Stacks of hardbacks, paperbacks, magazines and comics don’t make you a book worm … you’re a bibliophile! The smell of old books and a fresh off the press best-seller equally fill your heart with delight, and parting with them is never easy. However, if you want to enjoy sharing your favorite tales of passion, crime and adventure, but fear losing your favorite tomes and novellas along the way, a system of organizing a personal library may be the solution you’re looking for.

Teachers in particular have some of the largest personal libraries, and love to share their books with students. Students can unfortunately be forgetful, and beloved (and expensive) stories can wander away from the shelves never to return. By creating a checkout and return system for students, teachers will not only ensure that more books will be returned to them, but they can help their students to become more responsible as well. Simply keep a running checkout log by the library, and add a library book card and pocket holder to the inside cover of each book in your collection. These cards help students to see when their book must be returned, and they will also enjoy seeing the names of classroom friends who have borrowed that book before!

A personal library system is also ideal for a number of other uses and collections of any size. Church libraries are often on the honor system, and library cards and pockets are an easy way to help church staff to keep track of shared media. Office libraries, museum libraries and book clubs also can benefit from using library book cards to help keep track of their media. Personal libraries don’t end with books either; library cards and pockets are also a great way to lend out movies and music with confidence. You don’t need a masters in library sciences to be your own librarian; simply stock up on 100-pack sets of library cards and pockets for an organized media collection you’ll be proud to share and display.