☼Assistance with Books Please

• Books Books So Many Books So Little Time (:
  1. My request to you…the bmindful community
  2. Some fun ideas
  3. My challenge

• ☼ 1/3 .So here’s the deal….I love my books! I want to hear how you organize yours…Do you have an inventory of them? Do you keep notes on them? What are your favorite ways you’ve kept records of them and their good parts?

Do you have a favorite template that keeps your book-records? Do you enjoy keeping a variety of books…and what’s your style of keeping them the wonderful resource they were meant to be?

Thanks for your input(:

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textileRef:13238431086805de08545e7:linkStartMarker:”* ☼ 2/3

• Fun and Some Practical Ideas on the internet:
• “ (20) Creativity w/Book Shelves”:textileRef:13238431086805de08545e7:linkStartMarker:“http://freshome.com/2008/02/25/30-of-the-most-creative-bookshelves-designs/
• “ (30) Insanely Creative”:http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/20-insanely-creative-bookshelves
• Around the Door
• cute-next to desk
• creativity everywhere
• 10 shelves
• LBracket-practical
• crooked brains

Books Notes Magazines

• Ikea

Fun and Some Practical Ideas on the internet I came across:
Sites:

• Gurulib
• Shelfari
• Library Thing
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• ☼ 3/3 Here’s the challenge:

I don’t like to start a thread with an assumption…but here goes…I imagine most bmindfulers are well read and have lots and lots of books. I know that’s the case with myself. And while I’m truly in a mode of decluttering, books are not something I try to rid myself of.

Like many I don’t come from the Electronic Info Age…I have been online with my own PC less than a decade…While the internet is phenomenal…it still cannot replace a book. Though…yes…don’t get me wrong…when doing research today on anything….thank you information highway(: It’s beyond quick…sources galore….and researching the sources are easily done too, for the most part.

I have always loved a variety of types of reference books depending on my course of study. And anyone who has gone to school knows we study a variety of things, and to understand 1 area, we read backgrounds on others. And of course there is required reading…and books that assist with personal growth, and references for that. Oh yes, if you are already in your career, job or have a business you’d like to begin…great books for that. And if you’ve changed your career…the info you may want to keep handy for transferrable skills. Can’t forget areas you wanted to learn, but didn’t have time for a class…so those great books ….books books books…And the older you get….more books books books…

• I organize them often, like some redecorate(:
• I try to create new shelving styles to quickly locate the one I’d like/need.
• I’ve tried note taking techniques from various books…thinking I won’t need the book if I save the most useful parts.

Books get to be your friend, if they teach, agree or keep you on the path of least resistance in areas vital to your wellbeing…or other areas to living well.

After awhile…these ‘friends’ are just reminders that you ‘know’ them…or they contain only part of something truly relevant in your life…..
My goal is to keep these ‘buddies” with a more active place in my life. I want to nourish our relationship…but I can’t see this working without “extreme” order. If not, my friends will be forgotten and any system to renew what we had will be lost ):
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So again thank you in advance for your creativity in this area….

(: A recap:
So here’s the deal….I love my books! I want to hear how you organize yours…Do you have an inventory of them? Do you keep notes on them? What are your favorite ways you’ve kept records of books you own and their good parts?
Do you have a favorite template that keeps your book-records? Do you enjoy keeping a variety of books…and what’s your style of keeping them the wonderful resource they were meant to be?

Thanks for your input(:

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The following are pieces I’ve located online for researching how to organize my books and cross reference material:
will revise these ideas soon../ cross reference and note card possibilities:

• Number the pages of your notebook/5×7 so you can cross-reference with notes from other reading materials.
• Marking and cross referencing
• An article from one who cross references
• “Cross referencing is a simple task that’s often overlooked, but it can provide a much richer understanding to the subject. It also helps to make sense out of large amounts of material and to see key relationships” from a study source online
• note cards
• reference note cards
• APA footnotes and endnotes
• (for online info too) Begin your citation with the author’s name (last name, first name) if known. Followed by the copyright date or web publication date (in parentheses ( ) for APA).
  You may use the year only, if the entire date is not provided.
  If no author is given, Just list the date and skip to step 2.
  List the title of the document either underlined, in italics or in quotations.
  List the website name in italics
  List the date you viewed the document in month date year format.
  List the complete URL address of a specific page or the first page if you citing an entire document.
• From How to create a study guide Concept maps. These involve main idea boxes, connected according to relevance (chronological or otherwise), with branches of associated material stemming from the main ideas. This study guide method provides a good visual of how subject material fits together to make a whole concept.
  Comparison charts. Create study guides using comparison charts when it is necessary to compare and contrast a related group of ideas. For example, a comparison chart on different plant species would list plant names, side by side, then list the plants’ kingdom, family and genus in coinciding columns underneath.
  Flash cards. Also called concept cards, these are generally created using index cards and may contain as much or as little information as you wish. Write 1 key concept on the front of each index card and then, on the back of the cards, write whatever fact(s) you want to associate with the key concepts.
  Diagrams. A study guide diagram is ideal for visually representing processes or procedures that take place by way of a series of defined steps. These start with a main concept and are organized from left to right in a way that highlights important key factors in order of how they happen.
  Time lines. Good for outlining a series of chronological events, time lines are most often used for subjects like history, politics and biology.
• Quick Note Template-Free Printables
• 2 pages of quick notes -free printable
• prewriting strategies

In recent years I,ve bought maybe 2 dozen books.12 in print the rest audio books.The audios I keep top drawer near dvd,the print scattered on the floor,cause I,m more likely to read them daily if there in plain sight,and I probably could be more organized…I put more emphasis on fileing the info I gather, in my brain.In other words,you could say my mind is more organized than my apartment.I have been reading more recently,tv,doesn,t appeal to me much anymore.Anyway I,ll be in touch tomorrow as I,m off to get some sleep(:

I do not organize my books, but as I read I do make notes in the margins as well as in a notebook.. If I reread a book it is insightful to see what i jotted down the first time and how i have changed or stayed the same. My note book is for ideas I don’t want to forget. Great thread Laurie.

In response to ezdoesit’s post:
In response to coachhouse’s post:
Thanks much for your input. Coachouse, I really like your notebook idea for this project!(: And I too write in my books(: Some say it messes them up, but I like my messed up books(:Ezduz it, I also keep my things I look at/listen to close at hand. That’s very good advice too…When life doesn’t consist with only 1 activity, it is great to have a visual reminder where your focus was with reading/listening.

Another point with what I’m trying to accomplish is…if we move away…I truly want a system of my reference materials. Though even before that I’d like my materials to be truly organized. Categorizing by author and subject isn’t enough…I’m looking for cross referencing…that works.

I had a friend with quite a background in law and health field. Her 5×7 cards were amazing. I think that is part of what I will utilize. It’s the categorizing, I still have trouble with. I think if I can stand back far enough and define my purpose as to why this is so important to me, I will be able to construct something. Though feel free to post…the feedback is truly motivating.

For the beginning post to this thread and my ongoing update & evolving quest for organizing my books (: