Classroom Library Database

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of books! Actually I have 1172 classroom books. How do I know exactly how many books I have?

I use Google Sheets to have a database of all of my classroom books. Since my collection is so large I can't remember all of the tiles I already own. With Google Sheets I can check to see if I have a book from anywhere. I use it to see if I mean to order a book for an upcoming lesson or before I place my Scholastic order.

I'm going to walk you through my database in case you ever want to create your own! My database has very basic information for each book. I'll talk a little bit about each column and why I need it to stay organized. If you would like to view my library (really!) click HERE.

The first column is just a check box with a border. I've been using this to take inventory at the end of the year. I printed out my database after I sorted it my category and then checked off which books were there. My books are still partly in my garage, so I really needed to see what I had in my classroom. The second column is how many copies of the book I have. While doing my inventory this year, I realized I have 4 copies of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. My students definitely love that book, but 4 copies is not necessary. The next column is the book title. I type in the title exactly. This is important or you'll mess up your searching abilities later. (Been there, done that, right?!)

For the next column I type in the author's name. If there is more than one another, I just add an ampersand (&) in between their names. If there are no authors I just wrote "None." The next column is super important! It's the location for where your book will live in the library. Depending on the book, I might put it under its reading level, but I might also put it under a theme. For instance, if I have a level 3.0 book but it's about Halloween, I would put it in my October books instead. For this column I would put "October." In the next column, I put the book level. For the example above, this is where I would put "3.0." Of the book doesn't have a level, I just put "N/A." This makes it easy for me to figure out what level a book is! For our informative writing unit, we usually use a lot of different animals. I can sort by category and easily see what reading levels different books are.

My final column is just for notes to myself. Sometimes I note a particular topic or something I could teach using the book. It helps sometimes, but you could also skip this column of you wanted. I highly encourage you to customize this to work for you and your classroom library! If you would like to create your own database, just make a copy of this database HERE. When I order new books, I just quickly add them to the database before putting them out for the students.

Now how do I use this database?! Why is it worth it to put in all of this time and effort? First off, it makes searching so easy!! One of my students would ask me, "So we have Who Would Win Scorpion?" And I would say, "I have no idea. Let me look for you... Yep! It's in 3.4." The student would go over to the 3.4 bin and find the book. Everyone was happy in a minute or less! To search, you just use the computer shortcut CTRL + F (or COMMAND + F for Macs) to bring up the search bar. Then you can type in key words. For instance, I would probably just type "Scorpion" for my student's request. Then I can use the up and down arrows to search through all of the books with the key word until I find what I want. (Or don't find!)

I can also sort by any of the columns. I usually have my library sorted by location so I can easily see what categories of books I should buy more of. But I'll also sort by author if I want to see how many Mo Willems books I have. When I want to do a little bit of housekeeping, I sort by title to check for duplicates (usually because I misspelled something.)

The beauty of Google Sheets is that my database is everywhere with an internet connection. I can look on my phone if I'm at the bookstore. Or on my computer if I'm at home. Or even just when I'm planning in a team member's room! It's so easy and so flexible! It was worth it!! I hope this post inspires you to be organized. If you have a lot of books, it's worth it to know what you have and where! And if you have a smaller collection, start now and add to it as you build your collection!!