4 ms·
Seconding this. "How to catalog all my books" is a decidedly nontrivial problem that people literally make the concentration of their masters' degrees (MLIS). T
by RheingoldRiver 5y ago
Seconding this. "How to catalog all my books" is a decidedly nontrivial problem that people literally make the concentration of their masters' degrees (MLIS). The advice will depend based on the type of catalog you are likely to have, and you'll probably get asked questions you didn't even know you should be answering.
This will also be legitimately valuable experience for someone who can't get an internship at a real library (not enough slots/demand) and needs something to put on their resume. (If you had a budget of $0 you could possibly get someone to do it for free even, but don't do that.)
- cratermoon 5y agoI have around a thousand books myself. I once tried to arrange my shelves by Dewey Decimal myself. I didn't even want to make them strictly ordered, just within the classes 000-900. Turns out it's a major pain to figure out what class some books belong in. Newer books from major publishers have LoC cataloging-in-publication data, which is handy, but the older the book the less likely it is to have that, and if it's from a small publishing house or independently published, someone has to decide what catalog. Considering just the time involved, I wouldn't ask anyone to do it for free, and MLIS degree programs aren't cheap! ETA: turns out it's pretty common for folks with the means to hire grad students as interns and freelancers. Some universities will have programs devoted to connecting students with opportunities, even, although at that point you'll be dealing with official contracts and pay rates, which may not work.