Personal Library Weeding

[SamanthaAnastasia]

Finished a big weeding of sorts, added up to about 100 total books now, so about...22 weeded from the apologetics/evangelism, especially some that are more esoteric focused or such, like Christian schooling or stuff that's much more for Christians in nature. Some might sell on Ebay, but not holding my breath. Even if I took all the stuff that could be exchanged, not sure how much I'll get.

And apparently I had 2 copies of the same book weeded from my alma mater's library, Introduction To Theology by Owen C. Thomas.

chyeah!

 

[muichimotsu]

Another chunk, though honestly the bigger intimidation now is inventorying, since I did not remotely update my inventory from a few years ago when I took a batch of books numbering...50+ back in 2019 to the same place.

Might've been more, not sure how many are really absent relative to the inventory that counted about 773 books, which I might still have if we count the probably nearly 100 manga volumes (and counting), but I've freed up enough space I don't think I even need the extra bookcase I was using, which combined with how much I weeded potentially from the box, it's no wonder it adds up to probably 140~ books now.


Still just finding out books that I really don't think I'll get to and that's certainly beneficial, even if I'll probably still be weeding even after we do the exchange, but that's a good bunch of stuff dealt with for less clutter even if I almost paradoxically keep adding to it anyway.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

Another chunk, though honestly the bigger intimidation now is inventorying, since I did not remotely update my inventory from a few years ago when I took a batch of books numbering...50+ back in 2019 to the same place.

Might've been more, not sure how many are really absent relative to the inventory that counted about 773 books, which I might still have if we count the probably nearly 100 manga volumes (and counting), but I've freed up enough space I don't think I even need the extra bookcase I was using, which combined with how much I weeded potentially from the box, it's no wonder it adds up to probably 140~ books now.


Still just finding out books that I really don't think I'll get to and that's certainly beneficial, even if I'll probably still be weeding even after we do the exchange, but that's a good bunch of stuff dealt with for less clutter even if I almost paradoxically keep adding to it anyway.

773?!

weeded 140?!
Go you!

 

[muichimotsu]

773?!

weeded 140?!
Go you!

It's actually 144 atm, 4 weeded just this morning before I went to sleep, because I think best at night. Even 2 textbooks related to Kierkegaard, who it's hard to weed, even when I have 2 copies of Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death from 2 different courses I took.

If I could just get them into the rough categories, it might be easier to weed precisely, but deadline's coming up for the exchange this weekend, some stuff is probably sticking on Ebay, expanding into other venues could work, but it's also more work for that profit potential.

 

[muichimotsu]

Well, it wasn't 100% successful, but book weeding and exchange (along with other stuff I was winnowing out because I don't really want it now) netted a hefty sum (I don't even want to say the number, I misunderstood what the clerk said at first, even though they would've noted dollars if it was what I thought, he was just that used to a big number), though I spent about half of it and am holding onto the rest for another time. About...30 items bought, primarily non books(so, good, I suppose?), though it was more how bookstore categories and such make it way more of a time sink to find a book you might be interested in versus what I'm used to dealing with library categories

Certainly pushing me to weed my DVD collection, though some of it is weird overlap, like the Futurama boxsets that I still want to get, even if there are different releases now because of it changing channels over the years, getting cancelled, getting renewed, etc. But some of it is easier to just put in that pile, which has grown a bit for the library donations, barring a random sale for the books that seems like more trouble than it'd be worth even if it'd also be decent profit even if it was for dirt cheap ($1-2 a book)

 

[public hermit]

Been doing it on and off over the years, last time was 2020 and now I need to do it again, if only to make some money and clear out space

Almost have enough space I don't need boxes for the general stuff versus the manga volumes, but it's getting trickier to weed out stuff now in terms of the topics of interest and stuff I want to read, have read in part or in full, or even want more for reference's sake

The categories I've assessed for now, though it's still TBD in terms of how big my library is still

Religion-Theology
Religion-Buddhism
Religion-Apologetics
Religion-Theory + Comparative Religion
Secularism
Philosophy
Otaku (small category that really could be weeded more)
Japanese Culture
Literature-Creative Writing
Literature
Science (fairly small overall, weeded a decent chunk recently)

And there's definitely sub groups within that to consider, but what are some rules of thumb you use that could aid in some way, potentially, for such a venture? I've thankfully not bought as much books beyond manga, so that makes it easier to not just take one step forward and a step or more back

Books are the one thing of which I have too many, and I just acquired more from my dad. I'm thinking eBay, but if I could give them to an institution or anyone, really, I probably would.

 

[muichimotsu]

Books are the one thing of which I have too many, and I just acquired more from my dad. I'm thinking eBay, but if I could give them to an institution or anyone, really, I probably would.

Ebay is tricky and supposedly not always indicative of resale market price, plus I've found many things are being sold for such that you'd only make a slight profit even if you were getting shipping paid for otherwise (which I think is a thing some sellers do on Ebay or even Amazon). There are other places for buying books, like...Bookstore.org, I think, which a coworker mentioned as an Amazon alternative given objections to its business practices


A person whose art I follow was cleaning out his late grandfather's stuff and there were easily a dozen boxes just seemingly on two subjects: old inappropriate content mags and aviation. At this point, my library is much more open, but that's ignoring the probably 70-80 manga volumes in boxes (and will get bigger over time as I fill in gaps for the big series I'm focusing on).


And unfortunately about 12~ books were rejected for exchange, so I'm likely going to donate them to the library and even if they don't add them to the collection, someone buying it for $2 or so is money going to them in the long term, which is VERY important for public libraries.

 

[dqhall]

Books are the one thing of which I have too many, and I just acquired more from my dad. I'm thinking eBay, but if I could give them to an institution or anyone, really, I probably would.

I used to buy used books online from Goodwill and others through Amazon. When I wanted to give them away, I donated them to a Goodwill charity thrift store near me.

 

[muichimotsu]

I used to buy used books online from Goodwill and others through Amazon. When I wanted to give them away, I donated them to a Goodwill charity thrift store near me.

I managed to get a better paperback copy of a book I still need to finish via Thrift Books on Amazon, was easily 100+ pages in and haven't gotten back to it yet. Illusion of Immortality by Corliss Lamont. Might buy a companion book to something I got on a bit of impulse but would help for the first book's intent of being a professional organizer (which I think I've had suggested to me a few times, not that much, especially given my current still disorganized state)

 

[deanerenata32]

I'm an old-school person, whenever I read I still like to have physical books in my hand, I don't really do digital reading even though everyone seems to be doing that nowadays.