebar, and on the Sursum Corda home page. I'm not yet ready to leave it open to any and all web crawlers, so there's a small amount of security associated with it. Family members can get in the same way you access the Family News page. If you're a friend who happens to want to browse in this library, please e-mail me, and I'll be happy to open the door to you.
C. S. Lewis once quipped that the only books we will have in heaven will be ones we gave away or lent on earth. This is a lending library; if you see something you'd like to read that's not in your own public library, please ask!
The effort ended up taking over a month of pretty steady, hard work. I made much of that for myself, I'll admit. If I had been content with the content the software downloaded from the Internet, it would have gone much faster. But I wanted the information to be correct and reasonably complete, though even so I ignored many of the less important data fields, such as cover price. Even more time-consuming, I insisted on having a cover photo for each book, which required a lot of scanning, because most of our books are too old to have their cover photos online. No, it's not necessary, but it looks nice! I know how much I appreciate being able to browse books visually, as well as by title, so I'm assuming others do, too.
The last room to be done was my office; I had saved the hardest for last. On the one hand, there are more modern books here, so I could use the barcode scanner more effectively. On the other hand, there are more old books, too—just plain more books! I offer some statistics below for your amusement. They are only approximate, because sometimes I let one entry do for an entire series of books, but they're interesting nonetheless.
- Total number of books: about 1800
- Number of books in my office: nearly 900
- Top 10 authors: George MacDonald (77), C. S. Lewis (49), Patrick O'Brian (22), Charles Schultz (22), Dorothy Sayers (21), Arthur Ransome (19), Miss Read (Dora Jessie Saint) (18), Robert Athearn (16 - all in one set of American history books), John Montroll (15), Isaac Asimov (14)
- No, we haven't read all the books. Some, like cookbooks, aren't meant to be read through. Many, many others came our way when my father moved from his big house, and I mean to get to them, someday...
Why did I do this? The most important reason is that a book isn't of any use if it stays on a shelf. There's no point in having a book if you don't read it (or at least plan to), and you can't read it if you can't find it.
Moreover, we have a great treasure here, and would like others to be able to share our bounty. That's why the list is online—so others can browse and borrow. The Book Collector software comes with the ability to keep track of books lent out, which has heretofore been a problem for me.
Some people might recognize books of theirs that made their way into our collection, and say, "Aha! So that's where my book is!" Stranger things have happened. I once lent two books to Person A, and never got them back. I told you (see above) I have a problem with keeping track of what I've lent to whom. By the time I got around to asking, it was so much later Person A had no idea where the books were, so I wrote them off. Not without some sorrow, but I try not to lend any books I wouldn't be willing to give away, if needed—for just such occasions. Much later, a dear friend, Person B, died, and I was one of the people who helped sort through her books. Lo and behold, there were my two missing books! I knew they were mine because of the inscriptions, and of course I was given them back. But no one could at that point explain how they had ended up where they did, and it's still a mystery. Okay, I will give in to a trifling vanity and reveal Person A, because it's amusing to be able to say I lent books to R.C. Sproul. I also once gave a dime to a Rockefeller who needed change for a pay phone. :)
With a nod to hurricane season, which began in the middle of my efforts, all this documentation should help if we ever need to file an insurance claim. Not that any of our books are worth much, in an insurance-company sense, but if they express disbelief that we really had 1800 books, I can reply, "Yes, sir, we did—I counted them." Not that I want to lose a one of them, after all this work
And finally, when the time comes, if our heirs want to fight over who gets what book, they can do it much more conveniently this way. :)Your story about Rockefeller sounds like a "It's true! I swear!" I know you know R.C. Sproul, but the other story makes it sound like they're both fantastical. When did you give Rockefeller a dime and did you know then it was him?
Dad's going to have to help me with this, because the Internet isn't. The Rockefeller in question was at Family Medicine in Rochester some time when Dad worked there. I vaguely remember him as Jay Rockefeller, but that's a senator, so I may be mixed up. I did know he was "a Rockefeller" and not just one of the same name.
It was actually a Rockefeller-by-marriage I lent the money to. The more I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was a quarter, not a dime; it wasn't that long ago, only about a quarter of a century. :) His wife and daughter -- I'm sorry I don't remember either of their names -- took the baby Swim & Gym class with us a the Y one session. She needed to make a phone call, had no change, and the only phone available was a pay phone. Yes, Virginia, there was a time before cell phones, even for Rockefellers....
Rusty Rings a Bell! I loved that book.
I'd like to borrow The Farmer and the Obstetrician sometime.
If you want to save postage and just bring the scanner to the Maggie P, I really doubt I'll have time to do any of my own book cataloging between now and then.
I'll do that, if you won't need it sooner. The time is nearly upon us, anyway! I'll try to finish The Farmer and the Obstetrician before than and bring it, too.
Oh, boy, my first customer! Quite fitting since the scanner is yours and the idea was yours, too. :) Thanks for getting me started!
