I went downstairs earlier excitedly showing my family the Delicious Library 2.0. This downloadable program automatically sorts all of your iTunes CDs, movies, audiobooks, video games and software. The next few steps involve you scanning (yes, scanning) the barcodes of books and movies either via the camera on your Mac or a Bluetooth scanner. It’s pretty sweet. And it’s an incredibly simple way of organizing your personal library (we can come full circle). I love this program because it goes for all forms of media, not just books. The trial is free, and the full program/license are $40. After using it for just a few hours, bought the program. And thank God I have a Mac, because a wireless Bluetooth scanner costs over $200!

So why is this virtual bookshelf so great? I will tell you why. If your house/apartment is robbed, you will have a full, current catalogue to show your insurance agency. The next time I go to my grandmothers, I will scan in all of her movies so I do not accidentally buy her a second DVD of Mamma Mia (the world does not need one more person buying anything Mamma Mia related). Your library can by published online so your friends and family can see what you own and won’t buy you doubles. They can see what books and music you are currently enjoying. With just one click a gift-buyer can see similar items and purchase them with just one more click. You can do likewise. You can also sell an unwanted book, movie or video game on Amazon with one click. You have to go to a third party to put your new digital library on the web (like Twitpic), but it’s easy. You can make shelves, such as “My Recommendations” or “Science”  or “Poetry” or “Plays” or “Things I Have Read in the Past Year.” You can also make Smart Shelves, similar to a smart playlist on iTunes. If I wanted to see how many books I owned for my Darwin class in the fall, I just make a smart bookshelf with that tailored preferences. You can also keep track of what friend has what book and when said book is expected to return (it automatically uploads your address book, and you just drag an item to your friend’s name).

My Dad’s reaction: Cool!

My mother’s and sister’s reaction: Why would you need that? Have you seen that video of that wedding dance?

Anyway, I just noticed another feature. You can also scan in tools and apparel. I thought this was a little frivolous, but after reading further, I see it as quite necessary. What happens if you loan a $200 dress to someone and can’t remember who? What do you do when someone takes off with your nice, new cordless drill?? If you have these items documented in your digital library, you can see who is hoarding your belongings and get them back! Or worst-case scenario: what if your house or apartment burns down? You may have great insurance, but without cataloguing all of your stuff, how do you or the insurance company know what to replace? And the best part is, the Delicious Library can export your list o’ stuff to Excel, then you can email it to your agent.

Yes, go try it out, and then buy it. You won’t be able to resist.

With such a small library, how in the world do you categorize everything? Alpha by title? Alpha by author? By genre? By height? Simply by where they fit on the old, wobbly book shelf? I’ve always been a fan of organizing my books in flow-form by genre. Maybe I’d begin with academic books, then go to music academic, book about music, then to scores, then flow in to plays, then go through poetry (if any), somehow jump to architecture (aka coffee table books about FLW), But then there are gaps. What about fiction? Then music fiction? Historical fiction? Where does it fit in the flow of the shelf? The tiny line of books in a sad parade, trying to look important and find their place… But when you have a small collection like I do, gaps in the over all flow of books don’t seem that monstrous. There’s a “new” (to me) way of organizing that I would like to try… Organizing by COLOR… I first read about it at www.designobserver.com (I love this blog!). At first I hated the idea. Does it look cool? YES! Does it serve any other function besides looking cool? NO! But if we are talking about small, personal libraries, then yes, it can do much more than just look cool.

I re-arranged my personal library in this fashion in between my trip from Tempe to Lake Jackson. One article I read claimed that you can create and visualize new connections between books when you arrange by color. Perhaps my library is two sizes too small, or maybe it is due to the fact that my books are spread apart on the IKEA shelf in our living room, but I was very unsuccessful in finding meaningful relationships between the re-arranged books. How do my personal finance textbook and a bible relate? Both talk about dealing with money at some point… How does Philip Roth’s Anatomy Lesson relate to Shakespeare? What does Everything is Illuminated have to do with The Secret Life of Bees? I suppose both are about finding family where you least expect it. I would need to do a lot more staring at my book shelf for this method of organization to be effective. If this happens, I will surely let you know. But if nothing truly extraordinary comes of it, I will move my books back to the way they were… ok not completely, because when I emptied my book boxes after the move I as unsuccessful in organizing by my usual flow-genre method. Maybe I should just do alpha by author. That would really force me to know my authors and maybe see some new relationships between books.
My only big issue is mixing my academic books and the books I did not buy specifically for school. This goes primarily for my academic music books and music scores. You know what- I want to go back to Tempe right now and solve this dilemma! If I sort alpha by author, some of the small plays and scores could be lost/hidden, dwarfed by larger volumes.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, here are some other articles on book organization that you might enjoy:

How Stuff Works (subscribe to the podcast!)

Walking Paper – a blog about libraries, you can also follow them on Twitter.

Classification Systems

The Cataloguing Librarian

Shelfari

Personal Library Organizational Software

Fun Book-Storage Related Things:

LibraryThing

The Ultimate Book-Lovers Reading Chair

Bookshelf Wallpaper

Ahhh, bubbles and books

LA Times Article on Home Libraries

Jim Rosenau

Personal Libraries to Die for

Jay Walker

Thomas Jefferson

Radiohead :: Ok Computer and My Iron Lung

I am falling in love with Radiohead. One of my new missions is to do an arrangement of Creep for mezzo and piano. It will be haunting.

The Flaming Lips :: Fight Test

Not what I was expecting. I do love Thank You Lack White for the Fiber-Optic Jesus that You Gave Me. I’v heard their concerts are quite the spectacle.

Billy Joel :: Fantasies & Dilusions, Music for Solo Piano

My friend Joel (ha ha) introduced these to me years and years ago, but I only found this album a few days ago (Thank you, Hastings!). They are absolutely worth a listen. If I work my piano chops back up, they will be fun to play someday.

Fireworks Ensemble :: The Rite of Spring

Buy this album now! Just do it! Even if you’ve never heard The Rite of Spring before, you will love this arrangement.

The Polyphonic Spree :: The Beginning Stages of…

I had only heard Light and Day before buying this album. The rest (except the 36 noise track titled A Long Day) are just as great.

Medeski, Martin and Wood :: End of the World Party (Just in Case)

I’ve been addicted to MMW for over a year now. I can’t stop listening to them!

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/6556/mvrdv-book-mountain-project.html

This reminds me of Bart’s Books here in Ojai. http://www.bartsbooksojai.com/

Bart’s is a wonderful experience. Really! I’ve never been to a more diverse and well-stocked used bookstore (not a lot of used book stores back in Tempe or Waco, believe it or not). I discovered Bart’s on my second day in Ojai while riding around town. Sidenote: I have no regrets spending $350 on a bike case and $175 to stow the bike and said case in the underbelly of my Delta connection. Anyway- Ojai is fairly small, around 7,000 folks, I believe. Since the town is on such a small scale, I found it very easy to navigate. Bart’s is on the corner of Matilija and Canada, if you ever get to visit Ojai (which you should, music festival or no!!). There are a few pics on the Bart’s website, but just to give you a better idea, here are some of my own:

This shop is completely open- I wheeled my bike right in!

This place is a labyrinth. I think there are some "rooms" I still haven't explored.