My WFMW is DELICIOUS!

Delicious Library that is. For anyone with a Mac, keep reading; for the rest of you, sorry but my Works For Me Wednesday tip won't help you. But you'll find plenty that will if you hop over to Rocks In My Dryer.

I have a few books (okay, those who know me, get up off the floor and stop laughing). When we knew we'd be moving overseas I got rid of about 800 but that still left a few (pause) Hundred.

With all that was going on in our lives this last year, the thought of getting my books organized and catalogued did not fill me with joy. But I knew it was necessary, if for nothing else, then for the shipping process.

As when we shipped all our worldly belongings to South America.

So when the son gifted me with The Delicious Library and showed me how easy it was to use, I might have spontaneously burst into song. Not really, but I did feel IMMENSE gratitude (and therefore did NOT burst into song since that would have been painful for all involved, most especially the son who has on occasion asked me not to sing when I'm next to him in church).

Bottom line is: What would have taken DAYS can now be accomplished in minutes and hours. The built-in web camera on your Mac will take a picture of the bar code on the back of your book (or CD or DVD or game...) and automatically pull up all the information from the internet and "place" the book (or CD or DVD or game...) on your virtual bookshelf. You can decide if you want to see the book covers or just simply a list of titles, perhaps organized alphabetically by author? (this is not my bookshelf, but an image from the Delicious Library website)

I L-O-V-E it! I can see at a glance that we brought 667 books and 34 movies with us (haven't catalogued our CD collection yet but that's coming). I honestly have not explored the full capabilities of this program but when I have time I'll definitely be sitting down and playing with it to see what else it will do.

Now, I will say I had one itty-bitty problem. But it was not because of the software. Oh no, it was because of the book publishers who opted for a cheap alternative to doing their job right. A line of paperbacks will often carry the same bar code, no matter the book. This is annoying and I hope they stop doing that soon. The book that kept popping up while scanning books from a particular line of mysteries was one I don't even own, nor have ever owned. So all of those had to be typed in.

BUT it's a simple matter of typing in either the title or the author and a list of options pop up and you merely double click on the one that matches your book. Voila!, all the information on the book is immediately there.

For anyone with *ahem* a few books, CDs, DVDs, games...this is a program you cannot, SHOULD NOT live without. Keep track of what you own in an easy, efficient and FUN way (while scanning books you can take time to make faces at the camera and practice your various 'mom' looks to alternately scare, intimidate or show that you'll brook no nonsense from your little rugrats).

And son, THANKS AGAIN for the gift of Delicious Library, my favorite software EVER!