If you read more than a handful of books per year-- which I'm going to assume you do, you being an avid follower of a library blog and all-- it has probably happened to you: you are trying to tell a friend about a title you read, but you can't remember any of the names. Not the book title, not the author name, nor any of the main characters' names. You're left spluttering about how you loved it, although you may not be able to enumerate why, because most of the major plot points have flown out of your head. But you loved it! And your friend should read it! ... Not such a convincing argument.
As you know, the library does not keep a list of the items you have historically checked out. This is for your privacy. But this doesn't mean you can't keep your own list, giving yourself something to reference in the future. There is a plethora of options, with something appropriate for people of every techno-preference. If you'll be increasing your reading frequency for the Summer Reading Program, now might be a great time to start.
Which method of tracking best fits your life and skills?
1. Pen and paper. Eminently portable, impervious to viruses and power outages, the pen-and-paper method has many benefits. Depending on what you are tracking-- date read, title, author, and cover color? major plot points? your own review?-- and how you want to organize your list, you can choose from a bound journal-type book, so you can add entries by date read, or use something like a binder, so you can insert and organize new entries by title or author last name. Leave pages at the front and back for a "To Read" section and a "Favorite Lines/Quotes" area.
2. Word or Excel files. For your eyes only, computer files don't have quite the portability of pen-and-paper records but they are easily searchable-- use the "find" function to search for a name or descriptor. Use Excel's sort features to arrange and rearrange by date, or alphabetically be title or author. Another benefit of any electronic tracking (Word or Excel, or any of the methods listed below), is easy-to-gather information on how many books you read in a given period.
3. Blog. With blogs and other online tools as outlined below, a major benefit is being able to share your thoughts, history, and preferences with other readers; another is that they're accessible from any computer with an internet connection. Like a pen-and-paper journal, a blog will keep all your entries chronologically, while letting you assign labels or tags and giving you the freedom to search for words or names. When using labels or tags, remember to keep them simple: use "boating" as a major plot element instead of "canoeing" for one book and "kayaking" for another; using the tags this way can help you group together titles with similar elements.
Blogger is only one example of a free blog site.
4. Social Media. For those comfortable with technology, find out what (if?) anyone in your circle of friends uses any of the options available. If you'll be setting the trend (or using it mostly for yourself), many sites are already linked to profiles you many already have: if you have an Amazon account (you would if you've ever purchased anything from Amazon), you can use it to log in to Shelfari.com. Users with Facebook, Twitter, or Google accounts can sign in to GoodReads.com. Skip those and use one of the many available apps through Facebook (just search "book shelf" in the Facebook search bar).
All these tools allow you to track, rate, and share what you've read, as well as look at lists, get suggestions, and discuss with other users.
5. Mobile Apps. To always have access to your list, search for "book shelf" in your app or play store on your smart phone or mobile device. (Many of the options listed under Social Media have an app.) Many of the apps that came up for me were free or low cost. You will always have your reading history information at hand.
What do the so-called professionals use? In an informal poll among library staff, it turns out we use GoodReads, Shelfari, Blogger, and our own faulty memories.
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