Sunday marked a special day for me–the four year anniversary of the beginning of my project to read every book in Eiseley library (except the ones I don’t read).
In that four years, I have consumed 2174 library items, 1890 of which were books, 857 of which were “full length” (not picture books or children’s easy readers).
Library Item Use in Past 4 Years
| Per Year | Per Month | Per Week | Per Day | |
| Total items | 543.5 | 45.3 | 10.5 | 1.5 |
| Total books | 472.5 | 39.4 | 9.1 | 1.3 |
| Books (excluding children’s picture books) | 214.3 | 17.9 | 4.1 | .6 |
Notes on Each Category of Books
| Items over 4 years | Items in last year | Notes: | |
| Juvenile Picture Books | 596 | 472!! | Author last names beginning in “A” closed |
| Juvenile First Readers | 49 | 0 | 3 authors closed |
| Juvenile Chapter Books | 79 | 2 | 6 authors closed |
| Juvenile Fiction | 238 | 53! | 20 authors closed |
| Juvenile Nonfiction | 68 | 6 | Favorite category? Biographies |
| Adult Fiction | 297 | 49 | 43 authors closed |
| Adult Nonfiction | 503 | 94!! | See my little challenge below |
| Videos/DVDs | 125 | 33 | These seem to be coming in too fast for me to watch them–I’m not much of a movie person |
| Cassette Tapes/Compact Discs | 159 | 60 | The more I travel, the more I listen to. I’ve been traveling a bit this year. |
| Periodicals | 57 | 16 | I haven’t figured out how to do these, since the collection expands so rapidly! |
I don’t have much of a “system” for reading–I pretty much read what I want to when I want to. But I do have a special tab in my planner set apart for books.
First, I have the categories from the Dewey Decimal system all typed out (to the ones place, meaning I have 000-Compute science, information & general works, 001-Knowledge, 002-The book, etc. up to 999-Extraterrestrial worlds). “Closed” categories are highlighted.
Second, I have a list of closed and open authors for each category (picture books, first readers, chapter books, juvenile fiction, juvenile nonfiction, DVDs, and adult fiction). One side of the list contains closed authors written in pen. The other side houses penciled in “open” authors–that is, those authors that I have started to read but whose works I have not finished. These serve as a reminder for me to grab books from open categories (and to avoid reading new acquisitions from categories I’ve already closed–unless I really feel like it.)
Finally, I have my TBR lists. These are divided into sections of the library, and contain penciled titles plus the appropriate call number. When I’m not sure what I’m in the mood for at the library, I run about and collect titles that are on these lists.
When counting up my nonfiction reads, I discovered that over half of my reading came from two large Dewey decimal categorizations (hundred’s place). I was wondering if any of my readers could hazard a guess as to which categories are my favorites. Here are your options:
000-Information (Computer Science, Library Science, Encyclopedias, etc.)
100-Philosophy (Psychology, Logic, Ethics, etc.)
200-Religion (Bible, Theology, Comparative religions, etc.)
300-Social Sciences (Politics, Economics, Law, Education, Traditions, etc.)
400-Language (Linguistics, Grammar, Foreign Languages, etc.)
500-Mathematics/Science (Math, Astronomy, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, etc.)
600-Technology (Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, Home ec. Management, Buildings, etc.)
700-Art (Landscape art, Architecture, Decorative arts, Photography, Music, Performing arts, etc.)
800-Literature (Poetry, Drama, Essays, Speeches, Letters, Satire, and Literary criticism)
900-Geography and History (Travel, History)
Biographies-Self explanatory!
So, what do you think? What two categories are my favorites?