Last week when we asked readers to share their Reading Resolutions, did you include plans to return your library books on time OR record more of the books you’ve read? If so (or if not), feast your eyes on this handy and inexpensive ($4) tool for logging one’s borrowing and/or reading!
My favorite guilty pleasure blog, Design Sponge, recently featured the Overdue Book Calendar available from Etsy seller Aunt June (a.k.a. Lauren Hunt), and I was charmed, charmed, charmed by this clever creation! Each month of the calendar features drawings of 13-15 books with blank spines, on which you can record the titles of your library books and their due dates. OR (this is what I’m thinking…) you could use the calendar as a simplified reading log. Instead of recording books you borrow, record the books you’ve read, and the date when you did so. If you write small enough, you could even record a short review beneath or alongside the book’s title information. That way at the end of 2010, you’ll have a wonderful visual reminder of all the books you read this year! (Or, if 13-15 spines per month won’t cut it for you, you’ll at least have a decent sampling.)
For $4, Aunt June will e-mail you a PDF of the calendar. You can print out as many 8.5 x 11 copies as you’d like on your home computer or get your calendar(s) printed at a local copy shop.
What a great New Year’s gift for all of your reader friends!
Um – I just write mine down in the back of my diary. That makes them hard to reference, though, as does this calendar. If I were serious about recording my books read, I’d use a database. This is cute, but it won’t help you get your library books back on time. The date’s already on the book, or else on the receipt if your library’s gone that route. This is just another thing to keep track of and you won’t. I know of two reliable ways to get youir books back on time. 1, Check out only as many books as you can read in the check-out period, and return them when done. This is difficult due to the way books waylay you and jump into your backpack, I know; and then there’s the impromptu trips when you have to stop in for something and don’t plan to check anything out, but do, and then you have two overlapping sets to take care of. The only way to deal with that is: 2, Go to the library on a set schedule. When I was a kid we’d go to the library every Saturday. Our system had a two-week checkout time, so we’d go to the central library one week and the branch library the next week. This cut down on impromptu trips confusing the issue and guaranteed that no individual book was out of its library for more than the allotted time. Self-discipline. It’s free. Writing
To Alison – great idea, thanks for the pointer. Beautiful & simple design. To Peni – self-discipline is free but apparently very complicated! Live the impromptu life! – from a bad librarian.
I think getting library books back on time is an inborn skill that some people just lack and all the gadgets in the world won’t help. I even call students at home to remind them, and they STILL can’t get books in on time. Very cute, though.