Many systems exist for organising books: f.e. subject groups like in our Master’s library and within these groups alphabetically – as you see on the right of this drawing. But this is of no help if you can’t remember an author’s name or if books fit in more than one subject. Our dear Dina has ordered her books colourwise – as you see on the left of the drawing above. No doubt, that looks great. But if you seek a book you have to consult the net first finding out its colour. Well, there exist many more classification systems for books like date of first edition (if you are interested in the history of publishing), the date you got this book, ISBN (not every book has one), or the size. Besides you should make sure that you can reach those books easily you are quite often use.
But what’s the use of even the most clever order if a library is constantly changing? We have books which are in our libraries, those who been there and those to come and these vanishing books. If a book is vanished it is always credited to us Bookfayries. Totally and utterly wrong! We are not hiding books!
Was nutzt die beste Ordnung, wenn sich unsere Bibliothek ständig ändert? Da gibt es Bücher, die da sind, die einst da waren, die noch kommen werden und die verschwinden, was übrigens immer uns Buchfeen zugeschrieben wird. Völlig falsch, wir sind keine Buchverstecker!
Do you know the justification of the messies in the book world? Seeking a specific book makes you find other books you have already forgotten. But we argue with Pierre Bayard: “Being well educated doesn’t mean to have read this or that book, it means you can orientate yourself in the book world.“
Kennt ihr das Argument der Unordentlichen? Die Suche nach einem bestimmten Buch lässt uns Bücher finden, nach denen wir nicht suchten. Wir halten es dagegen mit Pierre Bayard: “Gebildet zu sein bedeutet nicht, das eine oder andere Buch gelesen zu haben, es bedeutet, sich in der Gesamtheit aller Bücher zurechtzufinden“.
Most important in a library are actually the gaps in the shelves (“don’t mind the gap!” is our advise), the free shelf spaces where the library is allowed to grow. We fill every shelf for two thirds only. On the other hand librarians know since the firestorms of WW II that books which are standing as tight as possible don’t burn. They are getting scorched at their outsides but you can read them still.
Das Wichtigste in einer Bibliothek sind nicht die Bücher, sondern die Lücken im Regal, der Platz, der Wachstum ermöglicht. Wir haben uns vorgenommen, jedes Regalbrett nur 2/3 zu füllen. Allerdings kennen wir auch das Argument, seine Bücher lückenlos dicht zu stellen. Eingezwängte Bücher im Regal brennen nicht. Sie kokeln nur an und man kann sie noch lesen.
Last not least something of high importance: Sort all books out which are just taking away shelf space! If you reorganise your library get rid of books! I, Selma Bookfayrie, would recommend to bring about 10% of your books to the public book cases, where books are not a commodity as no money is involved.
Und zuletzt noch etwas gaaaanz Wichtiges: Schmeißt alle Platzfresser rigoros raus! Bei jeden Neuordnen der Bibliothek solltet ihr gnadenlos einige Bücher, Siri meint 10%, in die öffentlichen Bücherschränke tragen.
Before we have to fill the shelves just a question: Do you have any experience with a software for personal libraries? Can you recommend one?
Bevor wir uns nun an die Arbeit der Ordnung machen, ein Frage an euch: Habt ihr Erfahrung mit einer Software zum Bücherordnung? Könnt ihr uns eine empfehlen?
Cheers! Oh dear, we have to dust all the books first; dust likes books …
Tschüss, wir müssen nun zuerst all die Bücher entstauben. Puh …
Lots of love from the world of books and Happy Easter Holidays
Liebe Grüße aus der Welt der Bücher und Frohe Ostern
Siri and Selma
who graduated with this paper
die mit diesem Paper auf der BBS graduierten 😉
© text and illustration by FabFour-Design, Siebers/Vollmar, Bonn/Cley 2015, all rights reserved
Good luck and Happy Holidays! If you get some good advice about software…I would gladly use it myself, for my little library!
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Dear Leya,
Happy Holidays!
We promise to tell you if we have found an ideal software.
Our Easter was not a egg hunt but a “bird hunt” – we were birdwatching and you wouldn’t believe it, Siri and Selma had a first sighting in our NWT reserve. They are sooo proud – but we will blog about later.
Love and thank you
the Fab Four of Cley
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Sending congrats to the ladies!
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Thank you
👭
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Ein schönes Osterfest wünschen wir. LG. Wolfgang
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Lieber Wolfgang,
auch dir ein rundum schönes Osterfest. Wie wir eben schon Leya schrieben, wir waren heute Birdwatching und Siri umnd Selma konnte eine Erstsichtung für sich verbuchen. Nun laufen sie nur noch mit stolz geschwellter Brust durch die Gegend 😉
Vielen Dank und mach’s gut
Klausbernd & Dina
Siri und Selma sind völlig damit beschäftigt, ihren Ruhm auszuleben 😉
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Dear FabFourFriends,
Sounds like you Bookfayries have done a great job – and still have lots of work coming. I don’t know any system to organize books I’m afraid, so sorry! I just arrange my books roughly so that I’ll find them where I’d anticipate them to be when I look for one. Not very professional at all, but on teh other hand, I don’t have a fraction your book collections.
Congratulations to your graduation! You look smashing, Siri and Selma! Have a lovely Easter, all Four of you. What are you up to?
God påske fra Longyearbyen,
Per Magnus
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Dear Per Magnus,
god paske og mange takk!
We thought we had finished reorganising our library a fortnight ago. Very naive! We still change and even today we found a double and we still look for a first edition of Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”, actually quite a big book. We need another searching party but today we were birdwatching in the reserve.
All the best, lots of love
klem
the Fab Four of Cley xxx
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Hei Per Magnus,
hope you are enjoying a great påske with your family. Siri, Selma and Klausbernd are very happy now, they just found the first edition of Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”, at long last. As a matter of fact, it turned out that the book looks totally different to that what they had in mind. And a much bigger book to the left made it hard to detect, but with two light flying book detectives, we get round to it, eventually …
Klem, Dina
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Bester Ratschlag ever: 10% der Bücher aussortieren und weitergeben. Macht mir gleich ein bissschen mehr Lust auf den Frühjahrsputz. Frohe Ostern & liebe Grüße, Stefanie
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Liebe Stefanie,
auch dir wünschen wir frohe Ostern, und wir senden liebe Grüße vom sonnigen Meer
the Fab Four of Cley
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Oh Siri, oh Selma! What a job you have…. I, too, have been agonising over books – I am having to decide which ones I can live without as they can’t all come with me when I move. 😦
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Where are you off to Sue? Are you giving up o Surrey?
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No, Pete, just another part, I hope
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Dear Sue,
we find it very, very hard to give books away, but it is necessary or we would need a mansion 😉 We find it equally hard where to put books which fit in more than one category, f.e. A.Proulx “Shipping News”, does it go unter nautical literature or just novels?
Anyway, today we were birdwatching. Dina tried her best in bird photography and Siri and Selma – you wouldn’t believe it – had a first sighting of a bird in our reserve. They are so proud that they can’t write now.
Happy Holidays xxx
the Fab Four of Cley
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😀😀
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We wish you an easy move, Sue!
Oh dear, even if moving on and away may seem easy, it’s all what you leave behind that makes it hard, isn’t it? I dread the next move, thinking about it … It’s comforting thought one is not alone on this one! 😉
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Ah well, it has to be done!
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Cari amici, ich bin ziemlich undiszipliniert im Ordnen meiner Bücher und unterteile sie nur in verschiedene Sprachen. Ganz schöne Ostern wünsche ich den FabFour:):):):) and very best regards. Martina
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Liebe Martina,
cara amica (huch, wir hoffen, das ist richtig, wir haben’s einfach wie im Latein gemacht – Masterchens Idee).
Erstaunlich, wir sind nie darauf gekommen, unsere Bücher nach Sprachen zu ordnen. Wir haben Bücher in Englisch (die meisten), in Deutsch, Norwegisch, Schwedisch, weniger in Finnisch, eins in Inuktitut und ein paar in Latein und Hebräisch. Aber wir haben die einfach normal unter dem bestimmten Sachgebiet alphabetisch nach Autor eingeordnet.
Dir wünschen wir auch ein wunderfeines Osterfest, Pessach oder was auch immer
the Fab Four of Cley
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Oh, and Happy Easter, Fab Four!
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Dear Sue
we send you finest Fairy Dust and sun 🙂
the Fab Four
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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The Fairy Dust has arrived, but not much sun! xxxx
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I used to have a system of organising books by title. Of course, if I forgot the title, it failed. It also meant that I had very large books next to small ones, which looks untidy, and causes them to fall over too. My current system is to leave most of them in boxes in the garage.
Then I never have to worry about organising them!
Happy Easter, and love from Beetley. Pete and Ollie. X
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But to help, I found these.
http://www.collectorz.com/book/home-library.php?from=google&keyword=home%20library%20software&gclid=CODjzeO82sQCFY_MtAodFjIAnQ
https://www.libib.com/
http://www.readerware.com/index.php/products/details/books_details
You may have already looked at them of course. x
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Hi Pete
HAPPY EASTER
well, books in boxes …
We have to admit our dear Master hates to have books in boxes and we are not allowed to store books in boxes. You know he only pretends to be quite cool, actually he is quite strict. Well, his Prussian upbringing …
Big secret! Don’t tell anybody but we have our derar Snoopy and our Asterix books in a box as well as our children’s books. And it’s great fun to brows in those boxes sometimes.
Thank you and have a great time, enjoy this beautiful weather
the Fab Four
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Thanks for the link.
Actually Dina and Siri were contemplating this software. Our dear Master, by the way, is arguing we don’t need a software if we have a clever system of organising. Anyway we are wondering what we will end up with.
All the best to you and Ollie
the Fab Four
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Fantastic! A feast for the eyes, hearts, and minds! Thanks so much for this spectacular post!!! Happy Easter! 🙂
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Dear Fabio,
thank you very, very much for your kind commentary 🙂 which made us sooo happy 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Happy Easter and lots of love
the Fab Four of Cley
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Thanks so much, dear friends! Happy Easter as well! We will keep in touch! 🙂
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👍
Of course❗️
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I hope you get some really good suggestions for organizing the many wonderful books. I can see Siri keeps on smiling despite the dizziness, that is a good sign.
Happy Easter to all of you 🐻 ❤
All the best,
Hanna
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Dear Hanna;
our beloved Siri get’s new ideas all the time. Here are some of hers:
alphabetical titles
alphabetical publishers
alphebetical name of illustrator/photographer
place of publishing
date of publishing
pockett books/hardcover
format
read vs unread books
language of the original
illustrated books, books with pictures and without
series and editions
Maybe you got an idea for organising your books now or it makes you even more dizzy, like us …
We wish you happy Easter Holidays
The Fab Four of Cley
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I’m in for dizziness this Easter 🙂
Happy Easter Holidays to the four of you ❤
All the best,
Hanna
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THANK YOU!
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Looking good in your graduation caps my lovely bookfayries – and I love “Organize don’t Agonize” – I should apply that sentiment to my life 😀
As for books – well I love books as much as you do, but my system is based roughly on genre and then size, so all the travel books are together, all the photography books are together, fiction one shelf, factual another, then there are the interior design, the gardening books, the piles of magazines I can’t bear to throw away, a few volumes of poetry, some reference books and dictionaries, maps and leaflets. Oh and then there are ALL the computer books, but fortunately they reside on another bookshelf in another room…. so many books and I always regret giving books away.
When you have finished dusting and organising, perhaps you can come an visit me, dusters in hand? ❤ ❤
Have a lovely Easter-time fab four – and I hope the Easter bunny brings lots of tiny chocolate eggs for my favourite fayries 🙂
Jude xx
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Thank you very, very much, dear Jude xxx
Our organising system is similar. And giving books away, oh dear, sometimes we have to discuss it for weeks. We always give away whole subject groups. Our last big discussion was esoterics. In the end we got rid of quite some shelves of esoteric books which immediately filled with nautical novels and books about the polar regions. We never missed those esoteric books, but we very much miss the huge collection of Marxist books our Master donated to the McGill University, you know, to this library which is thought to be one of the most haunted one’s in the world. Probably Marx and Engels as well as Lenin practised an exorcism there 😉
Lots of love and Happy Holidays
the Fab Four of Cley
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I agree with the gaps. I am scared about what to do when they are filled 🙂
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Dear Derrick,
oh dear, oh dear, our gaps have the tendency to be filled amazingly quick and then we start piling up books on books what our beloved Dina and Selma don’t like and immediately we are in trouble. That means new shelves, but that’s limited as well and the end is the shelf space in our loft where the books provide a perfect insulation.
Happy Holidays 🙂 thank you
the Fab Four of Cley
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And to you all
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Oh, da habt Ihr ja eine knifflige Aufgabe vor Euch. Mir scheint, dass die Ordnung nach Sachgebieten und darin nach Autoren alphabetisch noch die sinnvollste Lösung ist. Bei Ebay Deutschland wird aktuell eine Software zur Bücherverwaltung angeboten (http://www.ebay.de/itm/251275482296?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT), die ich aber selber (noch?) nicht ausprobiert habe. Vielleicht hilft die ja. Grüße und viel Erfolg, Ingrid
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Liebe Ingrid,
danke für diesen Link!
Wir werden wohl mehrere Ordnungsprogramme ausprobieren.
Inzwischen ist Masterchen skeptisch, ob wir überhaupt so etwas benötigen. Er ist zusammen mit Siri der einzige von uns, der einen Überblick über die knapp 30.000 Bücher in unserem Haus hat. Ürigens sind die, wie du auch meinst, nach Sachgebieten und innerhalb dieser Gebiete nach Autorennachname alphabetisch geordnet. Eigentlich weitgehend dem Dewey Dezimalsystem vergleichbar, wobei ja auch dieses System teilweise keine eineindeutigen Ergebnisse liefert, manchmal nicht einmal eindeutige und das sind dann die Bücher, bei denen verzweifeltes Suchen vorprogrammiert ist.
Herzlichen Dank und schöne Ferienzeit
the Fab Four of Cley
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Wir haben unsere Bücher thematisch sortiert. Nur mit den Lücken, das klappt nicht so richtig. Es gibt Regale, da mutieren die Bücher zu echten Hochstaplern (und dabei ist das nicht mal das Krimiregal).
Frohe Ostern!
Elvira
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Ja, ja, liebe Elvira,
erstaunlich wie schnell Bücher zu Hochstaplern mutieren und zu Lückenfüllern. “Voll gemein!”, wie unsere liebkluge Selma bedauert.
Frohe Feiertage, alles Liebe, viedlen Dank
the Fab Four of Cley
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Sortieren wie Elvira, zum Ausweichen ein Kellerregal (das kann auch ganz woanders stehen) und die 10%-Regel (wie im Artikel beschrieben) immer wieder anwenden um Lücken zu haben. Außerdem würde ich solche Aufgaben immer dem oder den aktiven Leser der Bibliothek übertragen. Der oder die sollen sich den Kopf zerbrechen was wo zu sein hat.. So findet der Leser oder die Leserin sich immer zurecht.
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Lieber Mick,
naja, bei uns müssen sich 4 Wesen in unserer Bibliothek zurechtfinden, die zwar alle Buchfreaks sind, aber mit unterschiedlichen Ideen, was eine ideale Bibliothek ausmacht. Aber du hast schon Recht, letzlich sollten die Benutzer entscheiden, wie zu ordnen ist. Aber was macht man, wenn für die einen die Büchersammlung eine Zier seien soll, ein Design-Element, und für die anderen “a working library”, bei der es um die bequeme Nutzung geht?
Anyway, bei uns setzten sich Siri und Masterchen durch, die nach Sachgebieten ordnen und innerhalb alphabetisch nach Autorennamen.
Ganz liebe Grüße, frohe Feiertage
the Fab Four xx
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Happy Easter! and the best of luck to you. I have a ton of books and always adding more, so I just have them arranged according to genre – well basically – sorta…er…. I don’t think I can give you any advice.
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Thank you very much, dear GP Cox.
As longer we think about organising our books as more we become aware that it doesn’t work with a strict system (if you don’t want to be busy with organising and reorganising all the time instead of reading).
We wish you HAPPY HOLIDAYS
the Fab Four of Cley
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Thank you, Klausbernd. __ GP Cox
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Ja, ja das mit der Ordnung ist so eine Sache, noch dazu wenn zwei oder mehr dran arbeiten 😉 Ich rede euch da sicher nicht drein (und gib schlaue Ratschläge) wünsche euch daher frohe Ostern und genießt eure wunderbaren Strände!
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Liebe Silvi,
ja, ja, wenn 4 an einer Ordnung vieler, auch mehrdeutiger Elemente arbeiten, kommt man (wie wir) letztlich zu dem Ergebnis, dass es weder eine perfekte, noch eine ewig gültige Ordnung gibt. Jede Ordnung führt sich selbst ad absurdum.
So haben wir deinen Ratschlag befolgt und waren gestern und heute Birdwatching 🙂
Liebe Grüße, frohe Feiertage und vielen Dank
the Fab Four
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Da habt Ihr Euch ja eine schöne Aufgabe für Ostern vorgenommen! Ich sortiere auch nach Sachgebieten, dann nach Autorennamen. Auch die 10 Prozent-Regel versuche ich einzuhalten, suche aber in kletzter Zeit immer mal wieder ein Buch, das wohl diesem Entschlackungsprogramm zum Opfer gefallen ist. Bücher nur auf 2/3 der Regalfläche zu stellen ist der pure Luxus (wenn Regalfläche dazugekommen ist) und hält bei mir auch nicht wirklich lange. Naja, wenn das das einzige Problem ist. Meine (sehr weise) Schwiegermutter sagte immer: Ihr lebt ja sonst so bescheiden! Also auf in den nächsten Buchladen. Ach ja: am besten aussehen tut ja die farbliche Sortierung.
Viele Ostergrüße, Claudia
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Liebe Claudia,
da hast du ja Dina Wasser auf ihre Mühle gegeben! 🙂 Sie sagt dir ein besonders herzliches Dankeschön.
2/3 Regalfläche, ist theoretisch prima, nur währt sie leider in der Praxis nicht lange. Da hast du wohl Recht.
Liebe Grüße, vielen Dank und frohe Feiertage
the Fab Four
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Na ja … Mein nicht ganz ungeübtes Auge entdeckt spontan Dub- und Tripletten. Meine Belegexemplare schenke ich zum Beispiel dem Oxfamladen um die Ecke, der sie für einen guten Zweck versilbert. Und dann ist da noch ein nicht mehr so ganz aktueller Duden (die neueste Auflage ist die 25.) 🙂
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Das ist eine Aufnahme aus Dina’s Bibliothek in Bonn, die auf Dauer in unsere Zentralbibliothek in Cley integriert wird.
Z.Zt. haben wir in unserem Haus in Cley so etwa zwischen 25.000 und 30.000 Bücher. Da finden wir fast monatlich Doubletten. Dann sprichst du das mit dem Duden an. Tja, soll man nun ältere Auflagen behalten? Wir fragen uns das z.B. jedes Mal bei Masterchens Duden Auflage von 1953 – sein erster Rechtschreibe-Duden.
Danke und frohe Feiertage
the Fab Four of Cley
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Reblogged this on Literatur- und Medienblog von Nomadenseele.
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Dankesehr, liebe Nomadenseele. Das ehrt uns ja sehr!
Frohe Feiertage und all the best
the Fab Four of Cley
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das waren noch zeiten, als ich die bücher nach momentanen interessen-, wissensgebiete, sprachen (davor schnell abgestellte acryldosen, pinseln, krimskrams) etwas chaotisch einordnete. aber ich kenne, oh ja, den alptraum eines jeden bücherliebhabers…auf einmal sind die kinder gross, ziehen aus und ein umzug ist unumgänglich…in eine kleinere wohnung, wo dann die büchergestelle knarzen, schier fallen sie auseinander…zu viele bücher, schräge büchertürme auf dem boden, zu wenig platz. dann die zeit des weggebens / loslassens, die eigenartig ist: gleichzeitig furchtbar (mit phantomschmerzen verbunden) und wunderbar (befreiend wunderbar!). auch wenn heute viele bücher weg sind, ist meine reise noch da; mein inneres, die erde, der himmel und das meer verschwinden nicht…
ps: ich träumte immer von einer grooossen, schööönen bibliothek zu hause, jetzt habe ein kindle, auch nicht schlecht, hehe 😉
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Liebe Sirpa,
na dann … viel Freude mit deinem Kindle.
Wenn wir mal unsere Büchersammelleidenschaft etwas distanzierter betrachten, heißt das ja, dass wir mehr oder weniger bewusst davon ausgehen, dass das Buch langsam aber stetig verschwindet. Eine Sammelleidenschaft ist doch oft ein Symptom davon, dass das Objekt der Leidenschaft in Gefahr ist zu vergehen. Wir sind uns schon bewusst, dass dem Sammeln von Büchern etwas Nostalgisches anhaftet. Und dann der ganze Platz, den man benötigt. Auf der andere Seite, was wir ja nicht verhehlen können, sind wir, wie jeder Sammler, stolz auf unsere Sammlung, deren Umfang zugleich erschreckend kafkaesk wächst. Selmalein meinte ‘mal: “Was man nicht Kopf hat, hat man in seiner Bibliothek” 😉 Und dann der Hauch gediegenen Bildungsbürgertums, wenn in ein Haus voller Bücher tritt. Das schwingt alles mit und lässt uns über uns selbst grinsen. Aber, wie meint das liebkluge Sirilein: “So seid ihr eben! Und warum nicht?”
Auf jeden Fall sollten wir nicht verleugnen, dass Büchersammlungen auch stets dem Sammler mit einem bestimmgten Image versehen sollen, obwohl wir das selbstredend brüsk ablehnen würden 😉
Ganz liebe Grüße aus dem sonnigen Cley, frohe Feiertage und DANKE
the Fab Four of Cley
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Happy Easter .Fantastic post!
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Happy Easter to you as well, and THANK YOU 🙂
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I am curious…is it the lighting or are many of your books yellow? My library is organized by subject: fiction – classics and newer, nonfiction: gardening, DIY, nature, travel, etc.
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Dear Eliza,
that’s a photography of Dina’s library, the yellow section. She organises her books following a colour sheme. They have all real yellow covers.
Happy Easter and thank you
the Fab Four of Cley
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Well, I’ve just donated 99% of my fiction (hundreds) to local library or charity – can’t read small font, or remember story each time I picked up or put down, concentrate if the paragraphs are long etc. But I used to have my fiction organised by author & then subject. e.g. adventure, mystery, travel etc and then within each subject, Author & date published e.g. Henning Mankell was my favourite so the 8-9 books of his I had, were in order of year published.
I figure if I can’t read them, I may as well donate them to the local public library for hundreds of other people to have the pleasure (of reading them).
My non-fiction is in subject order (and within each subject, same authors are next to each other……sort of). Most used book subjects are……. at waist to eye height, so minimal bending (with chronic lumbar back pain) and less eyestrain (with poor eyesight). Non-fiction goes something like Photography, Nature, Bhutan/Tibet (& similar) in the Himalayas). Philosophy, Buddhism & Zen, Psychology/Mind, France, Italy, Arctic/Antarctic, Mountain Climbing/Trekking, Anthropology, Archeology & so on. My bird/flower encyclopaedias and current poetry/travel books are on my desk next to my computer to read, or refer to, each day/week.
Then I downsized many bookshelves of Health & Alternative Therapies to 1 1/2 shelves last year and gave away books that had similar info – they are now in order approx Herbal Medicine, Aromatherapy, Asian medical systems & Other. My dvds are in order of subject since many are documentaries/travel. e.g. all my dvds on Mt Everest/mountain climbing, are together. Nature dvds on Russia, China, India are together.
A Story to bring a smile………when I was rushed to hospital last year, I asked my neighbour to bring in (besides toiletries etc), the books……. A Year in Bhutan which had a yellow spine and was approx the 5th or 6th book from the left on the second top shelf (I think)……… and A Truckload of Dung by Ajahn Brahm ( short stories), which was a brown spine close to the right hand side on the 4th shelf down in the far right bookshelves…….. and my latest copy of British Country Living magazine (which was on the ottoman). My neighbour found them all straight away. I have a bad short term memory but could remember (roughly) where I filed any book 😀
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Dear Vicki,
it’s funny we acted just the other way round: We donated nearly all our non-fictional books to libraries but kept the fiction. Nowadays we collect mostly fiction, especially classics in first or beautiful editions and authors of the North. In non-fiction: nautical books and books about the polar regions and Scandinavia, some about meteorology and especially atlases and books about carthography.
But 2/3 of our book collection are fiction now. As our master has been an author of (mostly) non-fictional books he got nearly every non-fiction book (published in German or Norwegian & Swedish) sent to him, as publishers were hoping he would mention those books in his books, radio or TV programmes. So there were quite some books to give away.
All the best, thanks for commenting, and happy holidays
the Fab Four of Cley
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I think that sounds like a good activity to have. You may disagree I am sure. I was first thinking how to make fun by organizing by colors but after seeing many books you have are mostly yellow. Scratch that thought 🙂 One book that I stands out that I think I know about is the “Nikon D800” I am not sure how good the book is but I am very sure that the “Nikon D800” is very good 🙂
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Not fun, but reality: Dina’s library is organised by colour. The photography is of her section of yellow books.
Dina will write about the Nikon D800 – book and camera. We Bookfayries and our Master don’t know much about photography.
“Wrong! Absolutely wrong!”, Selma is shouting, she is Dina’s assistant and knows, yes, she does …
Happy Holidays and thanks
the Fab Four
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Ah … Books who could possibly do without them organised or not 🙂 Recently I’ve de-cluttered my bookshelves but how come I still have no *empty spaces …
Am wondering which colour book cover of mine would come out tops looking at your *yellows . Other people’s bookshelves are always fascinating … much the same as other’s shopping trolleys – gives a little insight 😀
Lovely post !
Happy Easter to the Fab 4 !
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Dear Poppy,
may we tell you a BIG SECRET …
When visit other people’s homes we first of all look at the books there. Our beloved Siri always says: “Show me your book shelves and I tell you who you are.” And, by the way, we scrutinise other people’s shopping trolleys as well …
Happy Easter and thank you 🙂
the Fab Four xxx
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Siri and Selma, I congratulate you on your success with this paper. I don’t have a library system but my books seem to fall into read/unread piles. You could also have fun arranging your books as Book Spine Poetry. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/tag/book-spine-poetry/
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Dear Gallivanta,
wow, book-spine-poetry what a GREAT idea that is! Thanks for the link. We never thought about this, but I, clever Selma Bookfayrie, immediately put “Gone With The Wind” next to “Into The Wild” and “Of Bhutan” 🙂 and so I messed up our system, oh dear … Siri is furious.
Thank you very much and happy holidays
Siri and Selma
Greetings from Dina and our Master as well
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Oops, sorry Siri, but you have to admit Selma is very clever. Her first book spine poem is ever so good.
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👸
Thank you👍❗️
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Das Orangenmädchen fand ich aber auch so ganz besonders…und Hosseini zu lesen verlangt mir alles ab….
Tiefe Spuren in der Seele hinterlassen!
Wenn man sie schon alle abstauben will, sie gleich umzusortieren, leuchtet mir ein…schätze bei diesem Umfang deiner Bibliothek bleibt einfach nur die alphabetische Ordnung nach Autoren übrig…..
Ganz schöne Tage euch und herzliche Grüße. Siri und Selma sehen spitze aus, vielleicht bastele ich mir auch mal so ein Hütchen….
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Liebe Pia,
wie gesagt, das Bild stammt aus Dina’s Bibliothek, die langsam, aber sicher in unsere Zentralbibliothek in Cley integriert wird. Da sind Masterchen und Sirilein strikt dagegen, dass dann weiter nach Farbe geordnet wird, “nur über unsere Leichen!” meinen sie.
Wie sortieren in Cley nach Sachgruppen und innerhalb der Gruppen alphabetisch. Wir benutzen weitgehend das Dewey Dezimalsystem wie große Bibliotheken. Wir verwalten zwar keine öffentliche, aber dennoch eine Kleingroß-Bibliothek mit isg. etwa 30.000 Bänden.
Frohe Ostern, liebe Grüße xx
the Fab Four
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Nach meinem Morgenbad heute ist mir aufgefallen,dass im Anbau auch noch Platz wäre für ein paar schöne Regale, als Raumteiler oder an der Wand hinter dem großen Bett, da würden auch farbig sortierte Bücher schön aussehen und für eine gute Atmosphäre sorgen, finde ich……
Entspannte Ostern euch!
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Stimmt, darauf sind wir noch gar nicht gekommen. Super Idee👍
Danke.
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What big job! No one would undertake it, except as a thesis! My idea for organizing books is to stack them on the floor and the tables and the chairs. When the stacks get too tall, they fall over, and then I re-stack and put different ones on top.
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Dear Kerry,
GREAT! Super idea, Dina just likes your non-systematic system, it’s genial! 🙂 Our beloved Master’s fainted and Selma started stacking …
Only Siri kept cool thrashing around in her new sweater written on it “Keep calm and don’t panick”
All the best xxx, happy holidays, and thanks for providing a new idea
the Fab Four of Cley
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Ahh books and libraries. I used to get lost in my university library for hours, rarely in the section covering my degree subject.. My own bookshelves are rather limited and very disorganised, classified according to size to a large extent and this is how the dresser shelves where they reside are organised.
To all of you, have a fabulous Easter weekend up there in Cley! 🙂
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THANK YOU
HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you as well
Lots of fairy dust
the Fab Four
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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After years of deliberation I have finally organised my CD collection in purely alphabetical order regardless of genre. Surname of artist (or composer if classical). It is not perfect but works reasonably well (although I have trouble reaching A and B as they are the top shelves!). As for books, that a lot more random – roughly by subject matter. The trouble is they are scattered among several different places a round the house – Oh for a library!
All the best, Laurence (now back in Norwich, not in Japan)
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Hope you enjoyed Japan Lawrence, I am envious!
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So that makes two of us then, Pete! 😉
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Hi, dear Laurence,
we hope you had a GREAT time in Japan.
For us the subject of organising books became urgent when we started to integrate Dina’s books into our central library at Cley. Before we had parts of our library in Bonn, Berlin, Cologne and Cley and now we unite our 4 libraries. Actually it’s fun. And we can sort out so many doublets. When you come around for a visit again you can go through these books and pick the one’s you like.
See you soon, lots of love
the Fab Four
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Ihr Lieben! Na, da habt Ihr ja fleissig zu tun. Ich wuensche Euch allen ein froehliches Ostern! Hugs! Veraiconica
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Wir sind mehr oder weniger fertig, naja, obwohl, hmmmm … Im Grunde ist man ja nie fertig, da solch eine Bibliothek irgendwie ihr Eigenleben besitzt. Aber wir machen jetzt einfach Schluss – erstmal 😉
Frohe Ostern, alles Liebe xxx
the Fab Four
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Delightful! No idea about software to organize books, but the obvious choice for photographs, Lightroom, works great for me. We have a number of bookshelves, so one has lots of Field Guides and related books, another has psychology books…they’re arranged a little loosely according to subject. The travel books are together, the art books are together, the Buddhist books…but it doesn’t get much more detailed than that. Organizing shirts according to color is fun, but books! Yikes! As for donating, I like to take mine first to a good used book store, where I will get a credit and buy more books – it’s a constant circle. Keep them moving!l Happy Easter, or whatever you want! 🙂
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HAPPY EASTER, PESSACH and whatsoever 😉
In Cley there is a good antiquarian bookshop we consult first as well. We get paid in books – we love the circle of books as you do 🙂 But they are very choosy and so most of our give aways end up in libraries as donations.
Thank you very much
xxx 🙂
the Fab Four of Cley
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I know what you mean – it’s very disappointing when you haul a load of books to the store, present them proudly, and are roundly rejected! Seattle is very literary and there are many used book stores, so we’ve found which one is most likely to buy…I think. 🙂
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We have very, very few shops in our village – actually only 4, but one is a posh antiquarian bookshop. They go for special or at least bound editions only. Other editions are sold in our church. And you wouldn’t believe it it was there where I found many classics of pornography in fine editions.
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This is just brilliant ~ and there is nothing quite like having a set of bookfayries setting things right. Growing up there was a very active cycle of giving used things among my mom’s friends and the community in general (I received some great clothing & books this way growing up…). However, I did have one sad experience years ago when I returned home to find most of my books had gone away to better homes (which my dear mom loves to do, and I love her for this)…the only problem is that on this trip back home, I could not find my 1st edition of Old Man and the Sea. Perhaps one of you Bookfayries ‘borrowed it’ ~ if so, would you mind bringing it back 🙂
Wonder writing and a perfect read for this Sunday in Hong Kong ~ wish you all the best!
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Dear Dalo,
we Bookfayries keep our eyes open if we spot your first edition of “The Old Man and the Sea”. This book seems to wander away. We had a facsimile of the first edition but it’s gone too. Well, well Hemingway was an erratic guy …
Have you ever come across the Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka? He said:
“Books are offended if you are lending them to others. Therefore those books don’t come back to their owner.” 😉
There are book curses around from the time of Ninive (~ 650 BC). Do you know this book curse (it’s a hoax)?
“For him that stealeth a Book from this Library, let it change to a Serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with Palsy, and all his Members blasted. Let him languish in Pain, crying aloud for Mercy and let there be no surcease to his Agony till he sink to Dissolution. Let Book-worms gnaw his Entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final Punishment let the Flames of Hell consume him for ever and aye.”
From the sunny North Norfolk coast lots of love to Hong Kong
the Fab Four of Cley
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It is funny you say that about lending books ~ “Books are offended if you are lending them to others. Therefore those books don’t come back to their owner.” ~ as this was something I really believes as a kid! Well, wherever The Old Man and the Sea ends up, I think it will be with someone who will love for what it is 🙂
And as for the curse, I think it goes to show you how valuable the written word was back then ~ The day is sunny here, so we are perfectly aligned for the week. Cheers!
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In the middle ages you had to send your child to the owner of a manuscript while you were borrowing it. In the monastries the manuscript were often chained to the library walls. Especially the illuminated manuscripts were very watched and secured.
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I have always liked libraries. But now I have an even healthier respect for you folks who have to arrange them. My goodness! :O)
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Thank you very much.
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
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Thank you, and the best to you as well. :O)
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P.S.
Quite some ideas for organising books came from mathematicians and other clever folks …
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It really is true that mathematics does factor into practically everything we do. :O)
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Happy Easter to all four of you! I will stop agonizing. I promise 😉
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Dear Paul.
GREAT!
Happy Easter, thank you, lots of love
from
the Fab Four of Cley
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Great! 👍😘
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Fröhliche Ostergrüße aus der ewigen Stadt sendet euch vier Susanne
Sortierungen sind wirklich nicht so einfach. Ich habe meine Bücher nach meinem Umzug in die Atelierwohnung nochmals stark reduziert und hatte mir vorgenommen, nach Ostern meine Fachbücher zu sortieren. Ich werde es wie Klausbernd halten, nach Fachgebieten und Verlagen sortieren und innerhalb dieser nach dem Alphabet. Die Reclambücher gehen einfach unter, wenn sie nicht nebeneinander stehen, sie rutschen einfach zwischen die großen Bücher durch.
Mein künstlerisches Ich spricht Dinas Farb-Methode sehr an. Aber ich würde nichts mehr finden.
Ich würde zum Katalogisieren eine Excel Tabelle anlegen. Sie ist einfach zu pflegen, gut zu sortieren und leicht in andere Systeme zu importieren. Es kommt hier auf die einzelnen Suchbegriffe an, die ihr jeder Zeile mitgebt. So wie eine lfd. Nummer, Verlag, Fachgebiet, Gattung etc…. mit Excel könnt ihr dann nach all dem sortieren, einfach und unproblematisch.
Liebe Grüße sendet euch Susanne
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Liebe Susanne,
zuerst einmal alles Liebe und Gute zum Geburtstag! Mach’s dir fein.
Danke auch für den Exxel-Hinweis.
Bei uns ist gerade die große Faulheit ausgebrochen und zugleich das Birdwatching-Fieber, nachdem wir hier einen Kurs birdwatching for dummies mitmachten.
Ganz liebe Grüße in die ewige Stadt
💞💖 The Fab Four of Cley
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Guten Abend ihr lieben vier, danke für die Wünsche zu meinem Geburtstag, ach ja, ich möchte jetzt auch gerne erstmal faul sein. Ich denke, ich nehme mir jetzt ein Einführungsbuch zur Kosmologie und gehe schlafen…. Liebe Grüße von Susanne
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Liebe Susanne,
wir sind gerade völlig dem Nichtstun verfallen, naja, Masterchen puzzelt mit Selmalein in seiner neu eingerichteten Werkstatt vor sich hin. Sie bauen Regale …
Ansonsten sitzen wir auf der Terrasse und füttern unsere Fasane.
💞💖 Liebe Grüße vom sonnigen 🌞 Meer 🌊🌊🌊
The Fab Four of Cley
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Ach wie schön, lieber Klausbernd.
In Berlin scheint die Sonne und ich war gerade eingeladen, auf das neue Semester ein Glas Sekt zu trinken. Wir haben in das Grün geschaut, dass sich mit dem Blau des Schlachtensees mischte.. LG von Susanne
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Guten Morgen, liebe Susanne,
wir haben gerade lieben Besuch aus Berlin hier.
Heute kommt gerade erst die Sonne heraus, wohingegen es gestern hochsommerlich war, richtig heiß für hiesige Verhältnisse. Aber gestern waren wir mit Masterchen in “The World City of Literature” in Norwich.
Viel Glück fürs neue Semester wünschen
the Fab Four of Cley
Cheers!
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Danke! Ich schreibe noch an meine letzte Hausarbeit für letztes Semester. Aber die ist fast fertig. Wir beschäftigen uns dieses Semester mit der Moralphilosaphie. Das wird spannend und ich freue mich darauf. Ein schönes Wochenende wünscht euch Susanne
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DANKE!
Auch dir ein rundum feines Wochenende, liebe Susanne.
Ganz liebe Grüße von der Viererbande aus Cley, oh wei!
P.S.:
Meine neue Vita bekamst du heute Morgen per E-Mail, nehme ich an. Jetzt hoffen wir mal, dass es ein feines Arktis-Künstlerbuch von uns bald geben wird 🙂 Siri und Selma zaubern da schon im Geheimen.
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Ihr Lieben, ich suche selbst noch nach einer Software, die für den häuslichen Gebrauch geeignet ist, denn die Software, die in Bibliotheken genutzt wird, ist zwar toll, aber viel zu umfangreich die für heimische Bibliothek und mir wäre sie auch zu teuer. Wenn Ihr Euch mit Access auskennt, könntet Ihr Euch selbst eine kleine Datenbank den eigenen Wünschen entsprechend erstellen. Es reicht aber eventuell auch eine Excel-Tabelle. Da kann man die Bücher auch recht gut sortieren lassen. Susanne sprach das ja auch kurz an. Unsere Sachbücher hier stehen nach Sachgebieten geordnet und innerhalb der Sachgebiete alphabetisch nach Autoren bzw. bei Autorenkollektiven alphabetisch nach dem Titel.
Die Belletristik ist streng alphabetisch nach Autoren geordnet. Wenn man natürlich seine Bücher verschandeln mag, dann könnte man sie mit Signaturschildchen bekleben und sie dann danach ordnen. So könnte man ihnen auch mehrere Schlagworte zuordnen und man würde sie trotzdem immer wiederfinden. Das Problem ist ja oft, dass manchen Bücher vom Inhalt her zu mehreren Sachgebieten passen.
Liebe Grüße und natürlich auch noch für den Rest des Osterfestes eine schöne Zeit miteinander wünscht die Silberdistel
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Liebe Silberdistel
Da hast du genau unser Problem erfasst, dass nämlich ein Buch nicht selten mehreren Sachgebieten zuzuordnen ist. Mit Access haben wir damals bei TraumOnline unsere Symboldatenbank erstellt. Ich erinnere mich mit Grausen daran. Ich glaube Access liebt mich nicht. Da scheint mir Excel schon besser.
Ich liebe ja das Ordnen, voll der anale Charakter 😉
Finden wir eine einfach bedienbare Software für die Heimbibliothek, werden wir es mitteilen, klar doch!
Liebe Grüße vom sonnigen Meer
Klausbernd und der Rest der Gang
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Also leuchten da jetzt überall schöne gelbe Dina Bücher heraus, sieht bestimmt sehr gut aus und hellt die Bibliothek auf!
Und die große übersichtliche Ordnung ist auch noch erhalten geblieben?!
Gratulation!
Alles Liebe von Pia
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Dina hat natürlich auch andersfarbige Bücher, wie du auf dem Bild siehst. Das ist ihre blaue Ecke.
Ganz liebe Grüße
The Fab Four of Cley
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Dust the books first, then get rid of those tiny bugs that live in the spine. 🙂
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We even have some old books with bookworm. It looks actually quite nice 😉
And dusting … What an action!
All the best and thanks
The Fab Four of Cley
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I bought some old children’s books a few years ago and they came with a little family of bugs. It gives them a little bit of character. 🙂 There’s no doubt that they attract the *cough* dust. 🙂
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… indeed, they do. But we have to admit we don’t dust our books regularly. We noticed that the spiders like our books as well. Oh dear …
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It’s when you get multitudes of Silverfish in them it’s off to the rubbish bin. 😦
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Oh dear, well silverfish seem to like books as well 😢
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Knowledgeable silverfish too. 🙂
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🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
with kind regards from Prof Dr Silverfish 😉
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They would ‘mmm’ digest some knowledge.
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😀 Do you know “Firmin. Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife” by Sam Savage? The titular hero is a rat born in a Boston bookshop. Unfed by his mother, Firmin starts eating his bed of shredded pages of Finnegans Wake and miraculously becomes availed of the ability to read. As his appetite for literature expands, so do his horizons. 🙂 But being a rat, he remains unable to communicate the ideas he has grasped, shading the story with a Caliban-esque despair.
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I can’t say I have but it sounds like a good read. Having great knowledge and abilities trapped in a beastly persona would be hard to take indeed.
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all we are is dust in the wind…..uuuuhhhhuuuuuhhhuuuu
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… and who comes dusting?
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Und jetzt : Die Masterfrage! Der blaue Klaus, Santaclaus, I don´t know….
…
ach Gottchen, du hast ja gar keinen Fernseher…
Wum und Wendelin
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Nee, benötigen wir nicht
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O.K. kann man auf die Straße schmeißen, gebe ich dir recht….liebste Grüße
Libra Grüße
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Obwohl, wie hätte ich sonst erfahren dass ich dumm bin!?
Oma ist immer vor dem Fernseher eingeschlafen, besonders wenn sie sagten “Kinderseelen brauchen mehr Kaba” und wenn sie Probleme mit dem Stuhlgang haben: Penatencreme….
Als Kind habe ich vor dem Fernseher herumgetanzt.
Sind die Regale fertig?
Was steht in Dinas blauen Büchern?
So, let´s dance….
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That’s great!
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👍 thanks
💞 from 🚶👭💃
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Mit einer software kann ich nicht dienen, nur mit meiner Art zu sortieren und da geht es auf keinen Fall nach Farbe … ich würde wahnsinnig werden 😉
nein, es geht nach Themen, sprich, Romane, Krimis, Lyrik, verschiedene Sachbereiche, Bilderbände etc. und dann gerne von einem Auto/einer Autorin alle an einem Platz, aber nun … da gibt es den liebsten Mitbewohner und Gäste und Jahr für Jahr braucht es dann doch mal wieder eine ordnende Hand und alle die feinen Überraschungen der Wanderschaft. Ja, auch Bücher scheinen zu wandern, denn nachgefragt ist es niemad gewesen, vielleicht wohnen ja auch bei uns Borger? Who knows?
Ich hoffe, ihr hattet feine Ostertage? Ich schon!
Liebe Grüsse vom Berg ans Meer, hattet ihr auch Sturm?
Ulli
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Liebe Ulli,
auch wir hatten feine Ostertage und vorher Sturm. Letzterer hatte sein Gutes, da eine Pergola glücklicherweise zusammenbrach, so dass wir dadurch einen feinen Platz für Masterchens Bastelschuppen bekamen. Aber eigentlich waren wir völlig faul.
Auch unsere Bibliothek scheint nachts zum Leben zu erwachen, Bücher spielen Bäumchen-wechsle-dich und hide and seek. So müssen wir ebenfalls immer wieder nachordnen, außerdem finden wir immer wieder Fehler im System und davon, dass Regale einfach vollvoll sind, wollen wir gar nicht erst reden. Aber wir machen ständig auch Neuentdeckungen in unserer eigenen Bibliothek.
So, nun gibt’s Abendessen.
Liebe Grüße vom sonnig warmen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
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I have never seen a library arranged by color. Super impressive! My books are arranged by author (very boring!) 😉
I keep entering into houses where – to my surprise to say the least – there are no books. So so very sad! How can people live without reading? I don’t think I would be able to breath without books!
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Dear Francesca
We couldn’t imagine to live without books. We tried to keep one big room bookfree – but in vain, it didn’t work as we are all bookfreaks.
With big hug to you and your family
The Fab Four of Cley
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Organize, don’t agonize! Yes!
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Thank you!
The Fab Four of Cley
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I like how you have organized your books by color! I did that in my clothes closet once and I found it to be very helpful, but such meticulous organization didn’t become a habit for me. I hope you have better success with your project than I did with mine. 😉
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Dear Elisa
A big secret❗️Our beloved master is very systematic and dear Dina as well, but in another way. So they love to organise their books to perfection. But it never stays that organised – thanks to the Bookfayries.
Lots of love and thanks for your commentary
The Fab Four of Cley
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Meine Bücher sortiere ich nach Farbe, habe neulich gnadenlos aussortiert und 350 gute übrig gelassen. Sortieren nach Sprache wäre auch eine Idee für mich. Die aktuelle Anordnung nach Farbe sieht zwar schön aus, ist aber nicht sehr praktisch. Eine gute Woche wünsche ich euch!
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Danke!
Auch dir eine wunderschöne Woche 🌞 💫🌟
Alles Gute
The Fab Four of Cley
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I have tried so hard but I simply cannot bring myself to give away books, even old textbooks that I know I will never look at again.
They are part of me in a way that, perhaps only old letters are. I don’t mind giving away anything but not books. Similarly, I am ashamed to say that if I borrow a book and for some reason I don’t return it within a year, I can’t help but feel that it now belongs to me and not to the owner. I know this is wrong and again, it does not apply to anything else I might borrow, but this is how I feel. Clearly books enter our psyche in a way that nothing else does, they truly become our inseparable friends.
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Dear Malcolm,
we agree, books have a personality and they make good friends but there are books one hates or they us owners and/or readers as well. But be aware of the many book curses. They are around from the time of Ninive and later it were the monks who worked the best curses.
We have to admit we don’t lend books too, no way❗️Or more exact: we only lend books we want to get rid off.
All the best to you
The Fab Four of Cley
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I have to disagree! What is the point of only filling a bookshelf two thirds with books? It’s going to be full all too soon anyway. That’s the Achilles’ heal of all book systems. You have to move books around all the time to keep up with the system. One more thing: Giving away books? Absolutely not!
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Dear Otto,
on the one hand we well understand your disagreement, but on the other hand one third to fill gives us freedom for quite a while – at least at some subjects. We hate when books in our shelves stand that tight that we hardly get them out, not to speak of getting them in again. And this third to fill gives us time to build new shelves. But basically your are right we moving our books in a half year’s rhythm.
We are always having problems giving away books too, but we have to because space is always limited. We have to keep our library limited to about 30.000 books because that’s the limit of our house. We have no problems giving away doubles, we usually keep the bound, the first, or a signed editions by the author. We gave away subject groups like esoterics as our Master got send all the new publications of big publishers worldwide in this field, even in languages like French, Polish etc. we don’t read. But we kept Gurdjieff, Rudolf Steiner, and C.G. and Emma Jung.
Thanks for commenting and have a happy evening
the Fab Four of Cley
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Of course you have a point. It is irritating to not be able to pull out or put back books in a bookshelf. But no matter how much I expand my numbers of shelves, I always seem to run out of space… I haven’t counted my books, though, but recon’ I have something like 60 to 70 meters of shelves.
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Dear Otto
We know this problem too. There is never ever enough shelf space.
All the best
The Fab Four of Cley
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I’ve been giving this post a considerable amount of time. As you probably know, I’m a book hoarder – and am proud of that fact. I also realize we are in transition from paper, to digital, to audio, etc. And this is just the beginning. Books and paper have a limited life span because of the nature of the material. (what was that saying , “store up your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot corrupt) Unless care is taken to preserve books, they will deteriate. And I never seem to know exactly where to find a specific book or articles. Filing is always easier than retrieval. You have inspired me to re-organize. I’m on the look-out for apps to help track my personal libraries. Thank you again, dear friends – you always, always, always make my day pure sunshine and point me in a new direction. Hugs and lots of love to the Fab Four!!!
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Dear Rebecca,
sorry that we didn’t reply earlier, but we are busy reorganising our house and making it even more cozy. This includes creating more book shelves too.
We are happy to hear we could inspire you 😊 and thank you so much for your kind reply. You are always sooooo kind.
Lots of love and big hugs 💞💖
The Fab Four of Cley
👭🚶💃
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I can only imagine the fun you are having. I felt that feeling of anticipation when I heard there were more shelves being built. Since reading your post, I have discovered iBookshelf which has been listed in The Nine Best iphone App for Content. All I do is scan the bar code or input the ISBN number. It searches 15 databases. Like magic – the cover appears, with a brief synopsis and a link to Goodreads reviews. I can then search them by Genre, Author, Title etc. It backs up all of the books. And it gives me a progress report! The software is by verietassoftware.com. I read that it can hold thousands of titles. I understand that it also records audio-books, but I haven’t explored that aspect. Right now, I have a listing on both my iphone and ipad. And the best part of this exercise: I am discovering my books all over again. For example, I forgot that I had “In A Unicorn’s Garden” by Judyth McLeod. It is all about Medieval gardens. And I found that I have several duplicates. Well, if you like a title once, you will probably like a title twice. Thank you again for your inspiration – you are amazing. Hugs and lots of love to the Fab Four!
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Dear Rebecca,
THANK YOU for this really 🌻🌺🌷🌹🌸 great tipp 👍, the best thing I have seen so far! What I’m trying to find out is; can we combine the App iBookshelf on two ipads?? I’d like to sort out my library in Bonn and Klausbernd his library in Norfolk. We have very many identical books and the point is to detect the duplicates before they move country. If we buy two Apps, can we combine them, I wonder?
Sunny greetings and a big hug 😘 to you from the really warm Rhine Valley, we jumped from early spring to hot summer! ☀️☀️☀️
Dina💃
and the rest of the gang in Cley says THANK YOU TOO!!! 👭🏃
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Thank you very much for telling us about the iBookshelves, a programme we will surely test soon👍 Well, when we have built all our new shelves.
It’s amazing how many prople want to get rid of their books now, so we try to complete our collection of English, Scandinavian, and German classics. But first we have to build our workshop where our dear Master is building all these shelves with the help of Selma, our handy fairy.
Dear Rebecca, we send you lots and lots of love 💞💖 big hugs, and fairy dust ✨🌟💫💥
💃👭🚶
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Thank you dear dear friends!!!
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Why don’t you try something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeKtVD6ycPo Keep on blogging in a free world – The False Prophet
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GREAT❗️👍
Thank you so much 😄
Have a happy week
The Fab Four of Cley
💃👭🚶
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Hello, dear friends! Sounds like you are also in the midst of “Spring cleaning” book-wise. We are delighted and encouraged to know that you still HAVE books—physical, dust-collecting, portable, write-notes-in-the-margin BOOKS. We seem to recall reading (in the paper NY Times, of course!) that one’s reading retention is significantly higher when reading paper books vs. their electronic “kindle” cousins. Any idea why that may be?
As for organizing your lifetime collections… we don’t know of any helpful software. (It seems rather “anti-book” anyway, doesn’t it?) Instead, chez nous we simply have different bookshelves. The one near the piano = musical topics and books items dear to Jean’s heart/childhood. The one near our favorite chair = our co-favorites: all kayak books, charts, geographic guides, gifts to one another, parrot books. The one near the kitchen = cookbooks, Russian volumes given us by an elderly friend. The bedroom = music scores and engineering textbooks (THAT shelf really is our hearts!); and then, there are the piles… Do NOT open Alex’s closet door without wearing a helmet! We caution each other daily, bringing up the infamous Collyer brothers of Harlem, one of whom was literally crushed by a pile of books/newspapers!! http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/collyer-brothers-brownstone-gallery-1.1187698
There is much to be said for lending books to friends, and never asking for them to be returned. 🙂
Big hugs from NYC! Thanks for this lovely post.
Jean & Alex and the birds (who have thin stacks of newspapers at the bottoms of their cages; at the moment, they are very busy shredding vs reading )
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Thank you very, very much for your great commentary. We don’t actually think that a software showing us the position of every book in the house is “non-bookish” and as we don’t live together all the time it helps to see which book is in which library. Especially if we browse antiquarian bookshops and charity shops.
We have shelves with different subjects in our different rooms. At the time the number of nautical books is increasing and the books about polar expeditions. We have those books, our favourites, in the big sitting room as well as all the books about colour. Our dear Master’s office is filled with Scandinavian, Siberian, Finnish and Inuit fiction, Siri’s office is stuffed with dictionaries she collects, in our conservatory we have our gardening books, on the kitchen all books about Norfolk and the UK, and in the upper landing we have our atlases, maps, snd psychoanalysis, in our big landing and entrance we store German, English, Russian and American fiction. The place of a book on the house says quite a lot about the collector …
Oh dear, it’s late, we have to run to buy some eggs
Lots of love
The Fab Four of Cley
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Hallo, Ihr lieben Buchfeen,
hier in meiner neuen Heimat habe ich leider – auch wenn das neue Haus ganz schön groß ist – viel zu wenig Platz für Bücher. 😦 Also auch kein Problem mit dem Sortieren. Die paar Bücher kann ich auch unsortiert überschauen. Der größte Teil meiner Bücher steht immer noch in Deutschland, eben weil hier nicht genug Platz ist, und weil es auch zu teuer wäre, die Buecher über der großenTeich zu verschiffen. Schade! 😦
Liebe Grüße an die ganze Meute, mal wieder von der texanischen Golfküste [draußen schreien die Möwen :)], aber leider an einem trüben Tag,
Pit
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Ja, du Lieber, das kennen wir, dass das Verschiffen der Bücher nicht lohnt. Obwohl für uns ist es natürlich einfacher, da Masterchen bisweilen mit seinem Volvo-Kombi nach Deutschland fährt und so schon einiges mitnehmen kann. Allerdings verschenkten wir damals auch viele Bücher an befreundete Buchfreaks, die sich richtig freuten und unsere Bücher ehren.
Ach, da fällt mir noch ein, ich fuhr damals oft mit der Alexander Pushkin von Montral oder NYC nach Bremerhaven (and return) und nahm bei meinem Umzug 5 Trunks (sind das Seekisten?) Bücher kostenlos als persönliches Reisegepäck mit.
Ein wunderbares Wochenende dir und Mary
Klausbernd und der Rest der Viererbande
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Trotzdem, lieber Klausbernd, trauere ich meiner alten Buchumgebung immer noch nach.
LG,
Pit
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P.S.: Es scheint etwas aufzuklaren. Also werde ich mich wohl auf’s Rad schwingen. Hier, im absoluten Flachland, ist das ja leicht.
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Hier [https://landlibrary.wordpress.com/] koennte ich mir einen laengeren Urlaub vorstellen 🙂 Mehr dazu auch hier: http://tinyurl.com/nbgv6f8
Habt’s fein in Eurer Bibliothek,
Pit
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Thanks a lot, dear Pit. Wow, that sounds great, this Rocky Mountain Library, ja so richtig zum gemütlichen urlauben für große und kleine Buchfeen.
Aus dem sonnigen Cley wünschen wir die alles Gute.
Liebe Grüße an dich und Mary
The Fab Four of Cley
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Das – oder besser gesagt, die Rocky Mountains Library muss ich wirklich noch einmal naeher erforschen.
LG,
Pit
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Ihr Lieben, ich wollte mich nur mal erkundigen, ob ihr vielleicht immer noch am Bücher einreihen sind und sagen, dass ich grade an euch denke. Einen schönen Frühlingstag wünscht Martina
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Liebe Martina,
nee, endlich, endlich ist alles geordnet, naja halbwegs. Als Masterchen eben die Treppe herunterkam, entdeckte sein waches Auge gleich einen Fehler und eine Doublette. Aber erstmal sind wir mit der Ordnung zufrieden.
Auch dir wünschen wir einen feinen Frühling und herzlichen Dank für die Nachfrage 🙂
FF
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What a great idea for a post! Do tell if your learn of an efficient software. Belated Easter wishes to the fab four! With due apologies for failing to wish you before I left for my weekend in Jodhpur.
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Dear Madhu,
don’t worry, good wishes are never too late! 🙂
I just looked up Jodhpur, wow, it looks great! When we travelled in India we never made it to Rajasthan unfortunately.
We suppose the best programme is iBookshelf, we just test it on our library of roughly 25.000 books – but there it reaches its limits. For more info please look at Clanmother’s comment here and the comments.
We wish you a great springtime
the Fab Four of Cley
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P.S.:
We just try out to combine our library in Cley with 25.000 books with our libraries in Germany and Norway meaning 10.000 more books. First of all we want to find doubles, meaning double titles disregarding the language. Here this programme seems to fail.
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Morsom ide å organisere bøker etter fargemetoden.
Jeg ser med litt frustrasjon at i de moderne hjem så er bøker fraværende! Her hos meg står bøkene hulter til bulter i bokhylla!
Men, jeg finner fram når det er nødvendig!
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One way of organize the books:
https://bjorstad.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/boktarnet/
I wish you all the best!
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Dear Hans,
GREAT 😉
Ha en fin dag 🙂
the Fab Four
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Well no experience in library software. I will say there was a major downsizing of books when we downsized to a smaller home a couple of years ago. Most books we buy now are electronic. It does make the organizing and dusting easier. 🙂 Wishing you a great day. 🙂
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Thanks, dear Sue.
Well, we are collectors of printed books, maybe because we have the feeling that books in print are vanishing. But like all collectors we don’t know really why we collect printed books only. We see them as a kind of interior design. For us books make a room cosy because we were brought up in houses with big libraries. Our Master’s grandma as well as his grandpa had big book collections and Dina was brought up surounded by books as well and we Bookfayries, well, real books are our life.
We wish you a happy day, sunshine and all the best 🙂
the Fab Four
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However you organize your library it is one of the most pleasant tasks ever. Have fun!
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THANK YOU – we do and it’s great that we are finding treasures we had long forgotten.
Enjoy the weekend
FF
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Too many books…not enough time.
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We like spending our time with books. We have always time for gardening, birding, boating, and books 🙂
Thanks
the Fab Four of Cley
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Mindestens 10% in öffentliche Bücherschränke – ich bin dabei. 🙂 Vielen Dank für den auch sonst sehr erhellenden Beitrag & liebste Grüße!
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Liebe Andrea,
Danke!
Auch dir die besten Grüße vom sonnigen Meer
The Fab Four of Cley
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