Managing Your Dead Tree Library

If you're an e-book reader, chances are you already use the wonderful Calibre software. If not, see Dan Sawyer's article in the April 2011 issue. Like many avid readers, however, I still find something soothing about a book made from dead trees. Unfortunately, it's easy to lose track of all the books I own. If you're the type of person who lends books out, it can become even more complicated. Enter Alexandria.

If you have a sizable personal book library, you might be interested in Alexandria. With Alexandria, you not only can manage, sort, organize and consolidate your book collection, but you also can keep track of books you loan out. You can be a tiny little lending library, without the need for library cards!

At the very least, it's nice to keep track of your books. Alexandria makes adding books a snap, and most of the time it even automatically downloads cover art for you. You can go from a pile of dead trees (Figure 1), to a window full of perfect pixels (Figure 2) easily.

Figure 1. Dead Trees

Figure 2. Books Organized with Alexandria