My husband is a librarian and a scholar at heart. He has lots of books.

I have my own collection of books, including a large selection of children’s books to use in my preschool classroom.

Our family loves LibraryThing.

LibraryThing is a  website where you can catalog books. Here are some ways you can use it:

• My husband has cataloged his entire personal library. This helps him keep from buying duplicates.

• I tag all my children’s books according to theme. Then when it’s time to get books about fish, I can search my own collection quickly. No need to refamiliarize myself with what’s on my bookshelf.

• Whenever I find a children’s book that I love, even if I don’t own it, I put it in LibraryThing and tag it with the theme. Then I don’t need to do a catalog search at the public library next time I need to find that cute book about manners.

• I often hear about books I’d like to read someday. When that happens, I hop on LibraryThing, search for the title or author, add it to my catalog, and tag it “Books to Read.”

• I’ve heard of people also using LibraryThing to keep track of which books they’ve loaned out.

LibraryThing has a social media component so you can connect with people who are reading the same things you are. You can explore other people’s catalogs and read people’s reviews. I haven’t taken advantage of these features, but they are there.

You can catalog up to 200 books for free or an unlimited number of books for $10/year or $25/life.  Entering new books is very, very easy. I suggest LibraryThing for any bibliophile or teacher. It’s saved me loads of time over the years.

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