Charlotte posted about LibraryThing selling a barcode scanner called a CueCat at http://www.librarything.com/cuecat.php so I got one as it would take a decent amount of time to enter in titles or ISBN numbers by hand although you will have to with some books because they do not have barcodes. It took a little while to get the hang of but it is a nifty little device.

I did 737 items in less then two half days and I have cataloged my whole library, although I have some other books that I have set aside for people or to sell. My catalog is avalible here. http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=behanner

This definitely has potential. Give it a try if you haven't already. Plus it is very affordable at $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime.

Do I have to allow other people to see my books? We have loads of rare books and I don't want people emailing me asking to borrow them.

Do I have to post reviews of each book, or can I stick to just the details and type of book.

Can I specify who the book belongs to (Jeff or me)?

I really am a Luddite, so will I be able to figure out how to use this? (still having trouble working the iPod Jeff gave me for Christmas, so you know my level of incompetence with electronics. )

Any info appreciated!

I started catalogueing when I still had the 1 shelf. I update it now and then so that the gap will not grow too large to never feel like updating again.
The reason why I put it online (see my signature for the link) is that I feel it might help people to know what books are out there. Especially those interested in the same subjects that I am and who might want to get to know more about these topics.

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Originally posted by Gwen:
I'm a Luddite, so could you explain why this this a good thing? I mean that in the 'why is it important for other people to see my library' sort of way.

There are two things, firstly by comparing the books you have with the books that others have it can recomend books that you might be interested in or you can look at the libraries of people with similar books to yourself and see if they have something that you didn't know about. You can also talk about a specific book and I'd imagine on there ask for a review from others. The other reason is networking, we don't know everyone online who is into the things we are into and people with similar books might be. I just found out that a person who is on my LiveJournal Friends list who is like a friend of a friend is actually the same person who has the most books in common with me. The more people who are on there the larger the data set is and the more useful the site becomes.

I've already figured out that having a catalog of my books is a good thing for insurance purposes.

A very quick solution to this is to take a digital camera and photograph your bookshelves like two shelves at a time and then keeping the images at full resolution upload them to a secure place. It will atleast give you a good place to start if something should happen and good proof that you actually own the books.

Do I have to allow other people to see my books? We have loads of rare books and I don't want people emailing me asking to borrow them.

You do not have to allow others to see them although I think it is an all or nothing thing at this poing. You also don't have to use a username that anyone will recognize and I don't even think that an e-mail address is required.

Do I have to post reviews of each book, or can I stick to just the details and type of book.

You do not have to post reviews. The nice thing is that it will do most of the details for you. You put in the Title, Author, ISBN or what not and then the source you want to look it up from, Amazon, LOC or a list of like 70 libraries and it look and then you just select the right book and it is in your library.

Can I specify who the book belongs to (Jeff or me)?

Yes there is a comment and Tag section for each book.

I really am a Luddite, so will I be able to figure out how to use this?

Only way to tell is to create and account and try it. It is pretty easy but I'm not the best person to judge that.

I can see the thing about finding out about books you might be interesed in but unaware of, I found a few on Bertus' list that looked interesting.

We photograph the bookshelves periodically but it would still be good to have a proper record of things.

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Gwen, I can see a few advantages, other than the ones that Brent mentioned. One is to look at libraries of people whose work you respect. I have to say that seeing your library would be fun, to say the least! I'm sure I'd end up going shopping after that.

They also have a feature where you can access your booklist on your cell phone. If you're out at a bookstore, you can check to see if you've already bought the book before you invest again.