Bibliovore Habits

As a household, we are now 'known' for our library and for a long time I have been lost as to how to get it into a maintainable order. This has been, in part, owing to the need for custom shelving to be put into place but that is a separate matter.

One of my big issues is classification and recording the content of our collection (primarily for insurance purposes) because we have about 2,000 titles varying wildly in the cover price of each. Something that makes this harder is that indexing records are held behind a barrier called 'money' so that doing these things for yourself, in your own private collection, becomes a problem.

So, on my pre-bed quest of the night I went searching for answers...

..until I stumbled upon Library Thing. This was a dream come true that had me asking, "Where have you been all my life?"

The web site is primarily made up of forums and your profile which includes the ability to list books from your collection which is great! Now, don't be thinking that's all because I am sure there is more there but I have been overwhelmed with the wealth of information I have gleamed already.

They also have Group forum areas. This is where I will say it is not necessarily child friendly because there are some very liberal groups in there. For the discerning adult, this is a fine place to visit as long as you make an active choice to just not visit the groups that you may have moral/religious/political/other objections to.

So, as part of my group subscription trawl I came across an interesting group called the 'Build the Open Shelves Classification' which has a wiki that it is working from at the moment. It appears to still be at a grass-roots level at the moment (from my brief reading) but I look forward to delving deeper in the nearer future. It has been a while since I have been on the Open Source scene so it may be a good chance to dust myself off and get to work for a change!

As my boys are currently participating in the Premier's Reading Challenge we have been drowning ourselves in books from the library on a weekly basis, checking out up to 60 books at a time. The staff know us when we walk in now and we have been given all kinds of 'nick-names' including being known as 'the tribe'. They see us coming by our books hitting the chute of a Tuesday afternoon, followed by each of us making our way in PJ Bear and Sir Sonic first followed by myself with Princess Poppy in the pram and Boof after helping his sort his library items into the correct chute. They then know they will busy for the next 30 minutes both checking out books and putting some away.

Throughout this process of reading Pamela Allen just kept popping up and I have a feeling that her books are interrupting our reading cadence on a regular basis. So to get her out of the system today we decided to have a Pamela Allen reading challenge of 12 books in addition to those already read. The titles we have now read include:

I am not sure where the past few months have gone or what book I actually read in December. Can anyone remind me? I have recently finished a must-read book for parents that I acquired in January whilst on holiday interstate. (Forgetting to pack reading material is a great excuse to buy some).

The book is entitled "Calm and Compassionate Children: A Handbook" by Susan Usha Dermond and is an absolute must have for anyone who has a child who is not quite as settled or focussed as could be expected or alternatively has issues with stress or managing emotions and social circumstances as well as being an essential resource for equipping our children now to be able to handle stress and obstacles they will face, both as they grow as well as in their adult lives.

Just a piece of simple inspiration that crossed me a few months ago:

Susan S. Macaulay writes in 'For the Children's Sake' (1984, pg 19)

Get a few really good books, and read them together aloud. Set aside a good regular chunk of time. This will be one of the most rewarding and stimulating relationships in your life. Guess what? If you have the courage to be honest, that youngster's comments and questions are really going to make you think hard. You can throw away all the manuals. That child has an awful lot to teach you. Your mind is probably in a worse state than his. After reading together, go to a really nice place outside for a couple of hours at least. Don't rush. Turn a rock over and watch the beetles run away. Throw rocks in the stream and slide down a hill.

Talk together. You'll find yourself enjoying it!

Relax.

It isn't all hard as the experts make out.

Susan has it right you know! Simply exposing your children to books will grow a love for them in their hearts so you don't feel you have to push but rather you can be guided by your child's natural curiosity and be blessed by what they open your eyes to!

I have been blown away by this last month by one of the most Biblically directed books with a true fundamental foundation. Created to Be His Help Meet: Discover How God Can Make Your Marriage Glorious has been one of the most personally confronting and yet eye opening reading experiences I have ever been through and my goodness it has made an impact.