Cataloging Books - A Visual of the Chore

I've been mentioning that I've been cataloging and boxing our paperback books for more than a month now and I thought it might be nice to share the scope of the problem. It's a good problem - books are always a good thing. But we have a LOT of them accumulated through the years and they have taken over the house (and are continuing to). Here are some photos I took yesterday to bring clarity to all of you.

These are the final choices. The laminate is
a rich sandstone look which will go nicely
with the light silver grey of the carpet. The
drapery fabric is expensive, so we'll wait for a
sale and then jump on it then. 

Also, I have a check in hand for the down payment, decisions have been made and supported, and the carpeting/laminate/etc is a total GO. I'll drop the check off this morning and with everything falling into place, I'll be looking at install dates during the week of June 15th. Ack! So much still to do!

We're not doing the rest of the kitchen remodel yet, but
when we do, I was thinking that the Cambria countertop
on the bottom would look really stunning with
the new laminate. Hmmmm....

So, books.....

The hallway bookshelves are what started it all. The blue carpeting
is being replaced, so these had to be completely emptied out and they'll be
put into temporary storage. I'm really hoping that we won't need to put them
out again. The glass shelving is three high and contains my dragon
collection and my beaded Pegasus Horse. 

There are two of these smaller bookshelves plus a
shelving unit across the room in Sharon's Room. These
shelves were packed two deep with paperbacks.
These are our oldest shelves, dating from the
time we were grad students in New Mexico. 

Now we're in the library and the main area where we have our books. There's a
wall length bookshelf to my right that holds hardcovers and larger books, and
one to my left that will be the next picture. I just finished cataloging the
left-hand side of the main bank yesterday. Getting an idea of how many
books can fit onto these shelves? Just wait for another pic - you've got NO idea yet! 

Turning to my left, the secondary shelving is mixed use - some larger
books and some paperbacks on the far left and far right. Those sections
are hinged and there is another bank of filled shelving behind them. 

Finally, the larger bank of shelving once more. These shelves are also
hinged with a complete second shelving unit behind. Thought I was
half-way done with the large shelves? No way. I'm only one quarter of
the way through them. 

My current cataloged count is 1325 paperbacks scanned, and put carefully into boxes by the author or editor's last name. Those boxes will be stored while the carpeting re-do is accomplished. My end goal to all of this is reducing our books so that they fit only into the large hinged shelving unit in the library area. I read almost exclusively in e-book format now, and he's getting into that too because his eyes are getting worse and the ability to resize the text in an e-book is working out well for him. Anyone looking for some books? LOL Have a wonderful Thursday, I'm off to an off-day of drowning guppy while my rib continues to heal.