An Idea on Keeping tract of Articles and such.
I have accumulated over the past few years a good number of Articles and such about all different topics. I am now getting about 12 different publications a month to keep tract of. I have various different medias also with information – Magazines, Newsletters, files, computer files, books, etc. I now had enough information that I need to keep track of it neatly. I was to the point where I would remember reading a review of such – and – such a book – well where was that in the 1,000’s of articles and 100’s of magazines? I was fortunate enough to run across David Clouds history on his web page (Way of Life Literature).
He used index cards to catogerize or keep tract of stuff, that was a great idea but I wanted a little different system, using the computer. What i did was make index cards on the computer with my database program. My database (Q+A) allows for different input forms with still the same database, but even using something like MS Works with only 1 form will work. What I did was make a database with these fields.
Title Subject for on labels sub-subject Scripture date dewey # Number of them ISBN# have I read Author checked out located type of entry memo general subjects covered
Then I made the different input forms – one for books, one for articles / magazines, sermon notes, videos, audio cassettes, file cabnit folders.
in the following the [ ] = the filed name in the data base. the other is just a label for on the form.
The one for articles from magazines and such looks like- Magazine name or author - [author] subjects addressed in articles - [general subjects covered] related scripture - [ scripture] date of pub / article - [date] dewey # - [dewey#] A = article - [type of entry] checked out -[checked out] located -[located] (if you lend to someone you can put the date and who here. comments - [memo]
I even do this with books. But with books this is where the 2 subject fields come in – the dewy subject is for on the label (like in libraries) but the other subject field is the same field as in the Magizenes. I do this for keeping tract of more specifics. It makes it easier to find things – like in Lewis Drummond’s book about Spurgeon, out of 830 pages wher is the one page with Spurgeons view on ordination. I put stuff like that in the general subjects filed.
the one for books looks like - Title of the Book - [title] Subject on label - [subject on label] dewey # - [dewey #] Subjects covered - [general subjects covered] author - [author] isbn # - [isbn#] B = Book - [type of entry] checked out - [checked out] located - [located] number of them - [# of them] (incase multiple copies - like pamplets) Info about book- [ memo]
the one for audio cassettes looks like - Title of the Cassette - [title] Author - [author] dewey# - [dewey#] # of cassettes in the set - [# of them] date bought - [date] C = Cassette - [type of entry] Checked out - [checked out] located - [located] subjects covered - [general subjects covered] scripture - [scripture] comments - [memo]
the file cabnit listing looks like - name of file - [general subjects coverd] F = file -[type of file] dewey# - [dewey#] checked out - [checked out] located - [located] comments - [memo] I keep tract of these because sometimes you forget that you have a file on a specific item, and this will remind you when you do your search.
the record of videos looks like - Title of the video - [title] Author - [author] dewey - [dewey#] # of videos in set - [#] date bought - [date] V = video - [type of entry] checked out - [checked out] located - [located] label subject - [subject for on label] subjects covered - [general subjects covered] scripture - [scripture]
The key is the field – [General subjects covered]. In each form that is where the topics are put in at. This way you just search that field for the topic and no matter what median it is on – you get it. search for Spurgeon and you get all the articles about or reference Spurgeon, the books about or by him, videos about him, audio cassettes about him, and so on. It works pretty nice.
This is only good if you put all the info in the computer. Well, I don’t read my books and magazines at the computer. So then what? I made 5 x 8 paper forms to take with me to use a page markers, so I can write the stuff down that I need. For instance – I take my magazines to work with me and read them on break. I write down the article information that I want in the computer as I read the magazine. I write the pub. name, data, related scripture, subjects covered. When I’m done reading I file the magazine and when I get a chance put the info in the computer – about once a month I take the few minutes to update the computer.
This is just what I use to help keep track of my resources, I hope it is a help to you. Any questions on this, feel free to write and ask.
(c) copyright 2003 by Michael Litza