Let the Library Do What Libraries Do Best

This week our paid members are tackling their bookshelves for our "Main Dish" project. Before I offer these book tips, I have been getting some feedback that indicates people might not know what our paid memberships are all about... so to quickly explain, we provide many resources in our member area, but the biggest value is that members have access to our team of Certified Professional Organizers® for "budget consultations" in our private message boards. We're in there 7 days a week providing unlimited answers to your organizing questions. Members can even upload photos to show us what is going on, and we provide personal advice to each question. You really can't beat that for $14.95! 

With that explained, let me share with you some questions and thoughts to help you weed through your own bookshelf a little faster. Imagine that I am a tiny organizing expert on your shoulder asking you these questions as you go through the stacks! 

Computer manuals: Do you have books on your shelf teaching you how to use Windows 95? Even if they are more recent, computer manuals are typically out of date as soon as they are printed. Things change SO fast. Please donate or discard books that are not relevant to your current computer software. You can often find the best information online.

Cookbooks: Do you use only one or two recipes out of some of your cookbooks? Why not photocopy the recipes you like and donate the book? Frees up lots of space quickly!

Business: Do the business books you have reflect the current philosophies? Did those books exist before the internet? They may not be relevant. Unless they are classics and you refer to them often, consider donating them.

How-to: Do you have books left from projects you have finished long ago? Did you do a patio addition, landscaping project, or renovation and ten years later, the book still remains? Think about who might get more use of that book now and donate it.

Self-help & relationship: Did you read the books you have on self-help, and did they help you? If they didn't help or you didn't read them, they probably should go. If you read them and they are meaningful to your personal growth, by all means, keep them.

Your career & your industry: Do you have books left from jobs you no longer have, within industries that you no longer work? There may be 1-5 classic books that are known in that line of work and the others you never look at any longer... hold onto the ones that you're most likely to reference, and donate the others. 

Religious/spiritual books: Do you find the spiritual books you own to be meaningful and significant, or did you read some of them and think they were a bunch of hooey? Keep the ones that resonate with you and donate the rest. Even if you read them and liked them, you may have moved beyond some of the ones that you were reading for a particular study class or other need. If they are not favorites, make some tough decisions and clear space for new learning.

Travel: Travel books are another type that are obsolete as soon as they are printed. Hotels and restaurants close, and hours of operation and phone numbers change. Used bookstores often don't even buy travel books for this reason. Donate old travel books and make way for new journeys. Your photos and souvenirs are enough to remember the trip by.

Parenting: Are you an empty nester who still has a copy of "What To Expect When You're Expecting?" You know, that has come out in many new editions by now... If you are keeping those types of baby care, child care, and parenting books and your children have moved beyond those stages, donate them, or give them away to new parents or someone in your family who might have children of those ages.

Childrens' books: As your children get older, they outgrow books almost as much as they outgrow clothing. Definitely keep a few family favorites for sentimental value and future grandchildren (we love Harry Potter and a few little picture books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar). But there will be many that you and your children really don't have a lot of sentimental attachment to, and they can be donated. Don't feel you must keep them all. You might want to ask your children to look at them and say which were there top 3 or top 5 favorites. If they are grown up, you can e-mail them a list of the titles.

We often talk to clients who like books (and magazine clippings) about how it's not their responsibility to create their own libraries with elaborate indexing, filing, and shelving needs. The internet can get you almost any information at almost any time, and the good ol' public library has almost any book you could ever want for free. And they do all of the indexing and shelving for you! It's okay to let go of some of that accumulated information.

What is most difficult to you about paring down your book collection, and how have you solved that? Share in the comments!

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Comments

[Carole]

I have a hard time letting go of books. I did manage to donate a couple of boxes a few weeks ago. Then my step mother shows up with 2 boxes of books she thinks I'd like...Groan!

I read a lot. I read ebooks, and Yes, I use the library a lot. We use the library for movies too.

Free, and I don't have to store them? That's a pretty good deal.

[Roger C. Parker]

Dear Lorie: Did you write this just for me?

Great post. Really like the idea of "libraries do what they do best."

BTW, one of my "hoards" is foreign translations of my books. My name on the cover, but everything else is in Chinese, Korean, Icelandic, etc.

Sort of part of my "heritage" I really don't want to give up---but I'm drowning in books!

Best wishes--

[Linda G.]

A friend told me about www.librarything.com for cataloging your book collection. Not only can you track the books you own, but you can create libraries of Books Read I don't own, or books I want to read, etc.
Perhaps if I catalog the books I already read, I can 'let go of them' and won't feel the need to keep them on the shelf to remind me that I once read them. (That sounds silly, but I bet you all know excatly what I mean.)

[liannallama]

My best tip is to buy a Kindle (e-book!) I was able to get rid of over 100 of my favorites because I realize I can buy them on my kindle and read them electronically whenever I want. I kept all the novels that I love that are not available for Kindle and ones that I am keeping because they are beautiful editions or sentimental.

[Genny Esterline]

Purchasing a kindle is a form of going green! Think about it. The paper you save reading ebooks adds up. The kindle is on my Christmas list for sure.

We always take our "read" books to a used book store for recycling. We get credits toward other books or cash at a lesser amount.

Great post!

Genny
www.connectionsforwomen.com

[Georgina]

I agree that many of the book types you mention are obsolete. But then why should they be "donated"? The library doesn't want or need obsolete books, either. They should just be thrown away, or placed in the recycle bins. We are overly romantic about books. We don't think twice about throwing away leftover food, or damaged pantihose, or many other things that cost hte same as books. IF A BOOK IS OUTDATED AND DOING YOU NO GOOD, THROW IT AWAY!!!

[Carol Cunningham]

It's really hard to "get rid of" professional books in my field (British lit); the community college I taught at says no one there can use them, and the state university doesn't want them either. They are scholarly books in Englishlit or about English works from several periods.
I checked ebay for some 18th century pamphlets and saw some of mine listed for $200+! Is selling on ebay difficult? I don't collect contemporary lit unless it's in Kindle format, but I have about 30 banker's boxes full of books that may be worth reading to someone, I hope. Any recommendations?
cc

[Beth]

I'm a kindle lover too! Definitely has made it easier to not accumulate any additional clutter on my bookshelves! :) AND I get The Clutter Diet Blog downloaded automatically to my kindle! Thanks!!

Donate books to your local shelters. They are always looking for good books.

Another thing is to join bookcrossing.com and pass your books around the world. I have done this with a few of mine as well.

Thanks Lorie! Please keep on keepin' us motivated!

[Glenda]

We have a group of avid readers in our office who have banded together to share our books. We have all gotten past the "I must keep everything I have ever read" position and are willing to pass the latest great mystery novel (or other work) on to our colleagues. We have adopted a bookcase in a common area, to which we bring our books. Total honor system: come get a book, read it, bring it back for others to read. We are lovin' it!
Not only does it get the books out of our houses, it saves us all a great deal of money that we would spend purchasing them!

[Robin]

This blog has given me a lot of insight into my hoarding issues. I am an emotional eater. I have realized that I am also an emotional hoarder. Wow. Another problem I have encountered in my life is that I always end up needing whatever I have gotten rid of. Justification or reality?

[Lorie Marrero]

I find our self-talk/language and how that affects us to be fascinating. It really matters what we say and think. Note that you are using an extreme word, “always.” It probably is not “always” that you need something you throw out. It’s your perception that it’s more often than you would like, but it’s not “always.” My book talks about this kind of defeatist and absolute language and how we can start replacing those words with alternatives that are more accurate and truthful. I hope that helps. – Lorie