I keep most of my books in a big building a few blocks away, there are even nice people there who organize them for me 
For the current move that I’m packing for (Og help me, I could stay more motivated if I knew exactly what day the movers were coming, instead of a three day window), I made a promise that I would be getting rid of books. Seriously getting rid of them. I took huge amounts into the library book sale where I work. I’m down to 3 boxes. That’s all. 3 boxes.
Now if I could just convince myself to get rid of some of the pans I don’t use, I’d be in much better shape.
Trust me Dunawake, if I had a decent library anywhere near me, I’d do the same! 
A friend of mine “invented” just about the same thing, except using plastic grocery store bags, doubled if necessary. Tie ‘em shut, and they even have a handle. One bag o’ books is not too heavy for us old ladies to carry, or you can load them one at a time onto a cart or other wheeled object.
I’ve had a blast using www.librarything.com to manage my books, it’s a slow process getting them all entered, but I like that because it’s web-based, I can access it from anywhere.
I think that I’d die if I tried to get rid of that many of my books.
I’ve been getting rid of mine too. Sold a bunch at Amazon, gave away about 200 to an avid reader. I tell borrowers to keep the books.
My goal is no overflow. There are eight bookcases around the house, different sizes, and I’d like to get it down to six, with no books in cupboards, boxes, under the bed, stacked in closets.
It comes with age. I don’t want my kids to have to deal with them when I’m gone.
I only bought one new book this week!
I’m at 16 boxes, and all that is left is the Britannica and Great Books.
I went to the mall today for the sole purpose of buying a new frying pan. Really, that’s all. The new Richard Stark book mugged me and took my credit card to the counter all on its own.
I’m preparing to sell my house, and have been boxing up my books. So far I have 29 boxes packed (12" x 12" x 16"). I think I have around 6 boxes to go. I love my books, I wouldn’t get rid of them…
But SOME of them I AM getting rid of, e.g. – 1988 Almanac, Louis Rukeyser’s something, a few out of date travel guides…
I’m a big fan of librarything.com too.
I blew past the free 200 account pretty quickly. Using the ISBN’s makes entering them quickly, or you can use a cuecat.
Unfortunately (I guess) I have over 140 books that predate ISBN, LCC or any other cataloging system. Even so, I’ve only about 3 books I couldn’t find in the databases, which I think is pretty feckin’ amazing considering I’ve got about 30 books that no one else on library thing has.
I’m trying to move (buy my house!) and have most of my books packed up. I lost count of the boxes, but I find the copy paper boxes to be a good size. Nice, sturdy boxes, not too heavy when filled and they are designed to hold paper. I’ve spent way too much time digging through Kinko’s dumpster.
Could someone please tell me which box my Marine Reef Aquarium book is in?
Two moves ago I did a MAJOR pruning of my books. It was really hard, but I had to tell myself, “You do not need this many books, and if you accidentally give away one you really did want to keep, you can get another copy. And if you get rid of a bunch, you can start accumulating them again!”
I’ve got more than I did then, and I never have enough bookcases, but oh do I hate getting rid of books. I have no idea how many I have right now, especially since the majority of them still are in storage, but my ex-boyfriend thought I had a ton of books when my mom and I looked at them and said, “Naah, that’s not a lot of books…” His didn’t even fill up ONE BOOKCASE! The man has no books!
operation paperback helped me find new homes for books. i read constantly, i can’t imagine being in a tent in the middle of nowhere with nothing to read. how 'bout being on a ship or boat for 6 month with no book store? it made it really easy to let go of books i know i won’t re-read.
levenger’s book boxes have helped contain the ones i keep. the book boxes have a glass door, wood door and drawer options as well. i like that the short and long shelves help keep writters and like subjects together.
I’ve started divesting myself of the books.
If you had told me a year ago that I would be doing it, I would have laughed in your face and pointed at you with derision. And yet, it feels good. I’m trying to get them to people who want them and will read them. It’s something of a chore, but still, it’s a fun chore.
We’ve got about 4000 books still. Eek.
You may have become my new best friend. How sturdy are these shelves?
I second the Readerware nomination. It’s awesome. I even just got it to spit out html (totally customizable, however I wanted it to look, with whatever information I wanted it to have–I could have even had it put a thumbnail of the cover image for each one if I wanted to) so I could put it on my site. I still need to scan in most of my reference and text books, as well as a few boxes of books that never got unpacked from the last time I moved, but I have the bulk of it done and it only took one afternoon: list output. What is funny is looking at the list and seeing how many really cheesy books I have (a lot of them were given to me by people getting rid of their books). Heh. 
2708 fiction books (mostly paperback). 1000+ non-fiction (only 880 catalogued as yet - about half hardcover, with most of the rest short technical monographs of ~60 pp). 2000+ magazines (about 500 catalogued and currently working on the rest). 20 bookcases. I got rid of a lot when we moved in '95.
I picked my user name for a good reason!
My problem isn’t bookcases, it’s wall space for the bookcases. One of my kids is gone, and the books have already creeped into her room.
Post office book rate is not too bad. I don 't know how it compares to a train, and you need someone on the other side to receive them. When I went to grad school my father shipped my books to me that way (to get rid of them) but I only had about 1,000 then.
Disposition of my books is in my will. If I go first, my wife gets to sell them. If I go last, I’ll donate them to the MIT SF Society, where I’m going to make some Libcom very busy.
My wife has in excess of 2500 books, and I have in excess of 17,000 records and CDs, and several hundred books and magazines. We don’t ever want to move, if it can possibly be avoided! Today, I reached the maximum of space that my CDs can occupy, until I build another wall of shelves on the only remaining wall space in this room. Until that happens, I’ll have to stack them on the floor.
Yep. My house is all doors, windows, and radiators. Wall space is at a premium.
So the books end up three or four rows deep on the shelves. And on the floor, I must confess.