I just spent the weekend cleaning my computer room, which is now my new home office. It’s been very refreshing. I threw out hundreds of pounds of crap I’ve been hoarding for my entire eight (8) years in the computer field. Old hardware, peripherals, manuals, software, games, etc. — all gone. I saved a few things, but probably only 5% of what I had.

The point is that it felt really good to do this. It’s part of the whole GTD thing — starting fresh and then following up with a good strategy for managing new inputs. If yo haven’t done this yet I really encourage you to give it a try. To me, simplification has a raw, natural beauty to it.

If you’re a geek like me, your books are a source of pride and joy. For those who love reading and learning, your book collection is something to be cherished and displayed. What follows is the best way I’ve found to inventory and search your collection.

Archiving

The best resource I’ve found for inventorying your books is LibraryThing.com. Using this amazing resource you can import your books and have them displayed beautifully, with all the information you could possibly want on each entry. The system uses a database that’s linked with Amazon as well as dozens of other sources. The sheer number of options is staggering; you can tag your books, compare collections with other LibraryThing users, and even connect with others that have similar interests.

Searching Your Library

Being able to find what you’re looking for in a large collection is a must, and I’ve come up with a pretty cool way to search my library without even navigating to the main LibraryThing website. Using Firefox Quicksearches you can actually search your entire book collection right from the Firefox address bar. Here’s how you set it up:

1. Create a LibraryThing account and add some of your books
2. Go to your library and right-click inside your search field
   
3. Name the search and add a keyword for it, such as “books”
   
4. Once you’ve saved the bookmark, go into your bookmark management and edit the bookmark’s location field with the following url:

   http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=danielrm26 &view=danielrm26&searchmode=Books&searchbox=%s&searchButton=Search

5. Replace my username with your own (red)
6. You’re done. Now, from Firefox’s address bar, type:

   books $searchterm

   You’re instantly taken to LibraryThing.com and shown all of your books relating to your searchterm. Repeat as desired.

Searching On The Go

Ever been in the bookstore looking at a particular selection and been unsure about whether you had it already? Well, LibraryThing puts and end to that as well.

Naviage to http://www.librarything.com/m from any web-enabled device, enter your username, and you can search your books before making the purchase.

Enjoy.: