On Boxed Sets

[T.]

Hi guys,

Am not sure where to post this question. It's not really about a librarian task, rather I am just curious as to how my fellow librarians go about this in their own personal library. So here goes: how do you shelve box sets?

I am reading a book that is a part of a boxed set I bought. I was thinking of adding them to my library individually, as I want to talk about it extensively, update the reading progress, etc. Basically all I want to do with an individual book. But when I was searching for the ISBN I saw the appropriate entry for the boxed set. So I am now left wondering whether I should just enter the books as the boxed set, or individually, or both?

If I do both, wouldn't that add to my total number of books? Say, if there were four books in the set, if I add them each + the set, then wouldn't that add 5 to the total count?

Anyway, I would probably make up my mind eventually, and I know I'm just analyzing this to death-- still, have any of you ever faced this and how did you go about it?

Thanks and I hope I didn't take up too much of anyone's time.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

I add both, for the simple reason that when I did not (just added omnibus editions or boxed sets), I was buying copies of individual volumes a couple years later accidentally. More than once.

I don't care especially about my total books tally.

[Deborah]

I generally only add the individual books. If I decided to enter both, I wouldn't enter a read date for the box set (so it wouldn't count on the challenge) and I would put it on an exclusive shelf other than read. I actually created an exclusive shelf named other and that's where I put reference books, cookbooks, unfinished books and books I own, but don't plan to read.

[Sandi]

I do it the other way. I've read a few 2in1 books, and I enter the edition I own with the read dates so it counts for the challenge, and the actual novels without the read dates. That way I add three books and my overall number of books is a bit off, but I want to rate the novels individually, and still add the 2in1 edition I actually own.

[mlady_rebecca]

I shelve both and don't worry about the book count or the challenge book count. It's already inaccurate since it doesn't include re-reads.

I find shelving both helps with recommendations and using the compare books feature. If I shelved the individual books, and the person I'm comparing my books with shelves the omnibus, the system won't realize we read the same books.

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For]

I began always just entering the individual book and never the set, but over time I've started adding the set as well because it sometimes gives me a mechanism to rate and review something closer to a "series", particularly when the whole may not be equal to the sum of the parts.

[T.]

Thanks everyone. This has been most enlightening.