Bibliophiles

My husband and I are incurable bookworms. We each chew through a couple of books per week. Sometimes we borrow books from the library, sometimes we find second-hand treasures, and sometimes we buy our books hot off the press. Throughout the (seven, oh-so short) years of our marriage Ben and I have amassed a fairly large book collection.

Right now our books are all packed away in storage while our basement is being renovated. ("Storage" being our garage, my benevolent parents' basement, my in-laws' dining room...) When the basement is finished, Ben and I have a grand master plan to install bookshelves all along one wall of the playroom. The wall is about 16 ft. long. We figure we can fit four or five tall bookcases along it.

Here's the exciting part: We plan to index our collection of books. Ben has been researching library software. We haven't decided whether to use an existing application or write our own. (Ben, my in-house computer genius, could write our own.) We've decided to use the Dewey Decimal system because it's simple and familiar. We'll print our own "family library" bookplates, label the shelves, the works!

I'm very excited by the prospect. As I've shared before, I secretly harbour a desire to become a librarian. I think this project will indulge my (obsessive, I'll admit) need to organize my surroundings.

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I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough book shelves. (Anne Quindlen)