How to Reorganize Your Book Collection

I recently got rid of nearly 100 books from my home book collection.  That sounds like a lot, but I have over 500 books in total!  While I was doing spring cleaning around my house, I thought it would also be a good idea to rid my collection of books I don’t need or want anymore.  It is hard for me to part from any book, but sometimes you have to make space for other things and people in your life.

I created three boxes – Keep, Recycle and Toss.

Keep Box:

  1. Classic rare or out of print books that I want to keep
  2. Books signed by the author
  3. Books I plan to read in the next three months
  4. Important books related to history, post-colonial studies, media development, and journalism

Toss box:

  1. Books I read already
  2. Books I have multiple copies of in my collection ( I had five copies of The Wretched of the Earth!)
  3. Books I am never going to read
  4. Books I already have as an ebook

Recycle box:

  1. Outdated books and magazines (travel books, encyclopedias)
  2. Books with mold, missing pages, dirt etc.

I reorganized my keep books on the bookshelves and categorized them by subject matter.  I also created an Excel sheets listing all my books. This way I don’t purchase multiple copies of books again.  The books I promise myself to read in the next three months go on the top shelf.

Books from the toss box were donated to a variety of needy thrift stores and my local library’s Friends group. There are many nonprofits that also serve underserved communities that would love to take your books, like groups that send books to readers in developing countries and prison book programs.  Make sure to call these organizations before donating to be sure they will take your books.

For recycling books, paperbacks that are torn or unusable can be placed in your curbside recycling bin.

 

I hope this helps if you are looking for a way to reorganize your book collection.