Book Sorting, Buying, and Wishing Help is right around the corner...Actually right NOW!

I love Tapestry of Grace.  It is full of great books.  However, I can't afford all of them.  Thankfully, I utilize the library all year long for the majority of our books.  However, since my little secret is out (Tapestry is GREAT), other wonderful homeschool moms are using the library.  I don't want to get into a battle of the books, so I need to have on my shelf the literature books (because those are dependent on the worksheets).  I also would like to have the history books that are used for more than 4 weeks.

Confession again, I had a little bit of book money to start stocking up on the books for next year. I love looking at used Amazon.com or the quaint little bookstore called Fireside Books in Palmer, but in the first week of shopping---I ORDERED THE SAME BOOK TWICE! In the past, I also have ordered a book that was already on my nice little shelf.

Not again.

I read reviews, blogs, and customer comments, and decided I was going to put my smart-phone to work (an ipad will do the thing as well).  I bought "Book Crawler".  This app allows me to scan the barcode on the back of the book or manually enter in my older books.  Then it is not only searchable, but my entire library is in my grubby little hands if I am tempted to "repurchase" a good deal at the local thrift store.

Reality, it takes about 1 hour per large bookshelf to enter in the books.  It was painless. I learned to make sure to "tick" or select the slide key called OWN when you scan a book.  Then it places a nifty little check mark by the books I own.

I also can enter my next years books. I just don't mark OWN.  Also, I can add a custom category on a book.  For example, I added a category called TOG 1 (for Tapestry of Grace year 1) or you could add Son 3(for Sonlight grade 3).

You also can push this little blue button on any book that you entered and it will automatically tell you if it is in a library close by.  With another click, you can place the book on hold.  Yes, it is that simple.

To use between two devices (iphone/ipad) I just signed up for dropbox and then push a button and my database is shared.  So, if I am done, I export my database (one button while online).  Then when I open the app on a different device I "import" my database.  That way I don't ever loose my books, and I have the same list of books I am working with.  They "Book Crawler" just opened a desktop app to work online as well.

I love sharing books.  When you open a specific book, you can also tick a LOAN button and type in the person you loaned it to.  I love that.

Hopefully, I will be able to not purchase the same book twice, know what I need with a click of the button, and be able to share my books and not wonder who I loaned it to.